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The Butterfly Mosque
The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam | G. Willow Wilson
13 posts | 10 read | 22 to read
The extraordinary story of an all-American girls conversion to Islam and her ensuing romance with a young Egyptian man, The Butterfly Mosque is a stunning articulation of a Westerner embracing the Muslim world. When G. Willow Wilsonalready an accomplished writer on modern religion and the Middle East at just twenty-sevenleaves her atheist parents in Denver to study at Boston University, she enrolls in an Islamic Studies course that leads to her shocking conversion to Islam and sends her on a fated journey across continents and into an uncertain future. She settles in Cairo where she teaches English and submerges herself in a culture based on her adopted religion. And then she meets Omar, a passionate young man with a mild resentment of the Western influences in his homeland. They fall in love, entering into a daring relationship that calls into question the very nature of family, belief, and tradition. Torn between the secular West and Muslim East, Willow records her intensely personal struggle to forge a third culture that might accommodate her own values without compromising the friends and family on both sides of the divide.
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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#Bookd2022 outlook, hoping to get a lot of books off my very old TBR list. #winter

ChaoticMissAdventures @CoverToCoverGirl I hear such good things about it! It has been on my list for years and I have just never picked it up, 2022 is the time! 3y
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Insightsintobooks
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I thought this was beautiful.

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Insightsintobooks
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I love the cover, and books that deal with religious and/or spiritual awakenings. Plus I just like books about religions.

Trashcanman Look to the left. 6y
Insightsintobooks @Trashcanman I agree, I'm like learning about the religions themselves. I think that all religions have some wisdom in them. And there is more than one path to the Divine. 6y
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WhiskeyMistress
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Pickpick

#riotgrams Day 10, book deserving more readers... This book is one of the few I recommend to anyone who asks me “what should I read next?” A GORGEOUS memoir that really deserves more attention.

RadicalReader @WhiskeyMistress albeit not a memoir but a good biography is A Mother‘s Reckoning by Sue Klebold reading it now and highly enjoying it 7y
rather_be_reading stacked! 7y
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balletbookworm
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Pickpick

A lovely memoir about finding one‘s faith and adopting a culture you love even while fighting the media stereotypes about that culture and faith. When Willow was in town, I talked to her a bit about this book which was largely written 10 years ago with the enthusiasm of a person in her mid-20s - she now wishes that maybe she had written things differently, or had done more research on a topic, from distance of another 10 years of experience.

balletbookworm Even if she wishes things had been written differently, I feel like she approached this book with sensitivity and a great deal of love and gave a lot of nuance to very “big picture” issues. Her descriptions of Omar‘s family are so wonderful (I‘d love to meet his mom, Sohair). 7y
balletbookworm There is a later chapter where Willow has the opportunity to meet a sheikha, a female imam, and how Westernization has possibly eliminated the need for sheikhas, to the detriment of many. It‘s an interesting line of thought. 7y
balletbookworm Book #1 done for #readathon!! 7y
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balletbookworm
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Such a lovely passage.

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balletbookworm
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I have several digital galleys in progress, but my paper “current reads” are G. Willow Wilson‘s The Butterfly Mosque and @hmhbooks Best American Science and Nature Writing 2017 #riotgrams #amreading

LeahBergen I enjoyed The Butterfly Mosque. 👍🏻 7y
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gossamerchild
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A couple of examples of #whereiread for #riotgrams. Can't wait to have that view outside again!

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Abby-J
Butterfly Mosque | G Willow Wilson
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A potential and probable (I may switch out The Blade Itself, but I was having a hard time finding a book with a weapon in the title) list for the #ERmadlibs challenge. Super excited about this one.

jmtrivera A couple of categories seemed tricky to me too, but the more you think about them, the easier it gets to find things that fit. I love that your exclamation is pretty hilarious even without a Mad Lib! 😁 Glad you're playing with us! 8y
EclecticReaders Nice choices! Glad you're playing along! 😃 8y
LindsayReads I thought this was a cool idea, too! Might have to be my FOURTH reading challenge for 2017... 😂😂😂😣😣😣 8y
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Abby-J @jmtrivera @eclecticreaders This is such a fun challenge! I had a great time trying to fill all of the categories. Thanks so much. 8y
Abby-J @LindsayReads Do it! We can be too many challenge, buddies. Which others are you doing? 8y
LindsayReads Read Harder (duh), the A-Z one, and the bingo one. 8y
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gossamerchild
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Pickpick

this gives me great #joy 😊. the book was amazing, as well. definitely forced me to reevaluate my misconceptions of Islam. #bookriot #readharderchallenge #bookaboutreligion

@kmdartist

moranadatter That looks so cozy! I'm definitely envious of the fireplace. 8y
gossamerchild @kmdartist 😁. It is lovely. My new reading nook! 8y
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Keyoung
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I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to finish Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge this year, but I think I finally have a good set of books that I'll be able to finish by the end of December. Categories left: book about religion, historical fiction before 1900, main character with a mental illness, and food memoir. #readharder

Chessa You can do the thing! I think I read Marbles in 1-2 sittings - it's really good! If you haven't read it and are running short on time, Relish by Lucy Knisley is a great food memoir (also a graphic novel) - and a quick read! 8y
Keyoung @Chessa I love Relish! I tell myself that food memoirs aren't really my thing, but I did love Relish so hopefully Tender at the Bone hits some of the same nerves. Thanks for the encouragement 😀 8y
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gossamerchild
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beautiful sentiment. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💏 #amreading

britt_brooke That is lovely. 💕 8y
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gossamerchild
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these lines really struck me, as it's pretty much the exact opposite experience that I had with religion. fascinating. #bookaboutreligion #bookriot #readharderchallenge.

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