The Butterfly Mosque

I read this book for the “Community” read at the ACRL 2015 conference. Discussion will be later this morning. I had no prior knowledge of the author (although now I can connect her with the stories I'd read about Ms. Marvel, the Pakistani-American, Muslim superhero) or the subject of the book. I found it to be a really moving account of finding community in a place far from “home,” in a religion and culture far from the author's upbringing. I particularly resonated with the author's account of her conversion to Islam–my experience of converting to Christianity as an adult was similar in many ways, from finding to my surprise that I already believed many of the central tenets of a religion I had always thought was incompatible with my most deeply held beliefs to reassuring my atheist family that I was still the same person.

Another compelling part of this book is the author's recognition of the difficulty of communicating the value and beauty she sees in the cultures of Muslim countries to American audiences, who don't have an open mindset toward that topic at this moment. I saw G. Willow Wilson speak last night at the opening of ACRL2015–she is a vibrant speaker, so I am looking forward to the discussion this morning.