The 19th Wife

Under the Banner of Heaven

The Shack

The Red Tent

The Last Pope

Plain Truth

And I second Under the Banner of Heaven and The 19th Wife.  

What a great topic!

I second Under the Banner of Heaven. 

I read The World's Religion by Huston Smith in college.  Great book! 

My husband was a religion major and he really liked Life of Pi, although I never read it.  He has lots and lots of religion books.  If you still need more suggestions, let me know and when I go home, I can give you more titles.

Some excellent books on Christianity (I've read and highly recommend all of these):
Blue Like Jazz
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
Hind's Feet on High Places
Travelling Mercies
The Question of God: CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life
Faith is Not A Feeling
Crossbearer: A Memoir of Fatih
The Hiding Place

Judaism:
The Year of Living Biblically
Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible
The Red Tent (fiction)
My Name Is Asher Lev (fiction)

Buddhism:
Siddhartha

FLDS:
Under The Banner of Heaven

Hinduism:
The Bhagavad Gita (it's harder to read but worth it)

julie37619:

Some excellent books on Christianity (I've read and highly recommend all of these):
Blue Like Jazz
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
Hind's Feet on High Places
Travelling Mercies
The Question of God: CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life
Faith is Not A Feeling
Crossbearer: A Memoir of Fatih
The Hiding Place

Judaism:
The Year of Living Biblically
Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible
The Red Tent (fiction)
My Name Is Asher Lev (fiction)

Buddhism:
Siddhartha

FLDS:
Under The Banner of Heaven

Hinduism:
The Bhagavad Gita (it's harder to read but worth it)

Dumb question - is The Red Tent really just Judaism?  I thought it was from the Old Testament.  So that's be Christian as well right?

amyb2332:

julie37619:

Some excellent books on Christianity (I've read and highly recommend all of these):
Blue Like Jazz
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
Hind's Feet on High Places
Travelling Mercies
The Question of God: CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life
Faith is Not A Feeling
Crossbearer: A Memoir of Fatih
The Hiding Place

Judaism:
The Year of Living Biblically
Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible
The Red Tent (fiction)
My Name Is Asher Lev (fiction)

Buddhism:
Siddhartha

FLDS:
Under The Banner of Heaven

Hinduism:
The Bhagavad Gita (it's harder to read but worth it)

Dumb question - is The Red Tent really just Judaism?  I thought it was from the Old Testament.  So that's be Christian as well right?

The characters in the book are Jewish, though. There isn't any mention of Christianity at all. 

EliStar:

amyb2332:

julie37619:

Some excellent books on Christianity (I've read and highly recommend all of these):
Blue Like Jazz
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letters
Hind's Feet on High Places
Travelling Mercies
The Question of God: CS Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life
Faith is Not A Feeling
Crossbearer: A Memoir of Fatih
The Hiding Place

Judaism:
The Year of Living Biblically
Listen to Her Voice: Women of the Hebrew Bible
The Red Tent (fiction)
My Name Is Asher Lev (fiction)

Buddhism:
Siddhartha

FLDS:
Under The Banner of Heaven

Hinduism:
The Bhagavad Gita (it's harder to read but worth it)

Dumb question - is The Red Tent really just Judaism?  I thought it was from the Old Testament.  So that's be Christian as well right?

The characters in the book are Jewish, though. There isn't any mention of Christianity at all. 

Ah, I get it.  I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the story being in the Christian Bible but not that they themselves would have been Jewish.  I'm following now!

It is a great book though!

julie37619:

No I think you're right Amy.  The Year of Living Biblically could also be classified as Christianity too.  I just listed those as Judaism because I think they deal with Jewish (Old Testament) law (the segregation during menstruation of The Red Tent and the actual conforming to every OT law in TYOLB) and Christians for the most part do not consider themselves subject to the OT laws.

I saw Eli's response before I saw yours but I'm following now.  And I do think this book should count for someone that is Christian.

I would add that I do think that is one of the sticky parts about this task.  I mean, "religion other than your own" seems easy enough but is it different enough to read about a different Christian religion?  For example, I grew up Catholic.  Could I read something about Southern Baptist?  Both are Christian but pretty different in some of their beliefs I think. 

I do think those should count and I don't tend to be too nitpicky about this task, I'm just hoping others will be the same! 

amyb2332:

julie37619:

No I think you're right Amy.  The Year of Living Biblically could also be classified as Christianity too.  I just listed those as Judaism because I think they deal with Jewish (Old Testament) law (the segregation during menstruation of The Red Tent and the actual conforming to every OT law in TYOLB) and Christians for the most part do not consider themselves subject to the OT laws.

I saw Eli's response before I saw yours but I'm following now.  And I do think this book should count for someone that is Christian.

I would add that I do think that is one of the sticky parts about this task.  I mean, "religion other than your own" seems easy enough but is it different enough to read about a different Christian religion?  For example, I grew up Catholic.  Could I read something about Southern Baptist?  Both are Christian but pretty different in some of their beliefs I think. 

I do think those should count and I don't tend to be too nitpicky about this task, I'm just hoping others will be the same! 

I was a little worried when I picked this task that it could cause some confusion. I don't want it to get sticky.  If you grew up Catholic and want to read a book about Southern Baptist, I say go for it.

amyb2332:

julie37619:

No I think you're right Amy.  The Year of Living Biblically could also be classified as Christianity too.  I just listed those as Judaism because I think they deal with Jewish (Old Testament) law (the segregation during menstruation of The Red Tent and the actual conforming to every OT law in TYOLB) and Christians for the most part do not consider themselves subject to the OT laws.

I saw Eli's response before I saw yours but I'm following now.  And I do think this book should count for someone that is Christian.

I would add that I do think that is one of the sticky parts about this task.  I mean, "religion other than your own" seems easy enough but is it different enough to read about a different Christian religion?  For example, I grew up Catholic.  Could I read something about Southern Baptist?  Both are Christian but pretty different in some of their beliefs I think. 

I do think those should count and I don't tend to be too nitpicky about this task, I'm just hoping others will be the same! 

I think that should count as well - although I'm wanting to read about something totally different from my own - maybe mythology?  I've got a copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology and have been wanting to read it for a while now.

amyb2332:

julie37619:

No I think you're right Amy.  The Year of Living Biblically could also be classified as Christianity too.  I just listed those as Judaism because I think they deal with Jewish (Old Testament) law (the segregation during menstruation of The Red Tent and the actual conforming to every OT law in TYOLB) and Christians for the most part do not consider themselves subject to the OT laws.

I saw Eli's response before I saw yours but I'm following now.  And I do think this book should count for someone that is Christian.

I would add that I do think that is one of the sticky parts about this task.  I mean, "religion other than your own" seems easy enough but is it different enough to read about a different Christian religion?  For example, I grew up Catholic.  Could I read something about Southern Baptist?  Both are Christian but pretty different in some of their beliefs I think. 

I do think those should count and I don't tend to be too nitpicky about this task, I'm just hoping others will be the same! 

Julie said what I was trying to say, better.

I do think it is a little sticky. However, I also think it's kind of unfair to blanket all Christian religions under one category. Catholics and Southern Baptists are two very different religions with wildly different traditions.

I went through an FLDS book binge a couple of years ago, love them all:

memoirs from women that left the FLDS cult, all give good info on the group:

Escape (best of the three)
Stolen Innocence
Shattered Dreams

19th Wife is a great novel/historical book about the FLDS

Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner is a fantastic memoir, she goes from agnostic to orthodox jew to episcopalian.

Travelling Mercies by Anne Lamott is a Christian memoir

The Red Tent is a fantastic novel (Jewish/OT Christianity)

and I am a total sucker for all of Beverly Lewis' amish books.  I've read them all, most are part of a trilogy, but sometimes up to 5 books.  Abram's Daughters series was my favorite. These are very quick reads but she gives good info about the Amish. 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118938.The_Covenant_The_Betrayal_The_Sacrifice_The_Prodigal_The_Revelation

I just finished the Rose trilogy and it was one of her better ones. 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7879046-the-thorn

Anything by Fatima Mernissi (The Veil and the Male Elite, Beyond the Veil, Dreams of Trespass). She's a Muslim feminist scholar.

Women and Gender in Islam by Leila Ahmed

anything by Judith Tucker

Milestones by Sayyid Qutb (very short)

Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declaration of Imam Khomeini by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

You could also read a religious text, I believe - the Book of Mormon, anything by Confucius, the Qu'ran.

caseyandlizzie:

Would a book on shamanism count for this? Its not religious, but spiritual.

I think so.

Another suggestion for Christianity is At Home in Mitford.  It's not about Christianity per se, but the main character is an Episcopal priest.  I love this series and have read all of them.

julie37619:

What did we decide on atheism?  I remember one post said yes, atheism counts as a religion and one post said no, by definition it is NOT a religion.

I think it would be wrong to exclude atheism, whether or not it's a traditional religion. 

julie37619:

I'm for including it as well - I originally planned to read something by Dawkins but then thought we decided not to include atheism. 

I'm all for atheism to be included but by definition atheism should not be included if the challenge is worded as a "religion that is different."  If you word it differently, like "a book that has a different belief system about God and different ways of worshipping" (or something like that) it would work. 

I don't do these challenges but I think it's good for people to read about other religions or atheism.  Dawkins was a bit overdrawn in The God Delusion.  I will finish it one of these days.

JoNi2010:

julie37619:

I'm for including it as well - I originally planned to read something by Dawkins but then thought we decided not to include atheism. 

I'm all for atheism to be included but by definition atheism should not be included if the challenge is worded as a "religion that is different."  If you word it differently, like "a book that has a different belief system about God and different ways of worshipping" (or something like that) it would work.  

I agree that the challenge should be worded differently. The challenge assumes that everyone has a religion, which is not true.

EliStar:

JoNi2010:

julie37619:

I'm for including it as well - I originally planned to read something by Dawkins but then thought we decided not to include atheism. 

I'm all for atheism to be included but by definition atheism should not be included if the challenge is worded as a "religion that is different."  If you word it differently, like "a book that has a different belief system about God and different ways of worshipping" (or something like that) it would work.  

I agree that the challenge should be worded differently. The challenge assumes that everyone has a religion, which is not true.

Wait! I came up with this challenge and I did not make this assumption at all. I consider myself agnostic so my thought was that I could therefore read a book about any religion to satisfy the category. For anyone who wants to read a book about atheism, please go for it (so long as you aren't an atheist as that wouldn't fit the category).

I like the way someone worded it here and if everyone wants to change it to this wording,  it is fine by me. I really did not want this to get too complicated so I worded it as simply as I could, but I don't mind changing it to clarify.