Books like

Books like Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road

12 books with a reading profile close to Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road by Donald Miller. Inward-looking and contemplative; an easy read.

1

Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

by Kate Bowler

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

At thirty-five, Kate Bowler was a professor at Duke Divinity School researching the prosperity gospel when she received a diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer.
2

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

by Cheryl Strayed

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

At twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed faced the collapse of her world following her mother’s sudden death from cancer and the subsequent disintegration of her marriage.
3

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

by Anne Lamott

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

Anne Lamott details her transition from a chaotic, addiction-fueled upbringing into a singular practice of Christianity centered at St.
4

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church

by Rachel Held Evans

Also inward-looking · personal growth, memoir

Rachel Held Evans uses the framework of seven traditional sacraments—baptism, confession, holy orders, communion, confirmation, anointing the sick, and marriage—to structure her memoir of religious deconstruction and re…
5

Mom & Me & Mom

by Maya Angelou

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, inspirational

Maya Angelou documents the complicated reconnection with her mother, Vivian Baxter, who abandoned her for a decade during her childhood.
6

The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing

by Lara Love Hardin

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

Lara Love Hardin recounts her rapid descent from a soccer mom in an affluent neighborhood to an inmate in a California county jail.
7

Pageboy

by Elliot Page

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

In this memoir, Elliot Page recounts his transition from a closeted actor in the public eye to a man living authentically.
8

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity

by Nabeel Qureshi

Also inward-looking · memoir, inspirational

Nabeel Qureshi describes his upbringing in a devout Ahmadiyya Muslim household, focusing on his childhood immersion in Islamic apologetics and Quranic study.
9

Gender Queer: A Memoir

by Maia Kobabe

Also inward-looking and contemplative · personal growth, memoir

Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir chronicles the internal process of identifying as nonbinary and asexual.
10

Lab Girl

by Hope Jahren

Also inward-looking · personal growth, memoir

Hope Jahren maps her life as a geobiologist through the developmental cycles of trees, seeds, and soil.
11

A House in the Sky

by Amanda Lindhout

Also inward-looking · personal growth, memoir

In 2008, freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout and photographer Nigel Brennan were kidnapped by teenage militants while traveling near Mogadishu, Somalia.
12

All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir

by Beth Moore

Also inward-looking and contemplative · memoir, inspirational

In this memoir, Beth Moore recounts her upbringing in Arkansas and Texas, revealing the private instability that existed behind her public image as a Bible teacher.

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