July 2008 Theme Read

Well, I've decided that every few months I will try to do a Theme Read. July's theme?
Nuns.

That's right. I've always had this fascination with/respect for nuns. Medieval nuns. Renaissance nuns. Modern nuns. Singing Nuns. And yes, I suppose even Flying Nuns. I'm not Catholic, but the cloistered life has always intrigued me. Evidence of this fascination is plentiful on my bookshelf of unread books. Most of the selections for the month are from there. Two out of the three library books I checked out today are nun-related (unintentional!)

So here's the list (keep in mind I have about 7 other books (un-nun-related) going). The genres vary wildly:

Aimée & David Thurlo, Bad Faith (A Sister Agatha Mystery) (2002); mystery
Deborah Larsen, The Tulip & The Pope: A Nun's Story (2005); memoir, non-fiction
Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (2004); memoir, non-fiction
Mark Salzman, Lying Awake (2000); fiction
Anne H. King-Lenzmeier, Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision (2001); non-fiction
Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh, Women in the Vanishing Cloister: Organizational Decline in Catholic Religious Orders in the United States (1993); non-fiction