Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice

(Paperback)

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"In these soaring, open-hearted essays, Vanessa Zoltan writes with fierce brilliance about suffering, survival, and the kind of meaning in life that can withstand real scrutiny."-John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and The Anthropocene Reviewed A deeply felt exploration of the ways our favorite books can shape and heal us, from the host of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Our favorite reads keep us company, give us hope, and help us find meaning in a chaotic world. In this fresh and relatable work, atheist chaplain Vanessa Zoltan blends memoir and personal growth as she grapples with the notions of family legacy and identity through the lens of her favorite novel, Jane Eyre. Informed by her training at the Harvard Divinity School and filtered through the pages of Jane Eyre as well as Little Women, Harry Potter, and The Great Gatsby, Zoltan explores topics ranging from the trauma she has inherited as the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors to finding hope, meaning, and even magic in our deeply fractured times. Brimming with a love of classic literature and the tenderness of self-reflection, the book also reveals simple techniques for reading any work as a sacred text--from Virginia Woolf to Anne of Green Gables to baseball scorecards. Whether you're an avowed "Eyrehead" or a voracious reader and pop culture fan, this deeply felt and inspiring book will light the way to a more intimate appreciation for whatever books you love to read.

Reviews

Praying with Jane Eyreis literary, spiritual, and autobiographical all at once. This is a book committed to the truths of thingsfrom the Holocaust to personal betrayalno matter how hard those truths may be.... We can follow [Vanessas] example of learning how to read as if our lives depend on itwhich I believe they do.Terry Tempest Williams, from the foreword

In these soaring, open-hearted essays, Vanessa Zoltan writes with fierce brilliance about suffering, survival, and the kind of meaning in life that can withstand real scrutiny.
John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and The Anthropocene Reviewed

As an atheist, Ive hungered for these sermons. As a reader, Ive longed for this exegesis. This is a book about much more than how to pray secularly, and much more than how to read reverently. It is a book about how to be. And it is told through the wondrous earthly companionship of not just Jane Eyre, but the miraculous Vanessa Zoltan.Lauren Sandler, author ofThis Is All I GotandRighteous

How does one create a life of meaningnot merely a sense of purpose, but a ritual and a practice to give that purpose structure and powerwhen traditional religion feels untenable Vanessa Zoltan destroys the boundaries between ethics and aesthetics with a radical and beautiful idea, one that will ring true to every passionate reader: that intentional reading can empower and shape our lives. More than a love letter to the power of books, more than a reinterpreting of religious practice, and much more than a reading ofJane Eyre,Praying with Jane Eyreinvites us, in Zoltans accessible voice, into an intimacy with the most vulnerable parts of ourselves, and shows us how literature can sanctify them.Dara Horn, author of Eternal Life and People Love Dead Jews

This book will make you laugh. It will make you cry. But best of all, it will change the way you read forever.Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual and cohost of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text

Praying with Jane Eyre is a readable, huggable guide to better living, and loving, through literaturenot to mention the most affectionate portrait of grandparents that I have read in ages. And doses of Jay Gatsby and Harry Potter besides. Who can resistMark Oppenheimer, host,Unorthodoxpodcast

Author Bio

Vanessa Zoltan has a B.A. in English literature and creative writing from Washington University in Saint Louis, an M.S. in nonprofit management from the University of Pennsylvania, and a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School. She is the CEO and founder of Not Sorry Productions, which produces the podcasts Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Twilight in Quarantine, and Hot & Bothered. She also runs pilgrimages and walking tours that explore sacred reading and writing.