Heaven's Harlots

Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years as a Sacred Prostitute in the Children of God Cult
By Miriam Williams
1998
Weight: 1. 5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving to my friend, Jasmin

My brother was once invited to join a cult, also called the Children of God cult, though I suppose it could have been mimicry of the one in this book. By being “invited,” I do not mean that he was handed a flier on the street, but rather invited to the house of a peer and things unraveled from there.

I think everyone in that little house we lived in read Heaven’s Harlots after that, for better or for worse. It was a horrific memoir about a young girl that gets involved in a cult. This cult eventually sends her out to have sex for God, amongst other deplorable things. Cults swept through the media and the minds of many people causing fear, confusion, and paranoia. I really do not seem to hear about them as much now as I did when I was a kid, but they are still out there. And, I imagine, most of them are not so bad, though there are ones like this that can ruin many lives. As with all things, there will be good and there will be bad, and fear will blur the lines between the two. The Children of God cult still exists as The Family, though they state that they no longer do “flirty fishing” or “sacred prostitution.”

Miriam Williams spent 12 years in and out of the Children of God Cult, and had a difficult time transitioning back into life outside of the cult. She joined in 1971 and finally left, for good, in 1988. She then published this book, exposing the Cult and hopefully helping others. She is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. She teaches sociology. The Family International now has members in 90 countries and does missionary work. They state on their webpage that they have gone through many changes in the 42 years they have existed.

A Passage to India

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
1968
Weight: 10 oz
Method of Disposal: Donate to the AKF

I read A Passage to India as an assignment in my First Year Seminar at Agnes Scott. I had no feelings about it. I did not suffer to get through it, but I was and am willing to read almost anything. I just read it and then it was done.
Later in my college career, I met a woman who changed my life. I was fascinated by her. She was brilliant and she was (is) an incredible writer. Her e-mails captivated me, but later I would be blown away by her short stories. I only knew her for a brief time, but we packed a lot in before it all imploded. She taught me to daydream about outer space, to question my own involvement in my more miserable moments, and most of all how to stay up to 6am just laughing.

It has been over four years now but when I see this book I think of her, and I still smile. While this book left little to no impact on me, it encouraged a massive change in her life. She started allowing herself to realize things and/or allowing others to see things about herself that might have previously gone unnoticed. She wrote a confessional letter home, which she knew would be met with great resistance. And then, she went on. She continued on her path to great things. I hope anyone else who picks up this book has a similar experience, but if not you will probably find the inspiration elsewhere.

Art of WWII

(6.3 lbs)
Art of the Third Reich by Peter Adam
1992
Weight: 2.6 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving to Tracy

This book was put together by BBC documentary-film producer who grew up in Berlin during the time of Hitler’s Third Reich. Adam recognized a gap in art history that was often intentionally overlooked, and he decided to make this book. Statues, murals, postage stamps, propaganda posters, paintings, and more are displayed and discussed in this book. It is a great introductory book with information you may not have heard in all of the other books you have read.
This seems like a book Tracy should own since she is an artist and also has an interest in WWII. If she happens to own it already, I will be selling it on half.com for $9.50.

WWII: A Tribute in Art and Literature Edited by David Colbert
2001
Weight: 3.7 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving to Tracy
I saw this book while I was walking to the kitchen after writing about the Art of the Third Reich and thought I should go ahead and make it a bundle for Tracy. This one’s presentation is better than the last. The pictures are large and in full color. This book does not, however, focus on art from the Third Reich. It is American art and writing. The paintings and photographs are wrapped the text of poetry, essays, and letters. You are truly drawn into another time and into a very painful war.

Lucky

Lucky by Alice Sebold
1999
Weight: 12.8 oz
Method of Disposal: Donate

Alice Sebold is probably best known for her novel, The Lovely Bones. Lucky is whole other thing. It is a memoir and the story of Sebold’s own rape. The cover of the book starts you off with this, “In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been murdered and dismembered. I was told this story by the police. In comparison, they said, I was LUCKY.

I read this book before my own rape. I remember it being horrific. At the end, I remember thinking it was “unrelenting” when her roommate is raped. I can grasp images from her life, just moments, but I cannot write a real review, paragraph, or whatever about it. I tried to jog my memory by skimming it, but it opens with this horrible rape that Alice Sebold endured and it is too much for me. It all comes at me in a blur. I see words like “virgin,” “blow job,” “dry” and I don’t want to make sense out of it so I slam it shut.
I read it once. I think I was 16.

Women in Love

Women in Love: Portraits of Lesbian Mothers and Their Families
1998
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

I bought this book from a bargain bookstore called Kudzu when I was in the 9th grade. I collected anything lesbian. It was like a treasure hunt. It so rarely came up, but when it did it did not matter what it was. It made me delirious to find myself in little pieces of everyday life. This book features pictures of lesbians with their kids alongside a short interview with the women.

It is a lovely book, but one I do not need anymore. I can also say that I can no longer find myself in it, which does not decrease its value but is just an observation. I have zero desire to have children, and it is not something I feel strongly about. I think lesbians should be able to adopt, parent, and all sorts of other things, but I do not invest much of my time in thinking about it in my everyday life.
Anywho, let me know if you are interested!