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Everything Happens for a Reason
Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved | Kate Bowler
A divinity professor and young mother with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis explores the pain and joy of living without certainty. Thirty-five-year-old Kate Bowler was a professor at the school of divinity at Duke, and had finally had a baby with her childhood sweetheart after years of trying, when she began to feel jabbing pains in her stomach. She lost thirty pounds, chugged antacid, and visited doctors for three months before she was finally diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. As she navigates the aftermath of her diagnosis, Kate pulls the reader deeply into her life, which is populated with a colorful, often hilarious collection of friends, pastors, parents, and doctors, and shares her laser-sharp reflections on faith, friendship, love, and death. She wonders why suffering makes her feel like a loser and explores the burden of positivity. Trying to relish the time she still has with her son and husband, she realizes she must change her habit of skipping to the end and planning the next move. A historian of the American prosperity gospelthe creed of the mega-churches that promises believers a cure for tragedy, if they just want it badly enoughBowler finds that, in the wake of her diagnosis, she craves these same outrageous certainties. She wants to know why its so hard to surrender control over that which you have no control. She contends with the terrifying fact that, even for her husband and child, she is not the lynchpin of existence, and that even without her, life will go on. On the page, Kate Bowler is warm, witty, and ruthless, and, like Paul Kalanithi, one of the talented, courageous few who can articulate the grief she feels as she contemplates her own mortality.
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blurb
CatLass007
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This week I discovered a new-to-me podcast, entitled Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. Kate Bowler is the author of several books, including Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I‘ve Loved. Before I decide to follow a podcast, I like to scroll through and see what topics are discussed and who their guests are. Her very first guest back back in February 2018 was one of my favorite authors, Nadia Bolz-Weber. I‘m hooked.

BarbaraJean I've had her book on my radar “for later“ for a while now, and thanks to this post I just looked up her podcast and downloaded about 8 episodes. I mean, you had me at Nadia Boltz-Weber, but also Richard Rohr! Anne Lamott! Bryan Stevenson! Jan Richardson! Bishop Michael Curry! I haven't even scrolled all the way down to Nadia Bolz-Weber yet and I can't stop. 😂 10mo
CatLass007 @BarbaraJean That‘s great! You don‘t necessarily have to scroll all the way to the end. You can just change the sort order. 10mo
BarbaraJean 👍🏼 Although, like you, I like to scroll through to see guests and topics—and there were so many great guests that I couldn‘t stop scrolling! 10mo
CatLass007 @BarbaraJean I understand completely. 10mo
40 likes4 comments
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Lauren890
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. My sister-in-law read this when she went through a really tough time last year, and passed it along to me this year. Even though the book is about grief and the author‘s personal story of her cancer diagnosis, it‘s such a comfort to read. Plus I love her snarky humor. I highly recommend.

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NovelNancyM
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Pickpick

I have become a full-on fan girl of Kate Bowler as I'm obsessed with her podcast Everything Happens. Having experienced the loss of two people close to me in four months, Kate's messages about grief, hope, life and being human resonate. Her book is so vulnerable and honest and even though I read it, I could hear her voice in my head. Even though I already knew Kate's story, this book was well worth the read.

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AileenRR
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Pickpick

Something thoughtful to listen to on a cold December day. I was in the mood for something slightly substantial and this was perfect.

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britt_brooke
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I did this backward. I read Bowler‘s newest book “No Cure for Being Human” first. In it, she references this one, but now having read both in the same month, they‘ve run together. Too much repetition. So, don‘t be like me. Here, Bowler openly speaks of her diagnosis and treatment for late stage cancer. As a religious scholar, wife, and new mother, she tries to reconcile her life. It‘s obviously a tough read, but poignant, and worthwhile.

Singout Vigourously recommended by my housemate! 2y
Cinfhen Sounds too heavy for me at the moment but I‘ll mark it for #FutureRead (edited) 2y
87 likes1 stack add3 comments
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anushkachhadva
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Panpan

it's very sad. i got tired of waiting to read something positive, something insightful. it was only the last 2 pages which had some positivity and then the book was over. this was a disappointment.

hannah-leeloo Welcome to litsy sweet and thank you for the follow. Happy reading 📚 ❤📖 2y
19 likes1 comment
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Tomigirl44
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Pickpick

I‘ve enjoyed her podcast long before having time to read and enjoy her book.

33 likes1 stack add
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sebrittainclark
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Pickpick

4/5

A really interesting novel about Kate Bowler's experience of grief amid her own stage 4 cancer diagnosis and treatment. I really enjoy her podcast, and this book dives really deep into her personal experience with pain and grief. It's a wonderful book, that doesn't shy away from hard questions.

59 likes5 stack adds
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a.bookish.byrd
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

36 likes2 stack adds
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PurpleTulipGirl
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“See?” I say to my dad. “I‘m not a normal person.”
“No,” he says softly, reaching out to pull me to him. “You‘re a superhero. But I wish you didn‘t have to be.”

Kate Bowler was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She also happens to be a professor at Duke Divinity School, studying the prosperity gospel. This is a memoir about her journey from diagnosis through treatment. It‘s funny one page and heartbreaking the next.

11 likes1 stack add
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Court7
Pickpick

Beautiful.

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Beccacraft
Pickpick

I LOVED this memoir by a woman who was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in her early 30s, and found it to be enlightening, funny, bold, sassy, and endearing. Other critiques didn‘t like the prosperity gospel tidbits throughout the book, but I found it somewhat true of our culture at large, with the prevalent idea that you “deserve” good things if you work hard and believe even harder. I found her comebacks to that premise strong and solid.

3 likes1 stack add
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Suet624
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Mehso-so

This wasn‘t quite what I was expecting but I admit I went in cold. What I am leaving with is finally understanding what a prosperity church is all about. I didn‘t realize that‘s what those mega churches are all about. There are a number of problems with their thinking, not the least of which is that if you have cancer it‘s your own fault. She highlights how that affected her throughout her treatment.

Cinfhen Wait??? What???? Cancer is your own fault!!!!! 😡I‘m not ok with that!!!!!! 4y
Suet624 @Cinfhen You‘re not thinking positively, you‘re not trusting God enough, you have sinned somehow. Ugh. 4y
readordierachel That is massively screwed up 😠 4y
See All 6 Comments
Cinfhen Ugh!!!! That‘s just terrible and in the name of God and religion makes it worse 4y
Texreader Ugh 4y
Reggie Boo. 4y
57 likes1 stack add6 comments
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EadieB
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gradcat Cool. Marilyn Monroe! 😎 5y
EadieB @gradcat I know! That‘s why I posted that one! Love Marilyn! 5y
gradcat Me, too!! 5y
56 likes3 comments
blurb
nzisai
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I will die, yes, but not today

1 like1 stack add
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Caterina
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I have taken 3 naps today, starting at 10 am, with heating pads draped over various joints of my body - this is a forced [fibro] rest day. Highlight of the day so far was sitting on the front porch with #Pippin reading the first 1/3 of this book for an hour, before I got too sore from sitting and had to come in. Maybe tomorrow I can squeeze in a run/walk before church!🤞#BookFitnessChallenge #BFC @wanderinglynn #bostonterriersoflitsy #dogsoflitsy

Crazeedi Sending special healing vibes your way! I know what you're going through, some days are just hard. So pamper yourself and read😘 5y
robinb Healing wishes being sent for some relief and peace. 💙 5y
BookwormAHN Hugs 💐 5y
cobwebmoth Gentle hugs to you.❤ 5y
Clwojick Sending healing vibes your way! 🍃 5y
44 likes5 comments
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Caterina
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"It was certainty, plain and simple, that God had a worthy plan for my life in which every setback would also be a step forward. I wanted God to make me good and make me faithful, with just a few shining accolades along the way. Anything would do if hardships were only detours on my long life's journey. I believed God would make a way.

I don't believe that anymore."

35 likes1 stack add
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goodbyefrancie
Mehso-so

I guess Bill Gates and I have different taste in books. Meh. Not what I was expecting, and too much of what I wasn't expecting.

56 likes2 stack adds
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samjmitchell
Panpan

I do feel like I can judge in a more non-biased view given my own diagnosis. Every cancer memoir that is published is going to influence people‘s view about our illness, mortality, etc. None of us can know what‘s to come, religion won‘t tell us the truth. To me, she explored (and over shared) her religion. This was more of a religious book then a cancer memoir. Was she still a televangelist and believed in the prosperity gospel? I don‘t know. 2/5.

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EmmaMae
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Pickpick

A complex and beautiful memoir. Kate tells a story of being in the middle of hard things, the questions we ask, what is important, and whom and what matters without trivializing her experience. #bookclubreads

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BittersweetBooks
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Live unburdened. Live free. Live without forevers that don‘t always come 😷🏥⏳

14 likes1 stack add
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Arudakewiz
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“...we just can‘t know...our brains fill in all the details, for good or for ill. We want to tell ourselves a story - any story- so we can get back to certainty.”

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CRR
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this book very much. Kind of a quick read but mainly because I didn‘t want to put it down. We are all dying, it was insightful to hear more about her journey.

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abbielistenstobooks
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Bailedbailed

Another jesusy one! Why is this happening to meeeeeeeee

I really thought this was going to be ANTI jesusy, from the title, and the description. And even the first, like 60% of it. Alas, no.

gradcat Ha ha! I don‘t know why I‘m laughing 😂, but It strikes me as funny! Sorry for you, though...I completely understand what you‘re saying. 5y
abbielistenstobooks @gradcat please do laugh! I just went back and read the book's description again. It's definitely unclear that she's going to be a jesus freak. Oh well. Song of Achilles is up next - a re-read for my IRL book club. Yay! 5y
AutumnRLS I read this too and thought the title and description were misleading. 5y
abbielistenstobooks @AutumnRLS thank you! Misleading. Yes! 5y
12 likes4 comments
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gottabechispa

It was certainty, plain and simple that God had a worthy plan for my life in which every set back would also be a step forward.

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kspenmoll
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/opinion/sunday/cancer-what-to-say.html
#memoir
Kate Bowler, a professor of Christian history at Duke University who specials in the history of the Prosperity Gospel, discovers she has Stage IV colon cancer at the age of 35. This is her memoir. I have no background in the Prosperity Gospel, but as I read I could recognize it in American culture. This is raw,funny, gut wrenching, uplifting.

Crazeedi I'd like to read, not a proponent of the prosperity gospel, but I'd like to read her story. (edited) 5y
53 likes1 comment
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InnerSavvy
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Mehso-so

It was a little confusing. I do not agree with the Prosperity Gospel and I was not even sure Kate did, but she wrote a dissertation on it so it was the basis for a this book on her finding out she had colon cancer and the struggle she had fighting it. Enjoyed parts.

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Elma
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Mehso-so

Really enjoyed the first chapter and a couple chapters towards the end, but the middle of this book was super boring. I feel like this whole book would have been better served as a blog post.

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Elma
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Things not to say to people experiencing terrible times.

Love this!!

13 likes1 stack add
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Elma
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Yes!! This!!

#bothand #theology

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Elma
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😂😂😂

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Elma
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Elma
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😂😂😂

#savedbythebell

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Elma
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One of the many reasons I hate prosperity gospel.

#badtheology #theology #prosperitygospel

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Elma
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Rcoco
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Pickpick

Excellent read. Echoes of “The Bright Hour” and even “When Breath Becomes Air”. The author is living with stage IV cancer and her insights are poignant and funny. A Christian perspective, but not preachy. For anyone, but especially people with loved ones with cancer.

45 likes1 stack add
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Elma
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"What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed? What of being people of "the gospel"meant we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough."

1 stack add
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Ashley_Nicoletto
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Mehso-so

I have mixed feelings about this book. While the book wrecked me emotionally (see: she tells her husband he's her bucket list 😭😭😭) it also felt disjointed in places and I sometimes had a hard time following.

Takeaways: Never tell a terminally ill person that everything happens for a reason, God needs an angel, or it could be worse.

57 likes1 stack add
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TieDyeDude
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First, ALAN ALDA HAS A PODCAST!
Second, this interview with Kate Bowler about the tagged book was excellent. She is an amazing human. Has anyone read the book?

wanderinglynn I listened to the first episode with Sarah Silverman. It was very interesting. 6y
Amanda23 Love Alan! 6y
26 likes2 comments
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AllisonMP
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Pickpick

Poignant, and somehow lovely and fortifying.

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LiteraryLass
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“... they feel the English language has reached its limit in a time of inarticulate sorrow.”

2 likes1 stack add
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hwestfall
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Pickpick

"I had my own prosperity gospel. A flowering weed grown in with all the rest."

This was an interesting memoir of a woman diagnosed with colon cancer. She is a historian of the "prosperity gospel" and sprinkles facts about this along the way. As a person who has struggled with my own health issues and my faith I found this book struck a chord with me. There were tears, times I chuckled out loud, rolled my eyes and nodded in agreement.

3 likes1 stack add
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nikirtehsuxlol

The promise of heaven to me is this: someday I will get a new set of lungs and I will swim away. But first I will drown.

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nikirtehsuxlol

I am preparing for death and everyone else is on Instagram.

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nikirtehsuxlol
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🤷‍♀️? 😇? 😔?

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UnabridgedPod
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Pickpick

This #audiobook is amazing. Oh my gosh, it‘s sad, but the author‘s voice brings her experience so close. Kate Bowler‘s research into prosperity gospel and her frank discussion of her cancer diagnosis and treatment results in a moving, compelling memoir.

12 likes1 comment
blurb
lbdallas
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Just got this from the library. I can't count how many people have recommended it to me.

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Nonaroo
Pickpick

Kate Bowler writes honestly about living with an incurable form of cancer. She lives from as she says “scan to scan” and tries to savor every minute she has with her family. Bowler discusses living in this in between space of not knowing how much time she has. This book isn‘t a downer. I love that she includes a section on what to say and what NOT to say to those going through a rough time.

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mrozzz
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Pickpick

In this short memoir, author & cancer patient Kate Bowler gets right to the point— staring down one‘s inevitable death is daunting, and yet through her faith and the support of her family she glares in the face of the cancer that‘s killing her and keeps fighting. Although I wish I‘d gotten a little more detail out of this (á la When Breath Becomes Air) this is still a quick, emotional read.

90 likes2 stack adds
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Jeanne_S
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Pickpick

Poignant.