I'm reading all the books about Mormons so that you don't have to
You ever cringe at sit-coms making Mormon polygamist jokes? Ever seen your favorite character confuse Mormons with Amish people? Ever groaned in dissapointed when a family of Mormons gets watered down to generic-fundamental-christian?
Aren't you tired of being the butt of not-even-accurate jokes?
Well, I certainly am. After years of being disgruntled and offended at portrayals of and attitudes toward Mormons in popular media I realized something : I was looking in the wrong place! Why would I look to non-mormons to tell Mormon stories!
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been writing novels for as long as we've been around! Not to mention BYU TV shows!
Are they cheesy? Probably! Will they be preachy and propaganda-y? You betcha! Are some of them sexist and honophobic? Oh yes siree!
But that's why I am gonna read them! I've decided to go on a quest through Mormon fiction to discover the unknown gems. I'll read and review each book, and watch the TV shows and movies, then let YOU know what's worth your time.
If you know of a book/movie/TV show that features Mormon characters made BY Mormon writers, send it my way. I'll add it to my queue and rate it based on a few criteria:
1. Well written - is it written well
2. Fun level - regardless of technical stuff, is it FUN?
3. Complex faith - is this propaganda? Or does it show our religion in a nuanced way?
4. Homophobia scale - does this harp about the holiness of straight marriage? Or does it, perchance, actually have good queer rep?
5. Mormon weird - is this strictly realistic fiction or are we talking about Kolob or the 3 nephites O.O
6. Diversity of characters - is this white boys talking to and about white boys :/ or do we have some POC and women
7. Other problematic stuff
I personally am not a fan of "book of mormon fanfiction" so anything resembling Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites might not get read, same goes for straight-white-girl-religious-romance. (No hate if you like those just not my vibe). Additionally, I'm not super interested in pioneer-era stories so those will not be prioritized. I'm looking for action, urban fantasy, sci-fi, or realistic fiction that's not just romance.
But you never know, one of those might catch my fancy!
TL;DR send me books/TV shows/movies by mormons about mormons and I'll tell you if they're worth it!
Hello! I wasn't going to start this until January but I happened to read some stuff that demands to be reviewed! So, this is the blog where I will be posting this stuff. I hope it comes in handy for people <3



















