And, you know, I have this thing for people who travel in vans, although I will never do it myself. And I thought that was all there was to her.
She customized a van and she travels or she plans to travel around with her dog. And I thought, oh, look, there's this cool woman. I think it was Leah McLaren who recommended her. So what happened is I started reading Lauren's piece on substac. And I feel like I just covered her the way that they say Columbus discovered America, which is ridiculous because America was there the whole time. I feel very possessive about our guests this week, I really do. So, Wendy, I feel I have a lot of feelings.Įxcuse me. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. We love writing and would love for you to read what we write. She’s also the author of Bad Reads, an Substack journal both random and profound, and utterly addictive. Her memoir has won numerous literary prizes. Born in Berlin, raised in 7 countries as part of a cult known as the Children of God that robbed her of an education and any sense of self or family, Lauren eventually found her voice. Lauren Hough defies categorization so we’re not going to even try. Caution: some spectacularly colourful language. Author of a collection of essays called “Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing”, Lauren causes us to consider what IS the hardest thing? Growing up in a doomsday sex cult? Joining the Air Force and almost getting court-martialed? Going to jail? Traveling around the country in a van with her dog? Being a 6 foot lesbian? We caught up with Lauren, all jet-lagged from a trip to Paris, to talk about writing, religion and cheese. Cooking the Books - Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J.Lauren Hough is living a remarkable life.September Is Library Card Sign-Up Month!.Book Review | The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.Book Review | Disneyland on the Mountain: Walt, the Environmentalists, and the Ski Resort That Never Was by Greg Glasgow and Kathryn Mayer.
Adult, by Emily DuGranrut, Memoir Post navigation Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing is available for checkout from the Galesburg Public Library. Thankfully, Leaving isn’t the end of Hough’s story either. Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing isn’t a light read, but it’s a compelling one, and one that will leave the reader wanting more. From her childhood, running from country to country to escape the law, to her young adult years in the military, to her 10 years as a cable guy, Hough doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to critiquing the systems that attempted to hold her back along the way. But Hough’s writing speaks about her life more harshly than any naysayer could. The book is divisive - a quick peek at Goodreads reviews will show you a plethora of one- or five-star reviews, with little in between. “Probably the earliest thing I learned is just keep your mouth shut - and I couldn’t, which was a problem.” This inability to hold back is what makes Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing shine. Hough has always had a problem keeping her thoughts to herself… “I had problems with pretty early on, but I couldn’t express those,” she told NPR. Air Force (before she was discharged for being gay during the time of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell). Through essays, Hough talks about her time as a bouncer at a gay club, a cable guy, and a member of the U.S. In Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing, Hough details life after leaving “The Family,” (once called the Children of God, now known as the Family International). Many memoirs written by former cult members detail what life was like in the cult - but Lauren Hough knows that isn’t the end of her story. Here, as she sweeps through the underbelly of America–relying on friends, family, and strangers alike–she begins to excavate a new identity even as her past continues to trail her and color her world, relationships, and perceptions of self. She’s taken pilgrimages to the sights of her youth, been kept in solitary confinement, dated a lot of women, dabbled in drugs, and eventually found herself as what she always wanted to be: a writer. The cult took her all over the globe - to Germany, Japan, Texas, Ecuador - but it wasn’t until her mother finally walked away that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond “The Family.”Īlong the way, she’s loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next.
Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. From the publisher: As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the U.S.
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