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Still Listening

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Due to the climate in our country, I don’t feel like I can do what I normally do on the first Wednesday of the month and talk about what I read last month. I will move that blog post to next week. There are so many really great resources being shared right now that help describe and explain that Black experience in America, white supremacy, and systemic racism. One link that was passed around on Facebook and other social media sites was this list of various articles, books, and documentaries which is a great start.

Last year, I read two of the books that are being suggested (one of which is on the above list). I’ve already shared my thoughts on these books, so I will link those reviews here.

The first is I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown.

The second book I read last year was White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. I didn’t write a review for this book on my blog because I was taking a break at the time. I did, however, write a review on GoodReads which I will link here.

Both of these books are excellent. There are also some really good Black Fiction writers that I would recommend if nonfiction isn’t your genre. Tomi Adeyemi has written two books in her series, the first being Children of Blood and Bone which is based on African mythology. There is also The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and her second book (not a series but set in the same world), On The Come Up. And finally, If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson, which I read with the Life’s Library book club. It’s not her most recent or most famous piece, but it is really good. Her backlist is definitely on my TBR list.

Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy a fresh perspective on the world. Diversity brings creativity and beauty to the written word. It can help us grow in empathy and understanding, prodding us on to action.

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown: A Review

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I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my, this book is good. Austin Channing Brown’s memoir of growing up and living in America is beautiful, strong, honest, heartbreaking and encouraging. She talks about issues of race, racism, white supremacy, white fragility, and white guilt, as well as the beauty and power of Black women and Blackness as a whole. I feel a little uncomfortable writing a review because I felt like this book was written for Black women specifically, but the book was so moving and so important that I want to talk about it and have everyone I know read it.
As a white girl, there were a lot of parts of the book that I felt uncomfortable and even defensive. I would find myself saying that I wasn’t like that (I’ve never skied or sailed in my life), and when whiteness was described as evil or hateful, I would get uncomfortable. But then, she talked about the stereotypes that Black people have to endure. That they have to be perfect or live up to the expectations of the white people in the room or they would be labeled as disrespectful, violent, underachievers, thugs. And I realized how much more they deal with just walking into the room than I have to.
Her writing is engaging. It’s a book that could be easily read in a few hours. The interludes between some of the chapters were beautiful. The letter to her son had me in tears. I have a son of my own, and the hopes and dreams we have for our children are the same. But I don’t have the same worries. It really prompts me to be intentional with my son as I raise him to resist and fight the ugliness and racism that is the undercurrent in our society, to stand up for those around him and use what power he has in his life to lift up the marginalized and oppressed.
There isn’t any harsh profanity that I can remember in the book. No sexual content, though she does talk about black bodies being used or abused in society in a multitude of ways. There isn’t any explicit violence, though there is one death in particular that she mentions and a trip to a lynching museum which was poignant and the conversation that came out of that trip is a necessary read.

Overall, everyone should read this book. That is all.

February TBR

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This year, I’m trying to read four books a month. I completed this goal last month with It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa Terkeurst, Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness, Devian by Shanna Bosarge, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I might do something with all my classic reviews at the end of the year, or maybe towards the middle of the year, we shall see. But the other reviews are linked above.

This month is Black History Month, and I thought it would be interesting to read only black authors this month. So, here is my line up.

For my nonfiction, I’m reading I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. This has been on my TBR since last year, and a friend of mine read it and said it was a good read. Also, I follow her on Twitter, which is really where I find a lot of the authors I enjoy.

For my classic, I’m reading A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. This is my classic pick for the month. I think I read this in high school, but I don’t remember it. I wanted to switch up my classics and read a play, so this was a good match.

For YA Fiction, I’m reading On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. I read her first book, The Hate U Give last year and really enjoyed it. This book takes place in the same neighborhood but follows the story of another girl who faces homelessness while trying to make a name for herself as a rapper. It isn’t pictured above because it comes out tomorrow.

And finally, my Adult Fiction will be Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse. This was a random but fascinating book. I like Sherlock Holmes, and I came across his second book, Mycroft and Sherlock, at the library. When I realized it was the second book, I stopped reading it and placed the first book on hold. And yes, this is the basketball player. Apparently, he is a huge Sherlock fan. I’ve already started this one and it’s already fascinating.

I’m also reading A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit for the Life’s Library book club and Reviving Old Scratch by Richard Beck for another book study, but they are on different time frames. The four books above I will try to actually complete this month.

What are you reading this month?