With the help of the Libby App, I’ve had the great pleasure of listening to some amazing (and intense) reads this summer, and I have to say that I highly recommend them.
If you’re looking to learn more about the world and live in another’s shoes for the extent of a book, you MUST add these 3 intense reads to your To Be Read list. Each of these books was beautifully written while they covered difficult subjects.
For me, a beautifully written book helps to smooth the discomfort of experiencing the hardships of the main character.
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Know My Name by Chanel Miller
On a scale of cotton candy to Brussels sprouts, Know My Name by Chanel Miller is jalapeno popper cheesecake. Each forkful bites back, and its blend of flavors teases the tongue and the mind.
Known to the world as Emily Doe, she opens her story to the world in her memoir, revealing that she is Chanel Miller with a family, community, interests, and so much more than just the victim of Brock Turner’s assault. Every page spotlights how the US culture is biased toward protecting perpetrators and how she was forever made to feel that she had been the one that did wrong, though she was the victim. Raw and riveting, Chanel’s perspective and story demands change for the judicial system.
I found out about Know My Name from the book, The Body Keeps The Score, and I had to read it. When I saw that an audiobook was available via my favorite Libby app, I borrowed it. And I was brought to tears over and over again as I listened to Chanel Miller, herself, read her story to me. The audio editors even kept a few portions where Chanel’s voice breaks or you know that she may be wiping away her own tears. And I’m thankful. Chanel Miller brings her story to the page in an absolutely exquisite way, and her writing blew me away. It’s no wonder that her victim impact statement exploded across BuzzFeed. I hate that Chanel (and many others) have walked this road, but I’m grateful that Chanel decided to share her story. We need this story. We need to hear it. We need to wake up and demand change.
If you want to learn more about how you can help to support sexual assault victims, you can visit ovc.ojp.gov or thehotline.org.
If you enjoy memoirs and real-life stories, Know My Name is for you. It includes really tragic and heartbreaking moments (trauma effects, isolation, shame, oppression), but those moments are eclipsed by Chanel’s healing (resilience, humor, self-kindness).
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
On a scale of cotton candy to Brussels sprouts, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate is salted caramel dark chocolate. That perfect combination of bitter, sweet, and salty coils around the tongue and heart, inviting quiet contemplation.
Split between Tennessee 1939 and South Carolina present day, two stories unfold, teasing how these two very different lives connect. In 1939, Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live happily on their family’s river shantyboat up until strangers arrive and throw them into the Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage with promises that their parents will get them soon. Meanwhile, in present-day, Avery Stafford, the privileged daughter of a senator and a successful federal prosecutor in her own right, bumps into uncomfortable questions about her family’s past that send her looking for answers.
Another book that shredded my heart, Before We Were Yours struck me to the core, especially with recent news on so many “boarding schools” coming to light with such dark pasts. I’ve been avoiding this story because I had heard that it was AMAZING and heart-searing. Lisa Wingate’s characters came alive, and the plot turned me into a speed reader. Fiction will always be my favorite way to learn about history, but it can be one of the hardest ways because I feel like I live the story too. One thing I really love about Lisa Wingate’s character was their level of space for the complexities of humanity, holding the good and bad all at once. She showed resilience in motion.
If you enjoy family dynamics, history, and family mysteries, Before We Were Yours is for you. It includes themes of resilience, tragedy, love, and more.
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
On a scale of cotton candy to Brussels sprouts, Island Queen by Vanessa Riley is a glass of fine red wine. The initial sip is bitter, but as it spreads across the tongue, it leaves a sweet aftertaste along with the memory of bitterness.
Dorothy, a young enslaved girl, dreams of freedom and she achieves it for herself, her mother, her sister, and all of her children. It’s far from easy as she deals with the evil in the shape of her Irish stepbrother, and she navigates the shifting politics of the Caribbean Islands. Dorothy builds the life of her dreams through wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter. Based on the real life of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, this book captures the intense hardship and beauty of a woman who lived her life by her own rules within an era that offered her no assistance.
I absolutely recommend listening to this book as an audiobook with the narrator of Adjoa Andoh truly bringing this amazing story to life. One of the most standout qualities of this story and the character of Dorothy was her ability to claim responsibility for her every decision. She never shied away from that responsibility, and where she could have chosen to play the “victim card” she never did. I absolutely loved seeing resiliency on display throughout this book.
If you love an inspiring story of a woman who knew her values and oriented her life off of those beliefs, then Island Queen is for you. This story has strong themes of resiliency, empowerment, and power play.
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