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This. It‘s like such a crystalline picture. Richard Wright has this way of making himself a regular person in the completely insane, oppressive violent world of the 1920‘s Jim Crowe South. It‘s dystopian, and nonfictional. His response, his strength, but also his tone - it‘s like “What are these people thinking?!…Is this real?” - is incredibly powerful. It‘s an amazing window into that reality, our history.

My next book. Started today.

Unity in Diversity: #blackhistorymonth

Almost 100 years later and the police still assume a person of color is the one who needs locked up. :(

I did get a lot out of reading this book but I think it suffered a bit from me comparing it to Native Son which is one of the best books I‘ve read in a long time so that probably isn‘t a fair comparison. This was horribly hard to read (as I expected a memoir of growing up in poverty and black in Jim Crow Mississippi) but incredibly well written and I‘m astonished he managed to find a hopeful ending.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. Tagged, I wanted to read an American classic on Independence Day

2. All the Becky chambers books are the most beautiful space themed covers to me

3. Guapa by Saleem Haddad

A powerful memoir of growing up in the south. The author of Native Son tells his own story, full of hunger, prejudice, and pain. It's hard to believe that it was published 75 years ago and so many of his points are still relevant now.

“Within the confines of its present culture, if the nation ever seeks to purge itself of its color hate, it will find itself at war with itself, convulsed by a spasm of emotional and moral confusion.”

Guess who unexpectedly got paid back some money that I wasn‘t expecting to get back? Guess who immediately spent it on books despite being broke??

Put together this stack for the #joysofjune readathon. My goal is to read all books by authors of colour and I‘ve got a pretty big range here from very ancient through to this year, 3 different continents, fiction non fiction memoir and religion, whew.

An excellent book. Wright‘s autobiography should be required reading.

Heavy

This is one of the best memoirs I‘ve ever read, though admittedly I haven‘t read many. I‘m not sure some of the anecdotes he shares from his childhood are strictly “true” as in objectively reflecting reality (he gets too many clever one-liners in his fights) but I think it‘s as true as any autobiography can be. His fight with his uncle had me on the edge of my seat and as an ex-SDA, I can confirm the accuracy of his observations about the church.

Wright tells the story of his childhood in Mississippi in crushing poverty. He describes his alienation from his own highly religious family and his confrontation with white racists.

Winter in my high school library (Black Boy is part of my snowman)🌲⛄️🕎📚

“I hungered for the sharp, frightening, breathtaking, almost painful excitement that the story had given me, and I vowed that as soon as I was old enough I would buy all the novels there were and read them to feed that thirst for violence that was in me, for intrigue, for plotting, for secrecy, for bloody murders.”

Isn't this a quote to define the times:
And we strove to convince one another that our decisions stemmed from ourselves and ourselves alone. Yet we frantically concealed how dependent we were upon one another.

I'm normally really good at used bookstores b/c I'm a bit of a book snob and don't like any imperfections on my books. So today's visit was a surprise and a success! (Or a failure b/c I only went there to browse).
#bookhaul

I read parts of this #autobiography in school, but I've wanted to read it in its entirety ever since I read Wright's novel Native Son a couple years ago. It describes Wright's childhood and experiences growing up in the Jim Crow era south. #readjanuary #diverseathon #ownvoices

#bookhaul picture #1 from Half Price Books. Yes, I spent way more 💰💰than I intended, but I had a great time doing so. Books and reading are just too important!! Most of the books I bought today can be considered #diversebooks. I have my work cut out for me, so it's time to get busy! #overit #selfcaresaturday #overthis #blacklivesmatter #feminist #LGBTQ

#bannedbooksweek

Happy #bookishbirthday to Richard Wright (1908-1960)! Like a lot of people, I read Black Boy in high school - my freshman year - and, looking back, I can see it was a pivotal book in encouraging my sense of empathy and expanding my view of the world. I need to read it again! #wndb

"So far I had managed to keep humanly alive through transfusions from books."

"Yes, the whites were as miserable as their black victims, I thought. If this country can't find its way to a human path, if it can't inform conduct with a deep sense of life, then all of us, black as well as white, are going down the same drain..."

It's one of those days where to turn away only perpetuates the violence.