pickThis series of essays is thought provoking and disturbing and educational and stirring and you can‘t help coming away with a new perspective on the world. My privilege does not exempt me from my own ignorance and I encourage everyone to read and promote Black authors, Indigenous authors, Women authors, and anyone whose voice is underrepresented. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I never buy hardcovers. But sometimes I can't wait for the paperback to come out. Thankfully my library rocks. I haven't started it yet but I have read him before.
pickCoates writes with such a remarkable degree of clarity, integrity, and compassion. The book is comprised of three essay sections where he tells of his journeys- to Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine. He shares his experiences, observations, insights, and mind rumblings. He is willing to say “I was wrong” and tells of how his opinion changed after learning new information - something we all need to learn to do better. Essential reading.
pickThe Message takes readers through three places Coates traveled to. Dakar is his first time in Africa, and his revelations about it are honest and highly personal to him as he looks at his ancestral roots. His time in South Carolina is timely as he meets a teacher who is at risk of being fired for teaching one of Coates' books. Finally, his trip to Palestine shows the continuing turmoil in that region and how injustice is on full display daily.
Don‘t walk, run to get this book! Since Coates has been shaking the table with his discursive intervention on Palestine, that was the section I was most interested to read… but in the end I was particularly floored by the section on education & the war on “critical race theory.” If I taught HS English, I would def assign this book!
Coates is being interviewed by local author Omar El Akkad who is an amazingly smart and interesting person himself. I am so excited for this, hoping for nothing but to learn.
#WeeklyForecast
It's a big one! I am going to see Ta-Nehisi Coats on Tuesday so I want to make a bit of a dent in his book before that talk; I really need to return this library book, lucky it is in verse so I am flying through The Ghosts of Rose Hill; still plugging away at 3 Musketeers! The Little Friend is my #10BeforeTheEnd for the week and if I have time I will read a bit of Nettle and Bone!
pickCoates‘s latest book is a series of essays that form a narrative through-line looking at who gets to be a full person. He impactfully explores the treatment of Palestinians in Israel (he visited before the current war), demonstrating the similarity to Jim Crow. We need provocateurs like Coates to get us talking and thinking. I‘m fully on board with him here.
pickAs always, I greatly value Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ thoughtfulness and perspective.
pickRequired reading. Equally as important, this should be discussed.
I love Coates's writing. It‘s succinct and impactful, elegant and educational. “Writing is a powerful tool of politics.”
Essential reading in the conversation of the power of narrative and how it shapes our world. It's a reminder that the stories we tell can either free us or bind us, and that the sharing of truth, however uncomfortable, is ultimately the way to true freedom.
Powell's book haul!
I went in last night to pick up the tagged and Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium then kept going...
I want to read Jesus and John Wayne during Nonfiction November and they had a used copy - score! And then I found a sale edition of Wells' #7 Murderbot (now need 5&6 🤣)
I have been collecting these pretty paper mill press classics and Emma and Persuasion were half price, so had to grab them!
The Message | 
