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Awkward. I was hoping for honest reflections on the role reading, engaging with books, can play in incarcerated people's lives, and that was part of the text. The awkward part was the author's realization that literature didn't play as big a role in their lives as in hers, that the book club was an escape that she seemed happy to be part of until confronted with its relative position in others' lives and ends on a self-pitying note. 1/4

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

A bit of a strange anthology. Periodically interspersed with the poems were inspirational quotes by non-poets. As interesting as some were (Havel's comment on hope vs optimism really stuck with me), I wish that this had been all poetry. A minor quibble, as there are only a few quotes. The selections are far ranging: from Sara Teasdale to Terrance Hayes. Includes several favorites that I happily read once more 👇

"Four In the Morning"

Tookie, who sells books after years of incarceration, must solve the mystery of why the bookstore‘s most annoying (now dead) customer is haunting her while trying to survive Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, and furious reckoning.

Tropes/Themes
• book about books.
• chosen family.
• faces racism.
• confronts mortality.

#literaryfiction #characterdriven #issueoriented #thoughtprovoking #reflective #mediumpace #culturallydiverse

It's the memoir of an English professor who leads a literature course in a maximum security prison. It's okay: the premise is appealing, and the discussions are occasionally enlightening. But also the author sometimes comes across as naive or self-superior or both. To her credit, she often acknowledges her missteps and does not attempt to justify them; still, it's sometimes hard to sympathize with her or see what the takeaway is supposed to be.