Edit: rereading this a second time as a mom myself is interesting! I felt a lot more sympathy for Sohail as the father, though I still think he did abandon his son. I still deeply resonated with Maya and her stubborn, resolute nature. Overall, Anam asks us to consider the role of religion in Bangladesh's ongoing development in an intriguing way.



It was interesting to learn more about life post war and get a new perspective on Islam in Bangladesh. Written very lyrically and presented in a kind of fragmented, free conscious manner, it's more of an intellectual thought experiment than the story. I loved her feminist perspective on the war because female sacrifices, willing or unwilling, are so rarely talked about.

Whew is all I can say. This book will make you cry. Treva Lindsey details all the ways in which Black women's lives are devalued in contemporary America. Using case studies and examples from her own life, Lindsey makes the case for why we all need to #SayHerName and rally behind Black women, girls, and nonbinary folks. I had to stop several times because of how deeply personal the stories felt and how disturbing the cases were. The final chapters will galvanize you to act, in whatever way, to protect the lives of Black women, girls, and nonbinary folks.

Edit: this was my second read through and while I still enjoyed the book, I found it hard to see where Evaristo herself is aligned.



short vignettes about distinctly black british women's toils, troubles and joys. Bernardino Evaristo's work is very much centered in the here and now even as her characters span decades of history and travel between continents. the only thing that i couldn't wrap my mind around is the choice to not include any uppercase or quoations. it made reading dialougue a new experience.

Horrifying and beautifully written, Chris Abani's Song For Night traces MyLuck's harrowing journey through the African continent to find his platoon of child soldiers. Along the way, readers grapple with MyLuck's moral and ethical dilemmas of living as a solider of war. What struck me is the way bodies are both present and hidden in this text. Each short chapter title gestures to a body motion - Silence is a Steady Hand, Palm Flat; Night is a Palm Pulled Down over the Eyes. Perhaps it's a gesture to the MyLuck relies on sign language to convey his meaning since his vocal cords were destroyed by the deranged general, John Wayne. As I was reading, I couldn't help but repeat the gesture by myself. By doing so, I felt even more connected to the narrator.

I still can't get past the awkward, uncomfortable sex scenes between Erica and Changez.

Dorothy Roberts painstakingly and eloquently summarizes how Child Protective Services often functions as an extension of the criminal legal system and disproportionately impacts families of color. She traces the current family policing system back to slavery and notes significant developments along the way. I found this book eye-opening and heartbreaking. Highly recommend!

Incredible! Davis packs so much into just a brief, small book. I learned so much & unfortunately so much is still applicable today.

What I loved most about this book is the sense of continuity the authors were able to create. I felt like I could truly see the genealogy of abolition feminism from the 1800s to the present day across the globe. This connection helped me feel hopeful about the abolitionist mission.

In the Country of Men traces the violent history of the Libyan Revolution under al-Gaddafi through the eyes of a nine year old boy, Suleiman. The juxtaposition of the naivety of youth with the sinister violent regime makes this a very unsettling read. Matar fills the text with beautiful prose and poetic descriptions. I do wonder if the conclusion of the book was a little too resolved - wartime regimens often leave a lot of loose ends.