I heard about the book before I knew about the podcast so I went into this with zero expectations. It's really a great glimpse into prison life and how serving time affects the prisoners and their loved ones. Poor and Woods purposefully choose to focus on similarities to life inside and out, and they really drive home the message while humanizing the people they interview.

While "Just Mercy" was a great glimpse at the failures of an unjust court system and the horror and injustice of death row told through the lens of a lawyer, this book offers a glimpse of how the court system and prison system fail millions of Americans told through the lens of the prisoners and their loved ones. It's especially timely to read this when Aguilera-Mederos, the truck driver in CO whose accident killed 4 people, is sentenced to 110 years while Kim Potter, the MN cop who killed Daunte Wright, only faces up to 15 years. What's also sad is how easy it is to live life outside without any passing thought to people stuck in prison. I hope the book and podcast continue to light a fire for prison reform.

Dave Grohl is a great storyteller if you like stories that meander along and then circle back completing the journey. He has lived an amazing life, and I enjoyed all the stages from his youth and punk days to grunge and then rock and family life. He's also had some uncanny coincidences and run-ins. I've had a long running crush, and this just enhanced it ;)

My comprehension of history during the time of the 1960s-1980s is pretty sad and lacking. My knowledge has always been a bit fuzzy regarding MLK, Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, and the Vietnam protests and how they are all related. This book offers an in-depth look at that time period and those subjects although I could have done without the huge intro explaining the first 400 years of oppression of Black people. I understand that history lays the foundation for the Black figures and organizations that shaped the time period, but I already came to the book knowing that information.

What I liked best about this book was how in-depth it covered the creation and purpose of the Black Panther Party, and I like how it laid out all the barriers and oppression imposed by the police and government that the BPP had to fight against, yet they still did massive good for their communities with free breakfast programs, free health clinics and other social programs to lift up Black families whom capitalism and government failed. There are so many parallels to the movement then and the Black Lives Matter movement now. I hope that this movement can sustain itself and lead to lasting change. While the Black Panther Party could not sustain itself, they did create lasting change that BLM has built on.

I learned a lot from this book. While I had heard some about the time period and atrocities covered in this book, I didn't know much detail. Colbert covers forced Indian displacements, the Five Civilized Tribes, the big land grabs, and the many lynchings of Black people and cover ups by white people in the late 1800s and early 1900s. All of that lays ground for the main focus of the book: the building of Greenwood, ie Black Wall Street, and the devastation of the neighborhood, the homes, the businesses and the community at the hands of the white people across the railroad tracks, including police officers and the National Guard.

I also liked how she ended the book. She talked about how such a historical event was covered up and how Tulsa is still struggling to make amends although it's made some slow progress. Then she lays out parallels between then and present day, and there are a lot, which goes to show that ignoring our history or white washing it means we learn nothing and do not grow.

I could see this marketed as a book for fans of John Green's "A Fault in Our Stars" but with a much heavier topic. How can a book be heavier than doomed love and teen cancer? This one is about a sexual assault, ASD, PTSD, and so much gaslighting, but it's all well done. I was in a hurry in the beginning as the narrative alternates between journal entries leading up to the assault and the aftermath of a school investigation. I just wanted to know what happened and who sexually assaulted Owen, but I also loved and cringed at his relationship with his father, which is just as important a storyline as the assault. You find out who the abuser is about halfway through the book, and then the second half of the book is an emotional rollercoaster of how a victim comes to terms with what happened and how to live life forever changed afterwards.

I knew going in that this book was about a sexual assault, and I almost didn't read it. However, it's handled really well and actually a book that tweens/teens should probably read and discuss.

Such a great book! A book about a transgender teen who moves to a new school in Ohio and tries to fly under the radar after coming out and being bullied at his old school....sounds like it could be sad, but it's full of heart. I love all the characters and how supportive they are. It gave me "Love, Simon" vibes, and I nearly read it in one sitting as I ignored everything else, which is the mark of a great read :)

This was a good look at two sides of a story and a good pick for book clubs. What happens to a lifelong friendship when a white woman and a Black woman are caught in the fallout after the white woman's police officer husband murders a Black teen. It offered good insight into how two different women and two different communities feel and cope in the aftermath. What felt off was the friendship. It didn't feel truly close, and it was hard to understand why the Black woman maintained the friendship when the white woman was so ignorant, dismissive and self-absorbed.

Sometimes the worst books are the best ones to discuss. This wasn’t the worst book I’ve read, but it’s one that I’d love to discuss because I have some thoughts.

Wayyyyy too many chapters. 123 to be exact. Was it cool that she was in a yoga class with Angela Davis? Sure, but it didn’t need to be mentioned. I didn’t need to hear so much about the pushback regarding the merging of two schools, neither of which her kid attended. I also didn’t need the story about the grandparent having a medical incident on the playground. This book could have done with some serious editing.

I listened to the audiobook. While I appreciated that she had a Black woman act as her sensitivity reader, it was hard to understand when problematic statements were pointed out since the author read those herself. It was also hard to understand if the author learned anything from the feedback.

There were soooo many examples of white saviorism, and the author self-reflected on a few but that didn’t slow her down from continually treating one Black dad like a charity chase instead of like a peer and fellow parent. She also had a weird relationship with one of her daughter’s teachers. It felt like she hounded her even after the teacher left the school. Then the set up of Blair being her polar opposite as a pushy vvhite mom to the author’s supposedly cool vvhite mom…ick.

The parts I liked were the parts where I learned that school integration peaked in the 80s and school is now more segregated than it was in the 60s. I also liked when she shared stories about how her daughter was making friends and learning at the school and when she said vvhite parents are welcome to send their kids to majority Black schools, but that the parents need to sit down, shut up and listen. Great advice that the author could have heeded more. There’s also a great chapter where she references an article written by Nikole Hannah-Jones, but when I looked up the article later, I realized most of what the author read was exactly what Hannah-Jones had written in the article. Since I listened to the audiobook, I’m not sure what was direct quote and what was paraphrased, but it felt like all she did was regurgitate a Black woman’s words.

Overall, I like the idea of the book, and while parts of her journey were super cringy, I definitely identified at times. Maybe that’s part of why I struggle with it. It definitely made me continue thinking about school choice, a topic that’s been on my mind for a few years now even though my kids aren’t school age yet. I know the benefits of immersing my kids in classrooms with kids from different races, different socio economic backgrounds, different abilities and where English is not the first language spoken at home. Having grown up in PWI, I have a better understanding now of what I missed then. I love that I found a school system whose demographics include 30% white, 32% Black, 14% Hispanic, 14% Asian, 22% ESL and 72% low income. It’s sad that so many of the surrounding, sought after school systems are anywhere from 75 to 88% white.