Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance | 
pickThis is not a book by a politician hoping to woo the public. I think that's why I couldn't put it down. Written long before his presidential candidacy began Obama explores his identity & childhood here. White grandparents from Kansas, a father from Nigeria, an upbringing in Hawaii & Indonesia, & his 1st trip to Africa is all included. It's less polished & more powerful because of that. There's a palpable struggle to find his footing in this world.
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I picked up Obama‘s first memoir from an Audible sale a couple of years ago, where it has been patiently waiting in my library until just the right time. I‘m disappointed to realize that it was abridged - it looks like the unabridged audio was only released in 2021. I‘ll have to read the full book someday; I could listen to his gifted storytelling for hours. It abounds with beautiful writing, great insights, and refreshing candor. 🎧
pickI read this with my #bookclub this month. It was an interesting look into his family background and life growing up. Obama ponders the different facets of race that played a part in his upbringing and how it affected the way he sees the world and himself, with a mixed family background.
#OnThisDay in 1995 a little known law professor published his first memoir. One year later he was elected to the Illinois Senate. Twelve years after that, his message of hope led him to the Presidency. "You might be locked into a world not of your own making … but you still have a claim on how it is shaped." #HistoryGetsLIT
I finished Dreams from My Father today and then turned around and discussed the first half of Between the World and Me with one of my groups on Facebook. Definitely some moving moments in both books and really giving me some reflections on the state of the world. I love that one of Obama‘s speeches is included at the end of his memoir.
Life is always more hopeful with the Obama‘s around. 😏 I‘ve read Becoming, but I am so happy to own my own copy (still thinking the audiobook is also necessary). I haven‘t read either of Barack‘s books yet, but what better time?
#TheObamas #MichelleObama #BarackObama #Becoming #DreamsFromMyFather #TheAudacityOfHope
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1. I got my vote to right this year only so i didn't get the chance to vote but I feel it is everyone's responsibility to vote.
2. I'm thankful for being productive and completing my daily targets .
Thanks for the tag @Annie1215
Tagging: @Arvena @LitStephanie @eeclayton @I.be.Stef
What a writer! So loving this ❤️
My #Top6Reads so far this year -
Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama
Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
The Martian - Andy Weir
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maude Montgomery
Chain of Gold - Cassandra Clare
The Unwomanly Face of War - Svetlana Alexievich
I'm joining @Riveted_Reader_Melissa for #Recommendsday and sharing books of black authors which I love. #BLM #BLMReadingList.
This is helping. @Emilymdxn shared a link to an article this morning about UK. A black author is at the top of the bestsellers list and it hadn't happened since they started keeping data. She made some valid points. One point that stuck with me was that she doesn't want to profit every time a person has to die of race😢
pickBeautifully written memoir. It is amazing that this man became our president after peeking into this bit of origin. He painted a colorful story of the people around him. Nice introduction of this second printing. He wrote that he should have been more succinct and talked more about his mother. I agree with his self analysis, there are times where there could be less words, but great book just the same! #doublespin #march @TheAromaofBooks
so-soI‘ve always been captivated by how graceful & connected Barack Obama comes across when he speaks..he writes the same way. The book is very interesting if you‘d like to know about his beginnings. However, that is not the reason I was interested in reading. More so to relate to the consequences of an absent father. I bailed after his time in Chicago ends. I began to lose interest and found myself bored so I chose to move on. I do recommend though!
“A few months after my twenty-first birthday, a stranger called to give me the news.” #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
1. Obama's Dreams From My Father.
2. I posted many quotes from this book. I can't pick a favorite.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
pick⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I enjoyed reading this so much. Every word was full of emotion. As much as I loved Michelle's Becoming, the President has her beat with storytelling.
Bingo #FancifulFebruary @4thhouseontheleft
What if the truth only disappointed, and my father's death meant nothing, and his leaving me behind meant nothing, and the only tie that bound me to him, or to Africa, was a name, a blood type, or white people's scorn?
😢
He is such a beautiful writer.
These boys have no margin for error; if they carry guns, those guns will offer them no protection from the truth. And it is that truth, a truth that they surely sense but can't admit and, in fact, must refuse if they are to wake up tomorrow, that has forced them, or others like them, eventually to shut off access to any empathy they may once have felt.
"When their eyes stop laughing. Their throats can still make the sound, but if you look at their eyes, you can see they've shut off something inside."
?
Question @4thhouseontheleft @cinfhen @barbarathebibliophage
What were your intentions on the parent/child memoir? I know you will probably say reader's choice, but I want to be certain. Should both parent and child be writers? Or will Obama's work on this prompt?
I also have 2 Children's books I'm reading for #FancifulFebruary. Moloka'i is my #BookSpin for February. I may be ambitious, but this is what I have on my nightstand. Have a great week everyone.
Where were the fathers, the uncles and grandfathers, who could help explain this gash in our hearts? Where were the healers who might help us rescue meaning from defeat? They were gone, vanished, swallowed up by time. Only their cloudy images remained, and their once a year letters full of done store advice.
Don't you know who I am? I'm an INDIVIDUAL!
YEESSS!
Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man.. I got high..., something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory.
It is so hard to read of his pain, but it is so important for me to understand.
To be black was to be the beneficiary of a great inheritance, a special destiny, glorious burdens that only we were strong enough to bear. 😢
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain
1. Dreams From My Father, Little Bee, and The Crying of Lot 49
2. Knitting
3. The Red Scrolls of Magic
According to her, the word racism wasn't even in their vocabulary back then. "Your grandfather and I just figured we should treat people decently, Bar. That's all."
so-soAfter listening to Michelle Obama read Becoming, was inspired to pick up Barack Obama's books again. Decided on the audio version this time around. Learned a lot about his dad. Thought that there would be more about how race/ being bi-racial played a role in his childhood. While it didn't skirt the issue, it seemed as though it wasn't much of one. Or I missed the subtleties in listening to the book instead of reading.
Thank you to @RachelO #jbuk for your surprise package it made my day 😘
I am really looking forward to reading this book 📚
I truly hope you have a great Christmas and New year with your family the chaotic the better I always say 🎅☃️🥰🍾
#thankyou #litsyfriends #christmaskindness #jbuk
This is my happy moment, the memory I will recall all week as a mandra in my head, once things get hard at work. #brealfast #book #coffee #greenagate #weekend #mandra #dreamsfrommyfather #barackobama 📚🐾🤓
pickThis started out a little slow but once it got moving, I found it interesting to hear about Obama‘s life and experiences before his presidency. I find this man so intriguing and inspiring.
pickpickExcellent biography but disappointing President 😢
I‘m calling it a night on #24B4Monday I finished one book, started two others and made a tiny bit of progress in the 4th. Despite barely being home all weekend I managed to eek out 12 hours of reading (twice my goal 🙌🏾) and had a great time. Can‘t wait to do it all again in a hopefully slower weekend.
Thank you @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65 and @jb72 for hosting and encouraging me.
pickObama‘s early memoir covers his growing up, and looking for his identity as a young black man in America. He is the child of a love marriage between his all-American white mother and Kenyan father, raised in young boyhood in Indonesia, later in Hawaii by his mother and white grandparents. His unique perspective on race - both from inside and out - and opportunity - both in America and Kenya - give him unique insights and understanding. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Came across this from a secondhand bookstore today! Michelle Obama mentioned this in her book which made me interested in reading it, and now I have a copy ❤️
pickDreams From My Father have a detailed account of President Obama‘s upbringing, and of his connection to his father.
I have tickets to see Barack Obama speak in a week or so (!!!), so I thought I better read up a little. It was quite interesting to learn about his early life, especially his childhood. I liked that this book was written well before he had presidential aspirations, as I found it to be rather candid. I think this would be a better audiobook pick though, listening to his iconic voice.
#BlackHistoryMonth #ReadBlackAuthors #Blitsy
Started listening to this at work and nearly fell asleep. His voice is so relaxing. Also teared up during the preface when he talks about his mother, who died shortly after this book was originally published
pickThis was wonderful, not totally what I was expecting but I really enjoyed it. I was expecting it to be more about America, less about him personally. I feel like I understand him better now, and he‘s a more captivating writer than i was prepared for. I definitely want to read the audacity of Hope now.
This felt like a natural thing to read after my Becoming book hangover!
On to the next. Presidend Obama will always be MY President.
1. Clue
2. Friends' vow renewal in South Queensferry, Scotland; meeting the groom's Scottish family and friends, pulling a muscle doing some wild ceilidh dancing! 😂 💃
3. History
4. 💚
5. Who is your favorite reading role model?
Mine is my dad, who ensured that I grew up in a house full of books and passed a love of reading to me. The genres and stories we like overlap a lot, so he's still the person I most often swap books with.
#friyayintro
