Welcome to Litsy!

Written by Coates as an essay/letter to his son, this is a powerful narrative about what it‘s like to inhabit a black body in America and how to find your own way to live with it. Like the protagonist in the prompt book, Coates was also profoundly affected by the death of a college friend at the hands of the police. And like Angie Thomas‘ novel, this book has also been banned by schools and libraries in the south.
#Nonfiction2024

After a rough day, comfort yourself with a large pizza and a good book.

This book was banned, and the author decided to show up to the school that had done it while a school board meeting was happening; he sat in silent protest to support a teacher who tried to reason with them. He wrote an entire book in the form of a letter to his son—about his experiences with this very thing. They deny systemic and historical racism, yet here it is on full display. Highly recommended.

This is a letter from the author to his son. It‘s his POV of growing up black in America and how things have and haven‘t changed from his dad‘s generation to his son‘s. He expresses his hopes and fears.

He writes about his early view of his world being narrowed to his neighborhood, then his college town, not seeing the point in looking further than those borders or the country‘s, then discovering world travel and how that expanded his view.

On the way home! Lucas and I flew to Phoenix to kick off Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. 😍

While I don‘t think I got all of it, or even most of it, this was a book worth reading. Coates drops a lot of names - writers, poets, musicians - and even looking into a smattering of them blew up my TBR. I found the thread hard to follow at times, as his reflections meandered. Not the best book I‘ve read, but a good one. #52Books23 #typographiccover #butIforgotapicture

#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations Day 18 Nonfiction
"This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it."
Coates book, a letter to his young Black son is gorgeous and moving. This is essential reading, to get a glimpse inside the reality of Black parents and Coates hopes and fears for his child in this country.

A hard but fantastic read.

This is a powerful little book - a love letter from father to son. Particularly right now when state governors enact laws to prevent our history from a black perspective from being taught in public schools, this book hits hard. It can be read in less than an afternoon, and the audiobook at normal speed is only 4 hours long. Imagine the hearts and minds that could open up to enlightenment if only our white entitled fear was not so powerful.

Car line reading time!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ • I think I would have liked this better if I read a print version rather than listened to the audiobook.

More free books from the university library. My TBR cannot handle this type of generosity.

This quote came from a mom that the author was interviewing after the death of her son by shooting. She was addressing the author‘s son directly.

I chose this book to read in my quest to read more books by black authors. It‘s the author‘s letter to his son about the realities of being a black man. Eye-opening.

Listened to the audiobook and it was EXCELLENT. Written as a letter to his son about his own experience growing up black in the USA.

A 4 hour audiobook with an important voice. A very good listen.

"I did not tell you that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay. What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it."

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall, a decent read. I particularly enjoyed part 2, where Coates writes about his concerns of black bodies to his son and what that means for their relationship.

#BookNookBuddies2022 #BookSpinBingo

Another great audiobook, which concurrently gives me a second BINGO🎉🎉

Book 10

I listened to Between the World and Me written and narrated by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a good writer and an excellent narrator. It's a short, well-done commentary on race issues in the US. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow Jee, thank you! Both of these sound wonderful!
I wish you all the best with your move, may it all go smoothly. Happy Holidays to you! 💚❤️💚🎄

#FallTreasures - Banned Book: I wonder what words I would say in a letter to my son on living in America today. On becoming a young black man in America today. On chasing after education, dreams & prosperity in America today. On hoping for a good job, healthcare and home ownership in America today. On how to handle a possible encounter with law enforcement officers in America today. On desiring fair opportunity and happiness in America today.👇🏽

Next up ➡️ the Italian edition of "Between the World and Me"

I'm not the target audience for this author's perspective but this book will resonate deeply with anyone who has felt out of place within their family, their peers, their culture, their country. I highly recommend listening to it, rather than reading, because it's narrated by the author himself and his voice, rhythm, and emotion heightened the power of what he was communicating, I almost felt in a trance while listening.

summer reading and i have such a huge problem with reading books for school so this took a while even tho it‘s short. something you should read to learn what it means to be black in america

Ta-Nehisi seems angry in this book and blames his life's problems solely on white people which I dont agree with. I just wish he would have had some excerpts in his book that celebrated his accomplishments without blaming white people in conjunction.

I‘ve been meaning to read this one for a while, and I‘m glad I finally did. The writing was so good, and I learned a lot!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ so amazing and well written

"For so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies"

One of the most lyrical and haunting books on race, and raising children in America.
#curiouscovers @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Then the mother of the murdered boy rose, turned to you, and said, “You exist. You matter. You have value. You have every right to wear your hoodie, to play your music as loud as you want. You have every right to be you. And no one should deter you from being you. You have to be you. And you can never be afraid to be you.”

Top 5 Non-Fiction read this year

Favourite Book Read in May 🔥 Also my new top book of the year so far 👏👏👏

This #audiobook is read by the author. It's really short. And it turns out the author is a francophile. I love all of those things. I'm pretty sure other people picked entirely different things.

I listened to this one on a road trip I made yesterday. It was written to and for Coates‘ son and narrated by him. It feels almost sacrilegious for me, an old white woman, to comment on it, but it affected me greatly in my efforts to be empathetic. It was quite good. Love his writing no matter what it‘s about. #100YEARS100BOOKS #69 #BookSpinBingo #7 #BFC21 #NUTSinMAY

throwback

every time I finished reading a page or passage I wanted to go back and re-read it again and again ☄️

Just wow

Read 51 pages which put me halfway through the book. It's after midnight here and I am fading fast, so I'll finish it tomorrow. Going to read a bit of Quichotte by Salman Rushdie for as long as I can stay up. #readathon

🎧 This author‘s letter to his son is deeply moving, heartfelt & emotionally charged. He speaks of the past 200 years of this nation‘s history.

He‘s not wrong.

What impacted me most was the story of how his son was shoved & he worried that he‘d endangered him by speaking up. First off, why would someone push a child. That enraged me & his angst, well it got me.

This is a must read.

Perfect narration for the book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👇🏻

I‘m glad I read this book again (required for a class, after reading it a few years ago), as I appreciated it more this time, but it didn‘t impact me as much as Jemar Tisby‘s and Bryan Stevenson‘s books.

Currently reading ... again; read this several years ago, and now it‘s required reading. Looking forward to hearing it from a fresh perspective.

This book had me on the verge of tears the entire read. All at the same time a love letter, a warning, and a song to his son, it poetically encapsulates the struggle Coates has faced his entire life, that of being a black man in America. I can‘t imagine this book being any better than what it was.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars
Read date: 2/18/2021

Short and powerful. People who think they are white - as Coates puts it - have the privilege of having to consider race only when they fancy it. African Americans have to do it every second of every day.

This book is filled with gems and food for thought, and ideally I‘ll revisit it in a few weeks or months to make the most out of it

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackAuthors #2021

National CASA Book Club book. Great discussion on Zoom today. Looking forward to the author discussion next week.
Great writing and insight.

This book is super timely. I think its message about race is such an important topic right now and it is a very short read. It‘s very to the point and well written.

This 154 page autobiography and letter to Coates‘s then 15 year old son moves between love for his boy to American history, politics and education. It won awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was made into a stage production as well as an HBO movie. Coates‘s writing is poetic, informative and consciousness raising. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is an important read with its first-hand experience and resulting emotions and actions of what it feels like to be a black man with a black son in America. There were certain ideas and examples which really affected me, but overall it was very cerebral and often went over my head.

This book is so powerful, and full of so much emotion and frustration. Coates's tone is often pessimistic and many of his observations broke my heart. At the same time, it's important to understand the truth that lies in them and how that truth affects so many people. There's so much in it that I know I didn't take in all of it in the first read, but it will be more than worth revisiting.