Hey everyone!
I’ve been listening to quite a few audiobooks lately. As an avid consumer of numerous podcasts, audiobooks – especially essay collections and non-fiction (read by the author), act as extended podcast episodes for me! Below are 4 mini reviews of the audiobooks I’ve enjoyed thus far.
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
Date Read: April 28th 2018
Published: 2018
Narrated by: Brittney Cooper
Length: 6hrs 57mins
The Blurb
So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.
Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon.
Eloquent Rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother’s eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one’s own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.
Review – ★★★★★ (5 stars)
I honestly don’t know how to review this book. There are updates I shared on Goodreads of my rough thoughts after some of the chapters I enjoyed. All I can say is: Dr. Brittney Cooper is my shero! That is all.
Purchase Eloquent Rage on Amazon
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
Date Read: May 16th 2017
Published: 2017
Narrated by: Michael Eric Dyson
Length: 5hrs 32mins
The Blurb
Short, emotional, literary, powerful—Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read.
As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man’s voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. In his 2016 New York Times op-ed piece “Death in Black and White,” Michael Eric Dyson moved a nation. Now he continues to speak out in Tears We Cannot Stop—a provocative and deeply personal call for change. Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.
Review – ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Excellent, excellent, excellent – from beginning to end! I love how Prof. Dyson takes his time to break everything down to white folk – who are the target audience of this book. I’m glad I listened to this via audiobook, because Dyson was very entertaining while performing his words. He has a wonderful, melodic (and sometimes superfluous) way with words that made this an excellent listen. This book is in the form of a sermon and almost every other sentence is quotable; so it was challenging to listen to this book while driving, because I’d always want to add a note to certain clips of chapters as reminders to transcribe the quotes when writing a review (one disadvantage of audiobooks). But I loved Dyson’s bold, fearless approach to enlightening white America of ALL the mess they’ve caused and still remain silent about.
When I started listening, I wondered if Dyson would address the ways white America relates to Black Americans and Black immigrants – i.e: folks from Africa and the Caribbean, and he indeed addresses this towards the end of the book. While Black people from Africa and the Caribbean don’t carry the same intricate baggage of slavery as Black Americans, in the United States, we are all just Black to the white man. Dyson addressing these facts in the book made me think of how divisive we (Black people) tend to be in our communities, and how it only hurts us.
Towards the end of the book, Dyson gives a plethora of recommendations for readers to educate themselves on race in America. Some of his recommendations of writers to read include – Classics: Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, bell hooks, Michelle Wallace, Kimberly Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama; Gifted Black Voices In Media: Ta’Nehisi Coates, Clint Smith, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Brittney Cooper, Eve Ewing, Wesley Lowrey; Ambassadors Of Truth: Peggy McIntosh (she came to my college to speak when I was in my junior year. It was such an honor to be in her presence!), Tim Wise and many more!
I really hope white folks are purchasing and reading this book, because it was carefully written for them.
Purchase Tear We Cannot Stop on Amazon
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Date Read: January 17th 2018
Published: 2016
Narrated by: Trevor Noah
Length: 8hrs 44mins
The Blurb
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.
The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
Review –★★★★ (4 stars)
What more can be said about Born A Crime? Everybody and their grandmother has read this book.
I started the book in November (2017) but got side tracked. If I had listened to this book in 3 sittings, I might have given the book 5 stars because it was really enjoyable when I first started. Nevertheless, Trevor Noah is a very compelling storyteller – listening to him re-enact South African accents/languages and imitate various characters was such a treat. But what a stubborn child this boy was!
To me, this book is an ode to his phenomenal mother, who I truly admire. The ending of this book was deeply emotional and brought me to tears… Born A Crime had the right blend of South African racial history, humor and life lessons.
Purchase Born A Crime on Amazon
What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey
Date Read: July 31st 2017 & (re-read) June 23rd 2018
Published: 2014
Narrated by: Oprah Winfrey
Length: 3hrs 53mins
The Blurb
As a creative force, student of the human heart and soul, and champion of living the life you want, Oprah Winfrey stands alone. Over the years, she has made history with a legendary talk show – the highest-rated program of its kind, launched her own television network, become the nation’s only African-American billionaire, and been awarded both an honorary degree by Harvard University and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. From all her experiences, she has gleaned life lessons―which, for fourteen years, she’s shared in O, The Oprah Magazine’s widely popular “What I Know For Sure” column, a monthly source of inspiration and revelation.
Review – ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Listening to Oprah is probably the best way you can consume this candid, uplifting book. I grew up watching & hearing Oprah’s voice on television, so obviously it didn’t take much for me to decide to experience this collection full of wisdom, via audio.
Hearing Oprah read her words gives you so much clarity and seriously puts things into perspective. I think I’ll make it a point to re-listen to this book at the beginning of every new year. It’ll help get my mind right and remind me of the things I NEED to fall back on, like – praying, taking the time to be present and feel myself breathe, making a conscious effort to see the good in everything, enjoying life, being full of gratitude and doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. What I Know For Sure reminds you that life isn’t as difficult as we make it seem, if we choose to live life full of gratitude.
Purchase What I Know For Sure on Amazon
Other excellent audiobooks I’ve enjoyed so far:
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Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
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One Day
We’ll All Be Dead and None ofThis Will Matter by Scaachi Koul
My thoughts of these books are on Goodreads (they do not cohere to the Black focus of this blog, so reviews won’t be posted here). Kindly click on the titles to be redirected to my thoughts on them.
The next audiobook I have lined up is – Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama. I hope to read along with the physical copy of the book (which was actually a gift to my Dad, from 9 years ago).
African Book Addict! 