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The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
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What Members Thought

I received a review copy of the audio from the publisher, but I had this book on my radar before it was offered. I was happy to get a chance to hear it.
This book should be required reading to help everyone understand the current status of race relations in the United States. If you can, get it in audio. Since the book is a letter from the author to his 15 year old son, it is even more powerful heard in his voice.
This book details what it is like to live in a black body while also questioning the ...more
This book should be required reading to help everyone understand the current status of race relations in the United States. If you can, get it in audio. Since the book is a letter from the author to his 15 year old son, it is even more powerful heard in his voice.
This book details what it is like to live in a black body while also questioning the ...more

Apparently, Toni Morrison called this "A must read." I fully cosign that statement. Coates stole my breath. It would have been a quick read, but it was painful, and I could only handle it in doses. But you don't get to avoid the pain. There is no way to avoid the pain of our existence, so why should we get to hide from it when it's presented to us on the page. I was reading this while waiting for clients to be brought for visits at the jail. One young man asked me what I was reading. I highly re
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This is one of the most important books on race I've read. Every American should read this, even if you think you're a liberal white person. Coates has something to tell us all.
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I don't really have words. Except to say I will be re-reading it. And to strongly encourage everyone to read it. Just. Everyone.
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A primal scream of a book that's impossible to continue reading and impossible to put down. It's been a long time since I've wept publicly while reading a book, but it's a must-read. I'm not gonna say it's perfect (the women don't really come to life except as abstract moments driving his enlightenment), but it is deeply affecting, like all books should be.
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An intense soliloquy on the experience of being a black male in this country. I had to take lots of breaks and stop myself from looking away, but it's an important book.
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A really important read for our time. As Toni Morrison says on the book jacket, "This should be required reading."
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Feb 29, 2016
Gerald
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Jun 25, 2016
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Jul 26, 2016
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Nov 17, 2016
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