![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
What I've been reading: Books No. 65-66
Dec. 13th, 2018 08:52 amBook No. 65 was "The Sword of Summer" (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan, as an audiobook. I will start by acknowledging some criticisms of this series that the voice of Magnus Chase isn't much different than Percy Jackson. Riordan's teenage boys do tend to sound a fair bit alike -- good natured but smart alecky. I think that's one reason I enjoyed "Heroes of Olympus" so much -- Riordan really stretched himself to write from a variety of viewpoints. All that being said, I have always adored the weird and wacky tales of Norse mythology, so this series is right up my alley. The joy in one of Riordan's mythology series is finding out how he will work various gods and their powers and allusions to mythological events into the story. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Book No. 66 was "Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison" by Shaka Senghor. This book tells the story of a young man from Detroit who left home to live on the streets at age 14, selling crack to survive. After being shot on the job, he becomes paranoid and shoots and kills another man when he feels threatened, sending him on a nearly two-decade trip through Michigan's prison system. Senghor strikes just the right balance, in my opinion, of pointing out the societal problems that send an inordinate number of black and brown men to prison while never using that to excuse his crime.
On his trips through various low-, medium- and high-security prisons around Michigan, he has to balance the rules of survival in prison versus becoming the better man that he wants to be. He screws up a lot, and at one point ends up in solitary confinement for more than four years. But slowly, through keeping a journal and the support of family and friends and even the godmother of the man he killed, he slowly begins to turn his life around, reading deeply, and going through an anger management course before finally leaving on parole. Once out, he becomes a mentor to at-risk young men, as well as launching a public speaking and writing career. This book was interesting to me on multiple levels. I really appreciated that his story was specifically about Michigan prison life since that's where I live (and have had family members incarcerated). I learned more about black Islamic sects in America and how they operate in prison as well. Fascinating and touching. Highly recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
Book No. 66 was "Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison" by Shaka Senghor. This book tells the story of a young man from Detroit who left home to live on the streets at age 14, selling crack to survive. After being shot on the job, he becomes paranoid and shoots and kills another man when he feels threatened, sending him on a nearly two-decade trip through Michigan's prison system. Senghor strikes just the right balance, in my opinion, of pointing out the societal problems that send an inordinate number of black and brown men to prison while never using that to excuse his crime.
On his trips through various low-, medium- and high-security prisons around Michigan, he has to balance the rules of survival in prison versus becoming the better man that he wants to be. He screws up a lot, and at one point ends up in solitary confinement for more than four years. But slowly, through keeping a journal and the support of family and friends and even the godmother of the man he killed, he slowly begins to turn his life around, reading deeply, and going through an anger management course before finally leaving on parole. Once out, he becomes a mentor to at-risk young men, as well as launching a public speaking and writing career. This book was interesting to me on multiple levels. I really appreciated that his story was specifically about Michigan prison life since that's where I live (and have had family members incarcerated). I learned more about black Islamic sects in America and how they operate in prison as well. Fascinating and touching. Highly recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
