05/29/2026
I finished The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek recently.
if you’ve been around me, ya know.
i’ve been in a bit of a reading rut. stuck.
having a hard time even picking one up.
i have not been able to finish the Great Believers (Rebecca Makkai) which is a wonderful read, really great.
when I was in college I volunteered for AVOL, i have always had a tenderness to the cruelty of the AIDS epidemic and I think presuming the ending of this book has been too much for my heart.
it felt a bit like cheating starting a new book with that one so touching and open ended but i also knew deep down i needed something to bring me back. and boy did this one light me on up. i’ve been in some reflection after finishing tho.
i’ve not been the type of reader that just breezes through book after book after book. and i’m realizing now it’s because the books that have landed in my lap have shook me, touched me so deeply I do not want to move on. I want to let their message keep reaching me, teaching me.
it was another realization, validation of spirit, of empathy and of connection.
this book is so relevant to our times even tho set in the 30s and I wonder if people recognize, if they identify easily too to these characters and or who they would be or are being in their timeline of injustice. i’m guessing so.
it also reminded me of some of my most favorites over the years and how there is a powerful theme weaving going on. none of these books i sought, they found me and each of them, historical fiction, and unbelievably strong, empowered women at the heart of them all.
The Book of Longings, sue monk kidd
The Nightingale, kristen hannah
The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson
(two that have also moved me well, just not strong women leads
Between the World and Me, (nonfiction)Ta-Nehisi Coates
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolve)
this has grounded me in a way that I feel ready to finish The Great Believers and let it too scar this tender heart toward care.
i am grateful for history, literacy, advocacy.
anyhoo, anyone else have this kind of response to reading?
happy friday ♥️
