My Week in Books // 9-8-21

It’s already past Labor Day and I am craving fall weather. Unfotunately, we’re on track to be the hottest September in history so October can’t get here soon enough!

It’s already Homecoming week for my kids so the week has been filled with all the fun activities – building floats, preparing for a town-wide all-day celebration, and trying to get find ways to savor the moments. We switched school districts this year so everything is very new to us, but it has been the absolute best decision ever. My only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner!

*** The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

After reading two books by Wendig now, here’s what I know: Wendig is an incredible writer. He crafts stories and sentences in enticing ways that keep me turning the pages. I sink into his worlds unconsciously and quickly forget that his genre isn’t really my thing. That’s an amazing gift and I can appreciate it.

However, by the end of both books, I was a little disappointed. I mean, I;ve been intrigued and engaged for 500+ pages but by the end, I’m not really any of it mattered. It’s a lot of time committment to feel let down in the end. So unfortunately, this is probably the end of the road for me and Wendig, but I can see where fans of Stephen King and horror/ghost stories will like this one.

*** Redeeming Justice: From Defendant to Defender, My Fight for Equity on Both Sides of a Broken System by Jarrett Adams

I gotta be honest: I’m so tired of reading books like this. Books about how our justice system is corrupt and racist and unfair. Stories that emphasize how our society just locks people up (disproportionately Black people) and throw away the key. The way we’ve dehumanzied people and raised them with a mindset that they’re expendable and not worthy of due process.

And I gotta say: If I’m tired of it, how do you think the Black people and minorities feel?

They live in fear every single day of something happening to them like what happened to Adams and two of his friends – wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Locked up in prison for eight years (of a twenty-eight year sentence) before finding some lawyers that heard his case, believed him, and then fought to get him released.

Through it all, Adams had the love of his mother and aunts. They fed the fire of his faith which ultimately kept him going. When he was finally released, he fought his way through law school while working full-time. Adams is the true definition of resilience and determination.

This story is inspiring and a great companion piece to Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson and The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton.

(#partner #freebooks: All books noted by asterisks (***) indicate I received the book for free from the publisher, the author, or another promotional company to review. All opinions are my own.)