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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)

Maya Angelou

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: April 30, 2014

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What Members Thought

Aug 19, 2014 Carolyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, book-group, historical-fiction, autobiography, memoir, 2014-book-challenge, classics, african-american, cultural

Alternated listening to this on Audio (Audible) and reading it on my tablet. Apparently neither of these forms of book is for me! On the Audible version, Maya Angelou narrates the book, and it is nice to have her authentic voice, although she reads very very slowly, and I kept wanting to speed it up! On the tablet, I just didn't like having an electronic in front of me. The whole time I kind of wish I just had opted to buy a regular printed copy of the book. I think I need to reread it one of th ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series

Maya Angelou is spunkier and more real in this book than all the generic adulatory praise heaped onto her seems to suggest. She's always portrayed as this wise, platitude-dropping person who withstood adversity with awe-inspiring strength of character ... yet in this amazing book, she doesn't portray herself in this way. She is petty, occasionally weak, judgmental, and maybe even a little bit foolish. But she is also spunky, like Harriet the Spy and Anne of Green Gables, but facing realer realit ...more

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Dec 05, 2008 Sunflower rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-2020-and-before

I had a lukewarm reaction to this book. This first part of the authour's autobiography tells of her life up to the age of 16 in a close-knit black community, but most of the book is about the early years. The last third suddenly speeds up and glosses over some experiences I wanted to hear more about: what's it like living in a car with a group of homeless kids, for example.
There were parts where I got angry on her behalf: I could have strangled that dentist with his own drill, for example, but ...more

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