The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 15, 2025 Leroy rated it it was amazing

Absolutely one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read.

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Dec 30, 2023 Jen Pratt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Wow!! This is one of the best books! Ray was an innocent man who was wrongly convicted and put on death row. He was locked in an Alabama penitentiary for 30 years.

For over half that time Bryan Stevenson, the famed lawyer who serves so diligently to help the underprivileged on death row, was working hard on his case. I loved Just Mercy and really liked learning even more about him from the prisoner’s perspective.

I am also so inspired for his good friend Lester. He visited every week for 30 year Wow!! This is one of the best books! Ray was an innocent man who was wrongly convicted and put on death row. He was locked in an Alabama penitentiary for 30 years.

For over half that time Bryan Stevenson, the famed lawyer who serves so diligently to help the underprivileged on death row, was working hard on his case. I loved Just Mercy and really liked learning even more about him from the prisoner’s perspective.

I am also so inspired for his good friend Lester. He visited every week for 30 years! It was 7 hours of driving on weekday missing work and giving Ray’s mom a ride while her health allowed it. This was a costly expense over the years. He also cared for Ray’s mother and sent Ray money for the commissary. He encouraged Ray when he was in despair. He was a true and loyal friend!

Here are a few quotes that impacted me:
“Despair was a choice. Hatred was a choice. Anger was a choice. I still had choices, and that knowledge rocked me. I may not have had as many Lester had, but I still had some choices. I could choose to give up or to hang on. Hope was a choice. Faith was a choice. And more than anything else, love was a choice. Compassion was a choice.”

“We need to think about the fact that we are all more than the worst thing we have done.”

“I was born with the same gift from God we are all born with – the impulse to reach out and lessen the suffering of another human being. It was a gift, and we each had a choice whether to use this gift or not.”

“But pain and tragedy and injustice happen—they happen to us all. I’d like to believe it’s what you choose to do after such an experience that matters the most—that truly changes your life forever.”

“I was going to make it better for everyone. We were all the same here. We were all discarded like garbage and deemed unworthy to have a life. I was going to prove them wrong.”

“I try not to ask, “Why me?” That’s a selfish question. Why anyone?”

“But sometimes you have to make family where you find family”

Disclosure: this book does have some milk swearing H-word and since it’s about a prisoner on death row, the themes are mature. This book is heartbreaking and thoroughly inspiring! Ray has such a positive outlook it’s astounding. This is a must read book! 5 stars!! ...more

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Sep 02, 2018 Carolyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, african-american, current-affairs, civil-rights, black-lives-matter

This people pretty much sums up in a nutshell why people take a knee. A powerful heartbreaking memoir that I feel is a must read to raise consciousness around issues of racism, corruption, and injustice in the US.

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