June 2020 Reading Discussion

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I read With the Fire on High, which is her novel that's not in verse, and loved it. I'm on hold for the audio of Clap When You Land but the line is LONG lol.

[Traci]

I finished Know My Name: A Memoir earlier this week and keep thinking about it for numerous reasons. I encourage the audio version, her reading her own statement at the end was very emotional. I kept thinking the book was ending, but was glad it kept going further. This one event on one night had so many repercussions for her life (and other's) and brings up thoughts on how we can do better, not just in scenarios like this, but in many others affecting people's lives and how we can support each other.

I keep thinking about this in relation to the jury I was on for a sexual assault a couple of years ago.
a) You're supposed to go in with the mindset of innocence until proven guilty, which is counter to what I feel is the societal norm towards hearing the victims (which I understand may be different for different groups). This assumption also makes it more difficult to convict.
b) Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt - some of us struggled with how to define reasonable doubt. It seems in the trial for Chanel's assault, the evidence and witnesses were there, but in a lot of cases, these are lacking, which makes it hard for juries under the assumption in #1.
c) Pre-conceived notions - everyone comes with their life experience and the jury is supposed to leave those behind, but there were definitely pre-conceived notions that played a role in our jury. You see these pre-conceived notions of different individuals throughout Chanel's story.

I could probably keep going, and some of this isn't really relevant to the book, but it just keeps sticking in the back of my head and I wanted to put it somewhere.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

It’s so interesting that you served on a jury for a case like this. I would love to serve on a jury, but I totally agree that it would be difficult, especially in a sexual assault case, to get rid of pre-conceived notions and find beyond reasonable doubt. Chanel Miller’s book was SO POWERFUL. I listened to the audio back in January and I still think about it.

[Sherri]

I have finished 3 books since my last check in. None for this challenge.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. 5 stars. I really liked the story. Excellent book.
The Overstory by Richard Powers 5 stars. I LOVED this book. My favorite one of the year so far. When people ask me about it I say it’s a door stopper about trees. Then watch their expressions.
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. Again 5 stars & I loved the book. I usually don’t hand out 5 stars like candy but all three books were engaging & interesting. Great stories all three.
My current read is Run me To Earth by Paul Yoon.

[Sherri]

I finished Run Me To Earth by Paul Yoon yesterday. It is my last book for June. I used it for week #29 A lesser known,or underrated book. I liked it, 4 stars.
My current read is We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry for week # 44 a book related to witches. I'm going to like the 1980's setting.