Words That Awaken

Some books you have to sit with and read slowly.

Some books make you cry, laugh, and feel a broader range of emotions than you thought you could with a text.

Some books stick with you.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is some book.

I finished it a few days ago, but haven’t been able to write about it yet. It took me eight days to finish this book. The writing is incredible and I wanted to devour it, but it is a book to be savored.

Memoir is one of my favorite genres, and this book has been on my to-read list for a long time. I scanned my bookshelf looking for a purse book (a book that will fit well in my purse to carry with me) and the mass-market paperback version of the aforementioned book jumped out at me.

What I quickly realized, is this was not a book I could read in public. Multiple times I was in tears: horrific incidents, terrible circumstances, and quite honestly, some of the most beautiful strings of words I’ve read.

Maya puts words together that awaken me; to injustice, to beauty, to life.

I’m both sad and overjoyed that this was the first time I’ve read her work:
Sad that it took me until now to read this lovely writing
Overjoyed that I have a whole collection of works by a brilliant author I still get to experience.