Filling her mind listening to amazing books, Bridget shares her favourites. Some comedic, some serious, all of them are about our struggles as humans.
As a treat, and because a good offer came up, I started an audible.com account back in October. Since then I have listened to a fabulous mix of people of colour, LBGQT people, and people/topics that tickle my feminist side. While the spring blossomed with unanswered questions & turmoil in the US with a resurgence of Black Lives Matter, the hot colour of the season exploded across the internet, black, brown, and anything that isn’t lily white. As a side effect, many companies and organizations are striving to do better (a woke-ness, if you will), it’s now suddenly much easier to see, read, & choose BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour). It’s about time.
The good thing about audiobooks is you can be doing something else while you’re listening. I often listen to books while I’m preparing meals for me and my dogs, doing laundry, the dishes, while tidying and organizing, and sometimes while I’m working on a creative project that doesn’t require much focus. I chose Trevor Noah as my first listen and got hooked from there. Here are some of the books I’ve been listening to lately (in the order I listened to them)…
Bridget’s Book Recommendations:
Trevor Noah “Born a Crime
In his own voice a humorous, intelligent, and a fascinating look into his childhood during the apartheid in Africa. Gotta love Trevor.
Ali Wong “Dear Girls”
Ali is so funny and also batshit crazy. I adore her. This is a clever book and it doesn’t even matter if her kids never read or listen to it.
Jonathan Van Ness “Over the Top”
As we all know from the show Queer Eye, Jonathan is an adorable and flamboyant creature. It’s lovely to hear his story and all the hard work he put in to get to where he is now.
Martin Luther King Jr. “The Other America”
This is just a quick one, a speech from 1968. BTW, this one is free.
Margaret Trudeau “Certain Woman of an Age”
Margaret did this as a performance with a live audience. Worth a listen.
Malcolm Gladwell “Talking to Strangers”
I enjoy Malcolm’s books. This one makes you think twice about what’s really going on. He delves into interactions between strangers with extreme consequences such as police violence and campus rape.
Michelle Obama “Becoming”
I love, love, love this one. The Obama’s are such a fascinating couple. Listen to this for insight into what it’s like to be a strong working mother, trying to raise 2 kids, while her husband has a job that keeps him away from home.
Ibram X. Kendi “How to Be an Antiracist”
This is one of my favourites. Read by Dr. Ibram himself with a preacher-like quality, he discusses racism in an enlightening way. It’s imperative to take action against racist policies based on racist ideas.
I’m currently listening to:
Dr. Jolene Brighten “Beyond the Pill”
I already knew this was going to be good. Dr. Jolene is a hormone balancing magician. I wish someone told me this when I was a teenager.
and
Layla Saad “Me and White Supremacy”
I’ve only started this one. I’m not sure if I like it yet. And I think I got the wrong version of it so maybe that’s why. I’ve linked you to the new version above in case you’d like to check it out.
I’m planning to take a break from listening for a bit to do some old skool reading again! While I do enjoying listening (especially when they are read by the author) it’s much faster to read it anyway, and I can imagine the parts being read by any voices I choose.
That reminds me, the last physical book I finished, right before starting my audio journey, is also worth reading.
Yuval Noah Harari “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”
I really enjoy Yuval’s fresh perspective on our history and how we ended up here. For better or for worse. They also have it on Audible so the link sends you there.
To sum up, in my humble opinion, it’s important first to listen; open-minded active listening. Next, it’s up to all of us to take action against biased policies based on biased ideas. It’s not enough to say you’re not biased, racist, discriminatory, etc. Our communities need to actively work against subjugating any portion of society whether purposely, or unintentionally.
Are you interested in reading any of these titles and do you have any books you’d like to recommend?
Title image: by Sound On from Pexels.
