Why Difficult Books Matter

0r... stop banning books!

I’m guessing most of my readers have heard about the latest book banning nonsense. If not, click here to learn more about a Tennessee school board’s decision to ban Maus, a masterful graphic novel about the Holocaust.

My latest read is the perfect example of why we all, including our children, need to be reading more books about difficult topics, not less.

A few months ago, a group of fellow Currently Reading Bookish Friends formed a giant Facebook messenger chat to discuss A Gentleman in Moscow. None of us had read it and the experience of reading the book together was great. It was so great in fact that we decided to keep reading books that had sat unread on our shelves for too long. Our latest read was Yaa Gyasi’s masterpiece, Homegoing.

I have started and stopped reading Homegoing multiple times. The writing is gorgeous, the story is expertly told and the subject matter is intense. Each time I picked it up though, I found it ‘too hard’ to read. It turns out, this is a book that I really needed to read with other readers. Reading a section at time and joining to discuss and learn together made it possible for me to read Homegoing from beginning to end.

Before reading Homegoing, I thought I had a basic understanding of generational trauma and the lasting impacts of slavery. I did not. And while I know I am still falling short of a true understanding, I am closer to understanding now than before I read Homegoing. There are so many thoughts that will stay with me from this read and from our discussion but there is one that stuck out the most.

I felt so grateful every time I could put this book down. We read a chapter every other day and sometimes that was too much. Each time I put this book down, I thought about my privilege. It was too hard for me to read about what was happening to these fictional characters yet thousands of real people lived these experiences day in and day out. Real people could not take a break from their real lived experiences.

Of course, I knew this before reading Homegoing but the experience of walking in Effia’s shoes or Willie’s or Marjorie’s was a stark reminder of why stories matter.

I am relieved that our girls are in a school district that allows them to read the hard stuff- including Maus. Both girls read Maus in middle school and I can remember having conversations with them about the book and the Holocaust. These conversations must keep happening if we are to continue growing and learning.

So… here’s to more reading and less book banning.