Books about history, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Canada
Despite just finishing on a two-week trip to visit family, I managed to get a bit of reading in! Our library loans ebooks as well as physical copies, so I checked out these three onto my Kindle. (Your library might lend ebooks too, so if you have an e-reader you like to use, definitely check out this resource!)
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
This has been on my to-read pile for ages, and although the ebook was the young reader's edition, it was still thorough and well-cited, exploring history exactly as advertised: through the perspectives of the various Indigenous peoples in what is now known as the U.S.
I was raised with pretty standard narratives around the history of the country (for a while I thought I might've gotten a more conservative perspective because of the homeschool curriculum we used, but my private- and public-schooled friends seemed to be have educated with a similar narrative): visionary and moral founding fathers, brave pioneers, Manifest Destiny, and Indigenous people who were cruel or noble (depending on who you ask) but ultimately doomed to fade away. In the past several years I've been unlearning these myths through various sources, but it was nice to have a concise, cohesive narrative that gives a sweeping overview of the peoples of the various regions and how they responded to and interacted with the settlers and colonizers.
I definitely still want to read the adult version, but if you want something short but still thorough, I highly recommend checking it out.
Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr
Rohr's books are always thought-provoking, and I read this on a friend's recommendation. It's a reflection on the nature of addiction (to anything), repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and spiritual repair through the lens of the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve-Step program. It offers a lot of food for thought, challenges the mainstream Christian interpretations of these concepts, and is a great introduction to Rohr's theology (if you haven't read any of his books, this would be a good place to start). Recommended for any Christian or Christian-adjacent people wanting to deepen their spirituality.
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
I wanted so badly to like this book! After hearing it recommended for years, I checked it out on my Kindle. I did enjoy reading the story of an orphan girl growing up on Prince Edward Island, but aside from the descriptions of nature (which were absolutely breathtaking), I wasn't a big fan of the storytelling style, which showed very little in scenes and mostly relied on the titular character's monologues to retroactively tell about various events. It's a classic for a reason, and I think I would've liked it as a kid, but (with all apologies to Anne of Green Gables fans!) I just couldn't connect to it the way I wanted to.
What have you been reading?
Previously on What I've Been Reading:
All What I've Been Reading posts
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