An honest dialogue about love, life, and everything in-between...

Monday, April 13, 2009

Letters to a Young Sister

Thoughts after reading...

I went to the bookstore Saturday evening in search of a book recommend to me by Mr. Stark only to find that my wonderfully close B&N had closed up shop (FEEL MY FRUSTRATION WITH ME!!!). The next closest one to me is way up on the north east side of the city (I live in the south west). So alas I crossed my fingers and hoped that on Sunday when I drove out to buy groceries, the "Million Books" store (as my boss called it this morning) had it. But it didn't (but I knew that. Not a fan of that place at all, because they never have what I'm looking for). So I guess I'll be ordering it online.

In the meantime, I picked up the book by Hill Harper, Letters to a Young Sister. I had heard of this book and had always had an interest in seeing what it was about. Especially after the praise of the book that preceded it, Letters to a Young Brother. I started reading it Sunday afternoon and had not been able to put it down until I finished it today. Of course the book was written to be for a younger demographic, but until September I'll continue to consider myself young, so I still found his words of interest.

I think what made the book an interesting read for me was not so much in what he was saying but how he delivered it. Many of the things he mentioned about having faith, dreaming big, planing, etc are things that I know. Many are things that I don't do, even though I know. But it wasn't that. He really wrote in a voice that made it seem like you had personally written the letters he was answering. He never referred to the person he was writing these letters to by name. While he did use the names of the friends and boyfriends in the book, they felt more generic than specific, so you still felt like he was talking to you and referencing the people in your life. And his tone was one of truth, understanding and encouragement.

He acknowledge the fact that he was a man and his perspective would be given as such, so he enlisted some very powerful women to help give advice and answer questions. As well as other positive men to help give an even broader spectrum of ideas and encouragement. Their answers were direct and insightful with out being preachy. I guess what made me keep coming back to read more was that familiar tone. As if I had this secret pen pal to share all of my feelings with and receive some unbiased advice and support. All the while, he shared things in his life he was currently and had previously experienced. It was truly like you were reading letters from a dear friend.

Those of you who have never truly had platonic relationships are truly missing out. There is something that having a really good guy friend to talk to gives you that talking to your girlfriends won't. He made mention about having those in his books that I will explore more later. I used to have a lot of guy friends and I think it made me a bit nostalgic for the times we use to just share and talk. But that was before life got in the way and they became part of the coupledom. But I digress.

All in all I enjoyed this book. (Now that could be of my overall infatuation with this man. I mean really...he's fly....quite fly....But this celebrity crush is not one of pure looks alone. He's got it together on so many levels. Intelligent, dedicated to his passion, culturally and socially conscious. All attractive qualities to me...Genuinely a prototype, flaws and all..but back to the focus.) I can't say that I could have used this book in high school because I don't remember what I was like back then. It seems like a lifetime ago and all the pictures remind me of events, not of who I was. So who's to say that this book would have been good for me then. But I do know that I could have used it in graduate school. The book speaks a lot about remembering and discovering who you are and taking care of that person and bringing them out. I lost a lot of myself in graduate school. So good book Mr. Harper. You impress me more and more each day.

Next on the list..Losing the Race, Self-Sabotage in Black America...until next time.



5 comments:

Tony Stark said...

In what way did you lose yourself in grad school?....

& I own "Losing The Race, the author's tone in that book was not one I remember liking, plus I saw him speak on TV one night a few years back & didn't really remember liking him then too (may have to re-read that one).

BYT, another good one to add to your list is "It's the Little Things: Everyday Interactions That Anger, Annoy, and Divide the Races" by Lena Williams (long title, I know)...good read though.

Miss_A said...

Yea I kinda agree with you on the tone of that Losing the Race book. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm not sure I like where it's going.

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