In Remembrance: John Lewis

It's hard to write a remembrance for someone who has done so much to make the world a better place. It makes a simple post feel as if it's not enough. Senator John Lewis never stopped fighting for freedom, equality and the right to vote. He was and will always be a hero. Rest In Peace, John Lewis and know that you have inspired so many who will continue to fight for a better world.

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way. ~ John Lewis

Not to be forgotten, I will post a belated remembrance for Naya Rivera and Kelly Preston.

Quote: Congressman John Lewis

When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to continue to speak up, to speak out.

~ John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon and Congressman

Book Review for Book Club: March: Book One

Book: March: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with illustrations by Nate Powell

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

History has shown us time and again that it's the everyday person who has changed the course of history. I'm sure when a young John Lewis and his friends and others were putting together those sit-ins they had no idea how much of a difference they were making by fighting for the right just to sit at the counter to have a meal despite all the racists who opposed them. That took so much courage.

March: Book One is a first hand look at the beginning of the civil rights movement told from John Lewis. The book flash back from the present (2009 at the time) to the past as it builds up to the moment of the historical march.

This is a very well-written and profound story that would also make a great reference. I am definitely interested in reading the second book, which I will be adding to my wishlist.

Currently Reading: for Book Club: March: Book One and for the A-Z Title Challenge: Nancy Drew: The Demon of River Heights

Surprisingly both of my current reads are comic books.


For the Graphic Novel Reading Group

Book: March: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with illustrations by Nate Powell

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions

Description:

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole).

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.



For the A-Z Title Challenge:

Book: Nancy Drew: The Demon of River Heights (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective Graphic Novels book #1) by Stefan Petrucha with illustrations by Sho Murase

Publisher: Papercutz

Description:

Now America's Favorite Girl Detective Is In An All-New Series Of Graphic Novels From Papercutz!

Join Nancy Drew, along with Bess and George, as they search for missing student filmmakers and discover the deadly secret behind the local urban myth known as "The Demon of River Heights."

Three Upcoming Book Club Reads for April

Three of my book clubs have made their selections and here are the books that we will be reading. Please feel free to read along if any of the books interest you, we'll start reading these on Wednesday, April 1st.


For the Rory Gilmore Book Club: The Metamorphosis      

This is the edition that I will be reading (since it's the only I have).


Book: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

Description:

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."