QOTW: Angie Thomas

The Quote of the Week

Well said.

I look at books as being a form of activism. Sometimes they’ll show us a side of the world that we might not have known about.

–Angie Thomas

What books fired up your activist heart?

I'll go first. Top Priority: If you haven't read The Hate U Give, just stop reading this post right now and go do that. I know I said that about John Green’s books last week. But I mean it. This book will change your worldview.

Two sci-fi books actually showed me a side of the (real!) world I might not have known about.

The first was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Before COVID-19, I handsold this book as “post-apocalyptic utopian fiction”. I’m not sure I still see it that way—our real-life pandemic made it hit differently—but this is a book that made me see how kindness can always be a choice. Humans can choose to lift each other up. Few books gave me as much hope as this image of good can come out of a horrible situation.

The second is The Galaxy, And The Ground Within by Becky Chambers. Chambers uses non-humans to teach more about the human condition in this fourth installment of her Wayfarers series, than most novelists can squeeze in their entire bibliographies. This was the first time I experienced the pronouns ze/zir in use, and I am so grateful for this character and zir heart. I’m pretty sure I took up my rainbow flag and started screaming for trans rights the day I finished this book. 10/10 highly recommend