Top 5 Wednesday

Top 5 Wednesday: Books with “Hard” Topics

Amanda @Cover2CoverMom

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Hello and happy Top 5 Wednesday!  T5W is a weekly meme with a new theme every week.  Visit the T5W Goodreads Group page for more info and to see upcoming themes.

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This week’s theme was top 5 books with “hard” topics.  While looking through my book cases for inspiration for this week’s theme, I realized that I have read a lot of fictional books that address the topic of racism…

Growing up in private schools in Ohio didn’t give me many chances to experience diversity with regards to race.  From kindergarten to 12th grade, I could count on one hand how many of my fellow classmates were of color.  Once I got to college, it was like a whole new world for me.  It was amazing to be able to experience so many different people!  People of different races, religions, sexual orientations, etc.  I found myself reading books that address issues like racism because my entire world as a child was relatively sheltered.  I had no idea what it was like to be discriminated against, and even hated because of the color of my skin.  Therefore, my top 5 Wednesday this week is going to be fictional books that address the issue of racism. 51grMGCKivL._SX307_BO1,204,203,200_Amazon // Goodreads

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior—to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos.

51LCQ8djHrL._SX304_BO1,204,203,200_Amazon // Goodreads

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women–mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends–view one another.

517-Fcq8DgL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_Amazon // Goodreads

This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

51QWLnx-eGL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_Amazon // Goodreads

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on the life of women of color in the southern United States in the 1930s, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture.

61oTqu9bHJL._SX330_BO1,204,203,200_Amazon // Goodreads

Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.

Book Review: Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal

If you are interested in more books that tackle different multicultural issues, I can refer you to Whitney @Brown Books & Green Tea.   Her blog is dedicated to multicultural literature and multicultural issues.

Have you read any of these books?  What were your thoughts?

As always, feel free to link to your own T5W post!

Published by Amanda @Cover2CoverMom

Amanda is a 33 year-old who was born and bred in Ohio. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart and they have two children aged 14 and 7. She is a part-time youth services librarian and currently pursuing her MLIS. When not juggling family, work, and grad school, she enjoys reading, being outdoors, and fitness.

19 thoughts on “Top 5 Wednesday: Books with “Hard” Topics”

  3. It’s always so fascinating to me how experience varies so widely based on where you live in the US. I’ve been in the DC region my entire life (well since age 12 when my family immigrated), and went to a school that was something like 80% non-white. The “DMV” (DC-MD-VA suburbs) region is so diverse that living in a majority white neighborhood is almost incomprehensible based on my experience, so I’m always shocked when I travel outside of the DC-NY corridor.

    Cheers for expanding our world-view – I love the spirit of your theme 🙂 (it’s why I need to read more Southern and Western fiction!)

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    Reply

    1. It is fascinating! Unfortunately, we live in a suburb that is predominantly white, so the public school that my son attends is overwhelmingly white. I try to do everything in my power to take my kids out into the world to experience diversity.

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  4. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those books I constantly tell myself I should read, but never actually get around to reading. I’m afraid it’ll bore my horror loving self to tears, even though I know I should read it to appreciate it for what it is. My T5W

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      1. I’m not the person to ask about Stephen King. I’m not a fan of him. His plots are brilliant, but the meandering word bloat is not. With that being said: IT is a good read and one of the few I like from him.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Oh man I love him! I actually just scored tickets to see him in June and I couldn’t be more excited!!!
        I had a feeling you were going to say ‘IT’… I’m a pretty big wuss when it comes to scary lol maybe I should stick with his Sci-fi and thrillers lol

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      3. Have you read the Gunslinger? That’s the only other novel by him I can say I really like. However, in general, his short stories are excellent. I saw a quote somewhere that I believe is absolutely true. “King wins the gold in sprints (shorts), the bronze in marathons (full-length novels)”. I would recommend Danielle DeVor’s Sorrow’s Point, Kat Mayor’s The Spirit Chaser, Corey J. Popp’s Beneath Claire’s House (best YA horror I’ve read in years).

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