THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

This is an important, magnificent and complex book. It filled me with heartbreak for these characters, and shame for this period in history. It's the story of slavery as experienced by individual human beings - not as an institution, as a cause for a war, as a history chapter - but through people who we come to believe in, know and embrace. And it begs the question of whether real escape - actual or metaphorical - from slavery's grasp is ever possible.
Of the railroad itself, and those who built it: "On one end there was who you were before you went underground, and on the other end a new person steps out into the light. The up-top world must be so ordinary compared to the miracle beneath, the miracle you made with your sweat and blood. The secret triumph you keep in your heart." In the book's early chapters, children enjoy squares of ginger cake during a rare plantation celebration. These are courtesy of @smittenkitchen, and I baked them thinking about Barack Obama's interview with the @nytimes where he shared that this was the last book he read in office. An inspiring reminder that if he can find time to read, the rest of us can, too.