“I ain’t never found no place for me to fit. Seem like all I do is start over. It ain’t nothing to find no starting place in the world. You just start from where you find yourself.”
-August Wilson
The Calhoun County Library met last week for their monthly Book Club meeting and the book of choice this time was Viola Davis’s memoir Finding Me.
On Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 1 PM - 2 PM, a group of avid readers met at the library for Book Club. We discussed a variety of books and this month we chose to read and discuss Viola Davis’s memoir that was released in 2022. Viola Davis is a very well-known and successful actress whose memoir has won many awards, including Oprah’s Book Club and even a Grammy for the audiobook, which she recorded herself! This book gave her a status that is called EGOT, which means that she has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony throughout her career.
“He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear with almost any ‘how.’”
–Friedrich Nietzche
For those who don’t know, Viola Davis was actually born right here in St. Matthews, South Carolina to a horse groomer and a maid; however, she was not raised here. Viola’s childhood was not a pleasant one. Throughout the book, she talks of struggles, horrors, and being afraid. She was often bullied by multiple groups of people and her family and home life were no better. Viola’s father was abusive to her mother, and she had a brother who abused her own sisters. Her sisters and the sisterhood they shared were her light in the dark and because of them, she persisted.
“May you live long enough to know why you were born.”
–Cherokee Birth Blessing
We don’t want to give too much away, but her story was emotional, heartbreaking, and inspiring. One of our Book Club members even said that some days she thought that this was just a crazy story for entertainment, but then she remembered it was real - that this was Viola Davis’s real life. Another member said that she was once told that for every nonfiction, crazy story you read, you should read a biography to understand that every story has some truth within it.
Books like these are the reasons that we love our Book Club and our members. We have great conversations and great company. We meet once every month on the third Thursday for an hour from 1 PM - 2 PM. Our book next month is Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. Come pick up a copy of the book and join us on Thursday, October 17, 2024, at 1 PM!
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