Lit Vibes Only

Ep. 71: Lit Recs: Poverty Awareness Month

• Lit Vibes Only Podcast

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Join Amanda and Kelsey as they  explore books that highlight themes of poverty, resilience, and systemic inequalities. From personal memoirs to stories of activism and struggle, they delve into narratives that reveal the harsh realities faced by many. Make sure to share with us your own recs for Poverty Awareness Month!


00:00 Welcome to Lit Vibes

00:21 Follow Us on Social Media

02:35 Our Current Reads

06:59 All About Poverty Awareness Month

08:51 Heir by Sabaa Tahir

16:54 Finding Me by Viola Davis

24:02 Making a Difference: My Fight for Native Rights by Ada Deer

31:51 The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

38:13 Conclusion and Social Media Plugs


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See you on Mondays!

Amanda:

Welcome to Lit Vibes. Only where we lit the shit out of books we love and hate. I'm Amanda, the insightful thrill seeker on historical fiction nerd.

Kelsey:

And I'm Kelsey, the unhinged, diehard, romantic, and fantasy reader. Welcome to our Rex episode. Woo. We want to direct you to our socials first. Of course. Please find us on Instagram at Lit Vibes only. Underscore podcast. And if Instagram is not your thing, we're over on TikTok and YouTube as well at Live Vibes Only. Podcast without the underscore. And of course, the only way that our podcast like gets moving and gets traction, gets visibility rating and reviewing our podcast. Mm-hmm. So it takes two to five seconds on your part to do a rating and then maybe 30 seconds more to write something nice and. We greatly appreciate it every time someone goes and takes the time to do so please don't forget to do that. We. Thank you in advance.

Amanda:

Yes, thank you so much. It's a little thing, but it goes a real long way thing.

Kelsey:

Yep.

Amanda:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think because it's a little thing, people just tend to be like, oh, it's not a big deal. Like it's not gonna, like why? Why am I gonna take that time? I promise you. It has such a huge impact and like huge. The more reviews we have, the more ratings we have, it really just bumps us right up that list.'cause let me tell you. There are a lot of book podcasts out there and yeah, there are, we are fighting for our lives

Kelsey:

you can help us, but very few with our like, subject material, yeah. With our, with like our setup, I would say. Where we're, you know, have

Amanda:

these battling

Kelsey:

debates

Amanda:

Yeah. That we just recorded case in books, so Yes. Week Week, yeah. A little feisty and, we had a great time. We did. I did. So actually no, I think we're doing these out of order because this is going to be, oh shoot this game we did. Yeah.'cause we messed up our recording order. Yeah. And so actually love to write, get excited for next week. Next week

Kelsey:

is interesting. It

Amanda:

is a battle. Battle of the books We really. We had quite a brawl and it was hilarious. And I'm not gonna say anything else because I don't wanna spoil it, but for sure make sure you're following this podcast. You've hit that little follow button on Apple Podcast or Spotify, so you get those notifications and can be the first to check it out. Heck yeah. And enjoy. But yes, we've got our RICS episode second Monday of January. We are excited to be here, but we're gonna talk about our current reads first. Yeah. I'm happy to start. I yeah, go for it. I'm about to start. It's actually quite a short book. It's here for those of you watching on YouTube. It's audition by Katie Keita, Moura, I think that's how you say her name. We're reading it for a book club this month. It's, you can see it's a tiny little kind of pamphlet of a book. I think it's, yeah, less than 200 pages, so we'll probably breeze right through it, but, it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2025, so last year. And from what I can tell, it's about this older actress who has this encounter with this kind of troubled young man. Who could be her son. And there's like these two narratives that are happening. Yes. But I think. It shifts around in time, I think as well. So there's a lot happening in this less than 200 page book. I'm very intrigued. Okay. And it should make for a good book club discussion this month. So looking forward to it.

Kelsey:

We'll

Amanda:

have fun

Kelsey:

with that one. I really appreciate when book club books are short. Yes. Absolute.'cause it's just like one of those added. Reads. Yes. Yep. Yes. On top of everything else. Yeah, exactly. With the podcast, we have at least one that we're at least having to read. Yeah. And then and then a book, club book, I wanna start book club. I think that would gain us some traction, but like it. It'd be a lot. It's a big lift. It's a big lift. Yeah.

Amanda:

It's a big lift. Yeah. So maybe down the road we shall see. Yeah. Especially if you can get some like part-time help. That would be great. With this podcast. Oh

Kelsey:

my gosh. Yeah. So the thing that I am reading, or I started recently is Immortal Dark. I'm actually curious if you will like this one. Amanda, it's by Tigre to guest. Erma. Okay. And yeah, it's just, it's about vampires. Oh God. Alright. I'm already just letting know, but it's an author of color and so I'm like, oh, I of course want to give it a chance. Yeah. And I've heard really great things about, about it, okay.

Amanda:

I'm excited to get into it. I'm intrigued. I did read Yeah. Octavia Butler's vampire book and did not like it. Which was that? She God, why am I blanking on it? It was like a

Kelsey:

weird one, right? It was really weird. It was weird. And

Amanda:

wait, do you know that I name of an f does it? I literally feel like I wiped it from my memory. Not

Kelsey:

that

Amanda:

I I, there's a weird age gap in it. Oh, Uhhuh a weird age gap relationship that made me feel very. Fledgling. Fledgling. Fledgling. That's what it is. And, yeah. And I, again, I'm an Octa Octavia Butler fan. We've covered her on the podcast. Yeah. But it was weird. I don't know, I just, I might

Kelsey:

really like

Amanda:

it. You I honestly don't think you would. But I would be curious for you to read it and Yeah. You could chat about it, but I think I have it. No, you,

Kelsey:

I have two of her books.

Amanda:

You probably parable the Soer and Kindred. Yes.

Kelsey:

No, I have, I don't have Kindred, oh parable The Soer and the second one after Parable The

Amanda:

Sore. Oh, okay. Yeah. Book. Those are the two books that I have. Okay. Mm-hmm. But yeah, anyhow, I, yeah I don't tend to like vampire books. I'm not against them, but not my preferred. Yeah.

Kelsey:

Subject. The other thing that I will say though is a great update is my husband started reading fire Keeper's Daughter a while ago. Ooh. Yes. He finally finished it and last night loved it, and he immediately picked up the third book in that series and he starts reading it. He's like. this is in the same universe. And I was like, yeah, that's her third book series universe. That's how that works. And when we saw Angeline Boole in Vancouver mm-hmm. She told us that. It doesn't matter which book you start with. Sure. And so

Amanda:

he's going to the circle. Yeah.'cause they're not like chronological, it's just that they're happening in the same universe. Just or linear. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's exciting. I'm glad to hear there's yet another fire keeper's daughter fan out there. And if you're listening and haven't checked it out, you're next. You should. It's such a good read and we've chatted about it a lot on this podcast, especially Kelsey. Yeah. We have. It has come up in so many episodes. It's a good

Kelsey:

book. Okay. It's a good

Amanda:

book. So do yourself a favor. It was actually one of my Christmas presents last year, not 2025, the year before.'Cause it's currently still December 21st. But

Kelsey:

could be

Amanda:

getting Christmas

Kelsey:

presents. That's true.

Amanda:

That is true. But yeah, so we're gonna do our January litre episode, and as we've mentioned already multiple times, we are trying to switch things up now that we're in our second year, so we're not doing the same mm-hmm. Group of people. The same identity every month that we did the prior year. And so this year for January, we're gonna be focusing on poverty awareness. Poverty Awareness month is observed every January in the United States, and it's meant to highlight. The realities of poverty, its complex causes and its impacts such as hunger, lack of healthcare exclusion, both on individuals and on communities. Mm-hmm. The official US poverty rate for 2024 was 10.6%, so that's about 35.9 million people who are currently living below the poverty line. So this month really encourages education. Support for anti-poverty organizations and advocacy for systemic solutions, like better access to resources education. Mm-hmm. Fair wages. It's also a call to action for solidarity with the poor and for building more equitable communities and many nonprofits and religious groups during this month and throughout the year honestly, participate through volunteering donations, and awareness campaigns, and mm-hmm. Obviously today on the podcast. As always, Kelsey and I have chosen two books that, kinda highlight life and lived experiences of people who are experiencing poverty. Mm-hmm. I, both of mine actually are autobiographies. Oh. And it looks like we have. Kelsey, I know one for sure is fiction. And then I think one's an autobiography as well. Is that right? I think it's a biography. What's the difference? Autobiography. Autobiography that they wrote it themselves. Oh, a biography. Someone wrote it about them. So it looks like she wrote her book. So it's okay. An autobiography. But did you wanna start? Would you like me to. I can

Kelsey:

start us. Okay. This is actually funny because I just received this book for what we do at my school is like secret snowflake. Oh. Because we're in public school, we can't refer to Santa. So wild. But yeah, it and just that everybody celebrates different things. Sure, Sure, sure. Yeah. But my secret Snowflake gave me this book, which I was so excited about. It was one of our English teachers too, so Oh, perfect. It tastes and so I can't wait to get into it in January. I'm gonna leave it for January, I think. Okay. But this is air. By Saba Tahir, which we have highlighted on the podcast fairly recently. Yes. And about over a year ago as well. Mm-hmm. And I just loved her writing in all my rage, and I keep like telling everybody about it. I remember my friend who lives across the country, I was, we were doing Christmas cards what's your address? What you doing? And one of the things we always talk about are books. And he's like, what, what good books do you have lately? And I was like, this one you have to listen to. Excellent. Because everybody needs to listen to it. Yeah. And read or read it. Mm-hmm. Anyway, so diving into Sabata here she was born in Great Britain and raised in California's Moha Desert. And, she grew up in her family's 18 room motel which inspired some of the themes and settings in her writing. Mm-hmm. Which we see in all my rage. Mm-hmm. She comes from a Pakistani immigrant family and ended up attending the University of California UCLA in Los Angeles and studied journalism and interned at the Washington Post. Cool. Yeah, it is very cool. And she worked as an editor on the Foreign Desk at the Washington Post for nearly five years and began writing her debut novel at 27. She says during night shifts at the newspaper. So I'm sure like those, I don't know much about like journalism and the job, but I know that it is long hours and mm-hmm. Grueling. Grueling work especially if you're like a reporter as well, mm-hmm. You're getting into the communities and like trying to develop and gain access to those stories. So I can imagine, yeah, absolutely. This two, in 2015, this was an Ember in the Ashes and it actually became a New York Times bestseller. Which is an, I think another series not

Amanda:

mm-hmm.

Kelsey 2.0:

Air, but it's her first series. And then she wrote All My Rage and then this is her latest heir. And then she published the y novel, contemporary y novel that I continue to rave about all my rage in 2022. And All My Rage won a National Book Award for young people's literature. Mm-hmm. And also won Boston Globe Horn Book Award for fiction and poetry. Mm-hmm. And what is this one? Prince? The Prince Award. Prince Award. I, mm-hmm. I wish there was just like a set of awards we knew about, but there's just there's so many so many. A wide array. And that was in 2023 where she won that award and it says it's like one of the highest honors in YA literature. Oh, okay. Which. All my rage deserves. Mm-hmm. Yep. And then she was on New York Times bestseller, like multiple times for the Ember series. Mm-hmm. Her first series.

Kelsey:

Then was listed in Time Magazine as one of the 100 best YA books of all time. It doesn't say what year that was, but yeah, that's really fantastic. Pretty spectacular. Yeah, it's a big honor. And all my rage received like six starred reviews and multiple best of the year recognitions from like major review outlets and, she often is drawing on her inspiration of her Pakistani heritage and packages it with real world like history. Because, besides all My Rage, which is a contemporary novel Amber and Ashes. And air are both fantasy novels. And so what I, what I really love about fantasy novels is that they can do that work right at the same time as bringing this like fictional characters and world together to represent like the like various themes that you're trying to like portray and, she explores like themes of oppression trauma, friendships, moral complexity throughout a lot of her work. Mm-hmm. And she now lives in San Francisco, the Bay Area with her family. And loves music often creates, oh yeah. This was interesting. And a, I am noticing like a lot of authors do this, but they like mm-hmm. Create playlists for their books. Mm-hmm. Which she also does. Mm-hmm. And it says she enjoys rock collecting interesting. And sci-fi, fantasy media and all things marvel. Okay. Yeah. So that is all about Saba Tahir.

Amanda:

It's so funny'cause as you were going through this,'cause I featured her last year. Oh my gosh. That's right. I'm like, I remember reading some of these same Oh, funny. I was like, oh yeah, that's right. I remember she wrote her book after work hours and so yeah. That's great. But you included some things that I

Kelsey 2.0:

didn't, so That's great. Yeah. So fun. So air itself it is 484 pages, has a good reads rating of 4.22. Wow. And was published in October, 2024. So it's like a little over a year old. Yeah. And I believe the second one has come out, so I'll have to read, continue reading after that. Mm-hmm. And I was looking at the one star reviews and there's only a hundred and forty five one star reviews out of like 16,000. Whoa. It's a very small. That's a minuscule amount. Yeah, that's impressive. Way to go, Saba. So I just cannot wait to get into this, but basically the novel follows like three young people with very different backgrounds and a's. Which I don't exactly know how to pronounce all of their names yet. Mm-hmm. But we'll get to that. Grew up in the Kaari slums and has seen her share like of suffering and you can imagine. Mm-hmm. That it's relating to mm-hmm. The poverty, mm-hmm. That she saw growing up, Saba Tehir. And then Asha has been banished from her people for an unforgivable crime. She's a tracker who uses her magic to track her targets. Mm-hmm. But she finds herself attracted to her recent target. Oh. And then finally, Quill is the Crown Prince of the empire. Take the throne once his aunt steps down. And so you follow these characters and of course their stories intertwine mm-hmm. Along the way. And I'm so curious to see how she incorporates the various themes that she normally incorporates in her writing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And to what do I wanna say, compare that to the. The issues that she's trying to touch upon. Yeah, I'm excited for that one. Yeah. I had to include a fantasy book, but of course,

Amanda:

stay on brand for Kelsey. Yes. Also, I have a, I mean, when you have a character who's literally a royal and then you have someone from the slums, obviously the issue of class is gonna come up in like socioeconomic status. Mm-hmm. So that's such a great pick. Yeah. Fantasy authors have such a cool tool to mm-hmm. Use their genre to comment on real world issues. Yeah. And draw our attention to them in a way that. Might I dunno, make them more tangible for us or Yeah. More stark for us so we can wrap our heads around them or address them like, like we saw with blood over BrightHaven for sure. Exactly. So that's a great choice. Thank you. So my first book is Finding Me by Viola Davis, and this is one book that I listened to last year, 2025 on audiobook and. Generally if I'm gonna read an autobiography, I try to listen to it, especially if the person themselves mm-hmm. Is reading it. And we knew that Viola Davis is an incredibly talented actress, so I knew that she would do an amazing job reading this book. So a little bit about Viola. There's so much I could say about her and I tried my best to condense it. Yeah. But she has just had such an incredible life. So she was born in um, the sixties in South Carolina, but grew up almost entirely in Rhode Island, which yeah. There's not a huge African American population, Rhode Island, so I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like. Mm-hmm. After she graduated from high school, she, like me, majored in theater at Rhode Island College and then very, so many authors. That we like, choose,

Kelsey:

have done that. It's so

Amanda:

interesting, but it, I mean, it kind of makes sense. Theater's all about storytelling, right? It's just a different form of it. And then very impressive. She went on to attend Julliard for four years. Wow. And since then, has performed in just an insane array of stage plays, TV shows, films, just like all the. All the forms, right? And I think most people know her from playing Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder, which is a TV show. Hopefully you've heard of it. It's pretty well known. I have watched every single season and loved it. Highly recommend if you haven't checked it out, but that's really kind of a think catapulted her. More squarely into the public eye. She'd already done some great stuff before that, but I think that kind of cemented her place. In 2012, time Magazine listed her as one of the most influential people in the world, which is like, whoa, your daughter. Yeah. And then also that same year glamor named her film Actress of the Year. And then later in 2015, she became the first African American to win the primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for how to Get Away With Murder and has also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a female actor and a drama series. She's received three Academy Award nominations making her the first. Amazing black actress ever in history to achieve this feat. Oh, wow. She's also won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Screen Actress Guild Award, BAFTA Award. I mean she just so many awards. Yeah. And that doesn't even include the awards that she's won for her stage work. So just really such. An incredibly accomplished woman. And since 2014, and this very much ties into our theme for today, Davis has collaborated with the Hunger is Campaign to help eradicate childhood hunger across America. And she. Herself specifically said, quote, 17 million kids in this country. So one in five kids in this country go to bed hungry. I was one of those kids because I grew up in abject poverty. I did everything that you could possibly imagine to get food. I rummaged in the garbage cans I stole from the local store constantly unquote. And we'll get to this. In a moment when we get to her book. So we'll talk more about that. But currently mm-hmm. She's married to a fellow actor Julius Tenet and they welcomed their adopted daughter Genesis into their family in 2011. So that's just a little background on her. Her book Finding Me was published fairly recently in April of 2022. It's 304 pages and has a 4.53 Good Reads rating, which is just like insane. That's quite close to five we're gonna round up. It was nominated for the reader's favorite memoir and autobiography award on Good Reads in 2022, and also won the audio award for audiobook of the Year and for narration by the author Grammy Award, which I didn't even know they gave out Grammy awards for best audiobook, but apparently they do. So she won the Grammy for that and the NAACP image award for nonfiction, the She reads best of award for memoir and was nominated for Book of the year and audiobook. So just again, the, she's accomplished her bio, her autobiography has done really well. And in a nutshell, the book tells the story of her upbringing. It was full of poverty abuse, just. So many hardships. As I was listening to this book, I was like, nothing else could possibly go wrong. This could not get any worse, and it inevitably does. Which reminds me or makes me think of the book we'll be talking about next week. Demon Copperhead, which is just like this series of unfortunate events, really. And so it also tells, this remarkable journey that she then embarked upon to. In spite of her upbringing, attain her dream of becoming an accomplished actress, which in general is an incredibly difficult feat, even if you're coming from a more stable background. So for her to have started where she did and end up where she is, is just truly phenomenal. Viola herself has described herself, I'm sorry, as having lived in abject poverty and dysfunction during her childhood recalling living in rat infested in condemned apartments. And the book is just chockful of just really gritty and unflinching honesty about the realities of poverty abuse, racism, kinda the cycle of generational trauma and how that contributes to all of this. And. I know I keep saying this, but I obviously know, only know quote unquote violative from who she is now. Everything that she's accomplished, and you would never know looking at her and right the way that she conducts herself and the success she's achieved, just how dire her upbringing was. And so it truly is a story of hope and inspiration, but does very much shine a light on. The poverty that many people, millions, literally as we stated in the beginning experience. Mm-hmm. So I really appreciate it for opening my eyes to that. I think oftentimes too, as Americans, we can be like, this is America. Like everyone has food on the table and a roof over there. Oh gosh. Like, you know, And I think that that's kind of what, what we tell ourselves in reality, there are. Literally millions of people who are struggling to make intimate, who are skipping meals, who don't have house security, job security, food security. Mm-hmm. So it's a great book. She does an insanely good job of narrating it and I think it is a good eyeopener and a way to raise awareness about poverty in the United States. 10 outta 10, highly recommend. Great.

Kelsey:

Thank you. You're welcome. It's intriguing. I think you'd I don't dunno if I can handle, I don't think maybe you're not right now, but

Amanda:

especially after I made you read Demon Copperhead. But I do maybe sometime soon, some point. Yeah. Yeah. Give yourself a break.

Kelsey:

My next novel and I think it's a memoir and now I'm like so confused about autobiography, biography, and memoir because it's called a memoir. I think

Amanda:

autobiographies and memoirs are synonymous'cause they both are written by the person. Okay.

Kelsey:

Who experienced it. Great. Yeah. Perfect. I'm highlighting making a difference. My fight for Native Rights by Ada Deer and I'm so glad I came across this book. I have yet to read it, but I can't imagine it being flop. So let's get into it. At a deer. She's actually deceased. She died in 2023 because she was born in 1935. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Been around for a while and was sorry. I looked at, I listened to this. Give me a second. Okay. Men know Mini Minna, min Menna Mini. I listened to, I swear, I believe you. Menna mini. Nation leader activist, scholar and public servant. She was born and raised on the Menno mini reservation in Wisconsin. Mm-hmm. And as a child, she experienced the effects of the US federal policies aimed at terminating tribal sovereignty. And her community was really tight knit and family centered. Had strong like cultural values around responsibility, respect, and like collective care. Mm-hmm. And at the time when she was younger the nation managed its own like sustainable logging industry.

Amanda:

Oh.

Kelsey:

Which had provided jobs and like a sense of pride and self-sufficiency. Despite this poverty and underfunded services were very common due to federal neglect and restrictions placed on tribal governance. Thinking about the forties and fifties, like mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I do highlight that later, but this is not, this is just one nation's experience, but this was very much across the entire United States. Mm-hmm. Happening to a lot of. Tribes. And also thinking about like their education opportunities on the reservation. Were very limited thinking about the forties and fifties. Yeah. Boarding schools were in high like full swing. Yes. I was like, what are the words I'm thinking of? Yeah, exactly. We're in full swing at this time and if you didn't go, there weren't very many. Opportunities on the reservation, and if they went off the reservation, they often face like discrimination. Mm-hmm. ADA became interested in politics around sovereignty. Mm-hmm. And in 1961, the US government terminated the tribe. Mm-hmm. And it stripped it of its federal recognition, land protections, and services. And so ADA became a leading voice in the menna men, I'm gonna say this correctly. Menna

Amanda:

mini.

Kelsey:

Menna mini, mm-hmm. Restoration movement, organizing nationally to reverse like termination. Mm-hmm. And she does successfully her and her people successfully. Wow. Restore. Their sovereignty. And that was in 1973. And then she becomes like the first woman elected chair of the tribe, and then she goes on to earn like her PhD in social work and serves as a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison. And in 1993, she was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. Wow. And at the time was the highest federal position overseeing Native Affairs. Yeah. And she was the first native indigenous woman to hold that role. Wow.

Amanda:

Way to go. That's amazing.

Kelsey 2.0:

Yeah. So really interesting life and I can't wait to read this. I also wanted to note too that Theta Purdue. Supported the autobiography of Ada, not as a co-author, but as a historian who provided scholarly framing and context. She helped situate ADA's life within the broader history of US Indian policy especially the termination era and the shift towards self-determination. Oh, okay. Because she's also listed as one of the authors I see. It's I looked it up and it was, it's confusing. So I just wanted to make that highlight.

Amanda:

Yeah, that makes sense.

Kelsey:

I also wanna highlight too, that my tribe around this time, one of my tribes, the Klamath also lost their sovereignty. Oh. And now we have restoration days like in August because mm-hmm. That's when our sovereignty was restored, like during that time and there's a lot of stories throughout the country speaking to that as well.

Amanda:

Wow.

Kelsey:

So moving on to the book itself, it has a 4.21 rating on Good Reads. Wow. Okay. Is short. It's only 232 pages. And was published fairly recently in 2019. Like right before. Ada died. Mm-hmm. And so what a great part of her legacy to be able to leave behind. I wanted to really highlight how her work pertained to poverty or spoke on the issues around poverty for Native peoples in the United States. But overall the book is a first. Hand memoir in which Ada Deer chronicles her fight to restore tribal sovereignty to the Menini

Amanda:

mm-hmm.

Kelsey 2.0:

Nation. And shows how grassroots activism can overturn unjust federal policies. But, thinking about policy that's essentially drives poverty. Mm-hmm. Deer shows us how us termination policy, strip tribes of federal, recognition, land protections and services directly producing poverty rather than alleviating it. Yeah. Because when they, you remember I mentioned the logging industry, Uhhuh, they were stripped of all those rights when they were terminated. And so then drove Them into poverty, their people. Mm-hmm. And then, loss of economic stability like what I was just saying. But they also, the community lost control over jobs, healthcare, education, and infrastructure which led to unemployment and. Further instability. But thinking about structural inequality deer connects native poverty to systemic racism and colonial governments not to obviously cultural or individual shortcomings. And then thinking about like when a tribe is stripped of their sovereignty, that leads to like political exclusion, right? Because now they don't have a government that works with mm-hmm. The federal government as a whole. But without sovereignty, the community lacked decision making power which demonstrates like how political disenfranchisement and poverty, are very closely linked. Yeah. Yeah, I also just wanna highlight in the end, its national relevance because ADA deer's story mirrors patterns throughout the US where marginalized communities face poverty due to deliberate policy choices. Mm-hmm. And those might include like redlining land seizure underfunded schools.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

Et cetera. And it's a direct link to those themes. So yeah, that is my second book that I wanted to share.

Amanda:

What a perfect choice. And yeah, even though it's focusing on, one marginalized groups. One marginalized group's experience, like you said at the end, you can see that pattern play out time and time again in so many other marginalized communities around the United States. And yeah, poverty doesn't just happen out of nowhere. There's a lot of really deliberate Exactly. Choices and decisions that are made. Policies that are passed that. Support and promote and further, right? Mm-hmm. These huge just wealth gaps and economic disparities, right? Mm-hmm. That have such a horrible impact. Thank you. Alright, so my last one is an interesting choice because, poverty and living in kind of an impoverished conditions plays a huge role in the story. Mm-hmm. But isn't necessarily the main. Focus. Mm-hmm. So it's the Sound of Gravel by Ruth Warner. And I pulled this description of her directly from Good Read's, simply because there's not a whole lot of information Oh. About her online. And so I felt like this summarized it pretty well. Okay. So from Good Read's, quote, Ruth Warner lives in Portland, Oregon, and at the age of 15. Warner Left Colonial LeBaron. The Polygamist Mormon colony, Ooh, where she grew up and moved to California. She raised her three youngest sisters in California. In Oregon, and then after earning her GED, she put herself through college and graduate school and eventually became a high school Spanish teacher. She remains close to her Siblings is happily married, and the sound of gravel is her first, and I believe only. Book at this point. Mm-hmm. And you'll obviously get to hear a bit more about her as I talk about the book itself, sure. The Sound of Gravel was published in January of 2016, so it's been a decade since it came out. Mm-hmm. It's 336 pages, and also a very highly rated book on good reads. It's 4.31. In addition to that. Like with finding me, this book was also nominated for reader's favorite memoir and Autobi biography on Good Reads back in 2016 when it came out. And as I briefly mentioned in her bio, the story is basically talking about her growing up in this polygamist Mormon colony in rural Mexico. Wow. Her dad had 42 children and yeah, she was the 39th. Oh my god. Of bed. Of the children and her story and the way that she's situated within this colony is interesting because her dad was actually. The founding prophet of the colony, whoa. And so had this kind of position of prestige and honor, but crazy twist, he was murdered by his brother. Okay? Oh my gosh. The book is Wild. Wild. And so her mother, obviously had all of these children. She ended up remarrying this other man within the colony who they really struggled to provide for. All of these children. And so they lived literally in abject poverty. They, their house had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, no. Gosh, she's describing the conditions in which she grew up. And again, your jaw just hits the floor to know that. Not only adults, but children, young babies are like living in, in this situation and trying to get by and find joy where they can. And on top of, being plagued by both poverty and abuse. And we often see those things happening hand in hand, right? Mm-hmm. They were also constantly being shuttled back and forth between the United States and Mexico because her mom and her stepdad were trying to get government assistance from the United States and collect welfare checks and also like supplemental income. Her stepfather had a series of, weird jobs, who just go for a couple weeks and work on a construction gig or whatever. And so it was a very chaotic, tumultuous upbringing. Mm-hmm. And it is really interesting'cause at one part, I was gonna say in the story, but it's her life and one part of her life, they briefly live, I believe it's with her mom's parents in California. And they just have a simple home. But to them it's like this. Luxurious palace. There's carpet and there's hot water and there's yikes doors and windows that clo it. It's just, and it's just insane to see the way that having, that security of a home that's safe and clean and warm, and also knowing where your food is coming from, the impact that it had right on her. Oh yeah, I bet. State of mind, her mental and emotional wellbeing.'cause imagine, as a kid. If you are growing up in abject poverty, you're constantly in survival mode. You're constantly in fight or flight mode, and that wears on you emotionally and mentally. We don't always talk about the toll that poverty takes on people in terms right in, in that way, and I think this book did a really good job. Because again, it's told from a child's perspective, right? As she's growing up, like what that does to you and your development, your outlook on the world, the ways that you interact with others, your understanding of self. It's not just being hungry. It's not just having cock. Roaches and your better, whatever it might be. There's so many other ways in which poverty takes a toll on you. Mm-hmm. Holistically. So I liked this book for that reason in terms of connecting it to Poverty Awareness Month. Yeah. As with Viola Davis's book, it is also a story of courage and resilience. You heard, obviously in the bio that she ultimately was able to get her and her siblings outta that situation, go on to college and have a successful career and a healthy relationship. I think for all of the books that we recommended today, they highlight different aspects of Yeah. The impact that poverty can have and also where these conditions come from and how they're created mm-hmm. In a society and sustained. Exactly. Yeah. I have so many

Kelsey:

questions about this book. Yeah.

Amanda:

It's really good. Again, it was an audio book as well. I also listened to it. It took me a while to get used to her voice.'cause I wouldn't say she necessarily has a, like an audio book voice. Okay. But. It's just fascinating because there's also, yeah. I think the FI said the FBI gets involved at some point because of the murders that happened and they're like hunting down her uncle. It's my it's truly crazy. And then apparently, I'm gonna get this wrong and don't get this wrong, but the daughter of the brother that murdered, so like her cousin, I guess it would be her first cousin. Also wrote a memoir about like her experiences and so it's like a, yeah, I haven't read it. But I'm like, that would be interesting yet to see like her side of things, right? Yeah. And how she feels about her father and what happened and how it impacted her. But yeah it's wild. I've always also had a bit of a fascination with just like cults and things like that. Oh, yes, totally. So that was another reason why I was intrigued. But yeah, that's my second book. So Kelsey, do you wanna recap

Kelsey:

your two? Gosh, we have some good ones this month. My first was heir by Saba Tahir, and my second was making a Difference. My Fight for Native Rights by Ada Deer.

Amanda:

And mine were two autobiographies finding me by Viola Davis and the Sound of Gravel by Ruth Warner. So absolutely check these out. If you read them, let us know. We'll be asking on Thursday on our socials for you to send us your recommendations for books that would fit well into Poverty Awareness month and help raise awareness about. What a lot of people in the United States and around the world, are experiencing. Mm-hmm. So if you're not already, please be sure to follow us on our socials. We are on Instagram at Lit Vibes only podcast, and TikTok and YouTube at Lit Vibes only podcast. So be sure to like, follow, comment, and subscribe. If socials are not your. Thing. You can also email us with your recommendations directly at Lit Vibes only podcast@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Yeah, and last, but certainly never least, if you have not yet rated and reviewed us, Kelsey gave you a wonderful reminder at the beginning. I'm giving you another one now. This episode is about to end. What better way to wrap things up today? Then to go and hit that five star rating on Apple Podcast or on Spotify. Leave us a comment on this episode. If you got a little bit of extra time on Spotify, or you can write us a one or two sentence review on Apple Podcast. We're so thankful that you guys joined us and hung out with us today, and we will see you next Monday. Bye bye.