“When a woman is assaulted, one of the first questions people ask is, Did you say no? This question assumes that the answer was always yes, and that it is her job to revoke the agreement. To defuse the bomb she was given. But why are they allowed to touch us until we physically fight them off? Why is the door open until we have to slam it shut?”
― Know My Name: A Memoir
― Know My Name: A Memoir
“What if, instead of worrying about scaring pregnant women, people told them the truth? What is pregnant women were treated like thinking adults? What if everyone worried less about giving women a bad impression of motherhood?”
― And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready
― And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready
“With stuff this big, almost any way of looking at it can be true. We all talked like we were going to eventually reach some grand conclusion, some correct stance, but in fact it was different for everybody, impossible to pin down. Was childbirth traumatic or transcendent? Was pregnancy a time of wonder and awe or a kind of temporary disability? Were we supposed to fit our lives around our children or fit our children into our lives? My feelings changed every minute, depending on my mood and on the company I kept. It felt essential, though, to keep asking the question.”
― And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready
― And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready
“The judge had given Brock something that would never be extended to me: empathy. My pain was never more valuable than his potential.”
― Know My Name: A Memoir
― Know My Name: A Memoir
“Since childhood, I’d believed it was important to speak out against bullies while also not stooping to their level. And to be clear, we were now up against a bully, a man who among other things demeaned minorities and expressed contempt for prisoners of war, challenging the dignity of our country with practically his every utterance. I wanted Americans to understand that words matter—that the hateful language they heard coming from their TVs did not reflect the true spirit of our country and that we could vote against it. It was dignity I wanted to make an appeal for—the idea that as a nation we might hold on to the core thing that had sustained my family, going back generations. Dignity had always gotten us through. It was a choice, and not always the easy one, but the people I respected most in life made it again and again, every single day. There was a motto Barack and I tried to live by, and I offered it that night from the stage: When they go low, we go high.”
― Becoming
― Becoming
Addie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Addie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Addie
Lists liked by Addie




























