Letter To My Daughter

A stunning work of literature! I've never read Maya Angelou and I was so glad to have given this a chance. This group of essays spoke to me and was so very relatable. I highly recommend!

“I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish-speaking, Native American and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”

Thank you, Maya Angelou. It is an honour being your daughter.

I picked up this book and didn't put it down until I finished it. That is the magic of literature for me.
Thank you Maya Angelou.

I started this book about 4 or 5 times this year, usually while commuting and got a chapter in each time before drifting off, through no fault of the authors. Finally, I put on my headphones and started doing some chores at home on a cold winters day and was able to listen to it all in one sitting. (it's not a long book)
I'm sad I wasn't able to take notes or write down some of the great quotes or the parts that really spoke to me.

i really enjoyed the start of this book but I didn't personally get so much out of the later parts. it was still enjoyable and interesting, but i'm not american or religious/christian - so a lot of those parts went a bit over my head.

it was really nice to have this read by Dr Angelou's herself. She has a great voice. I liked how she was really honest about her stuff ups, I learnt a lot and it really felt like I was being told this story by my own mother figure. I'd like to read some more of her poetry :)

I wanted to quit reading this several times. I couldn't find a thread through all of the stories, essays, and poems, and was often left wondering why they were included. Sometimes it came off as name droppy and judgmental. There certainly were some beautiful passages and pages that I underlined, but overall I was disappointed. I'll be choosing another book by her to read next year, this might have just been a bad first book choice on my part.

This was my favorite of Maya Angelou's books of essays. She has some wonderful nuggets of wisdom. I do find most of the essays to be too short for my taste, and I still much prefer her autobiographies.