GATHER ME

Professional bibliophile pays tribute to the books that made her.

Edim rose to prominence as the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, an influential and far-reaching literary organization. In Gather Me, she reflects on a lifetime of devoted reading. From childhood on, whatever was going on in Edim’s life, books were a constant presence in her survival and self-development. But while each chapter in the memoir centers on the books that were most pivotal in a given period of her life, Gather Me is less a book about books than a book about a life in which books were always in the background. Edim writes more about her home life and personal struggles than she does about the books that are important to her. It is the power of reading, more than the power of specific books, that is Edim’s real interest. The details vary, but any reader can relate to the sentiment she expresses in recurring passages such as: “I built a personal library that reassured me that my own happiness was possible. Despite my mother’s illness and all that surrounded it. For me, reading was reparative. Toni Morrison compelled me to hone in on my vision. Maya Angelou urged me to take more risks. Alice Walker drove me to build something outside of myself. Somehow their intricate stories and astute observations provided me with an unbreakable foundation.” Occasionally Edim gets carried away by the strength of her personal connection to the writers she loves and misses her own point. She refers to books by Morrison, Walker, and others as “monumental narratives written exclusively by and for Black women,” an assessment that would, by implication, impoverish literature for every reader, including many of Edim’s own. Gather Me is a book for anyone who has ever loved books.

A love story that attests to the power of literature.