Austin Channing Brown’s first book opened my eyes. This one made me feel seen.

About the Book:

Title: Full of Myself
Genre(s): Self-help/Autobiographical
Author: Austin Channing Brown
Published by: Convergent Books
Date Published:
Format Read: EBook
Where I Got It: NetGalley gave me a copy of this book.
Stand alone or series Number: It is a stand alone book.
This book is a must read if you like: Body Positivity, validation, actionable self- help.

Snapshot: what do you need to know before you pick up the book.

Profanity: None
Intimacy: None
Violence: None
Themes: Body image, grief, racism, death.

My Thoughts

While this book faces extremely tough topics head on, it does so with an extremely hopeful outlook. While it confronts the fact that we have to face these systemic issues, it also emphasizes the need to do so in a mentally healthy way.

I adored Austin Channing Brown’s first book and this one reached into my soul and gripped my heart. Her vulnerability in discussing her past experiences helped me processes some of mine. While this book is intended specifically for women of color, I found I resonated with a lot of the intersectionality of being a woman and plus sized. Also, it helped me see things through her experiences that I was unaware of.

I can’t pick a favorite part of this book, but I did love the section headings. It felt like a poem or positive affirmation. If you haven’t read this book, you absolutely need to. It is phenomenal.

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER In a time of rising authoritarianism and attacks on personal freedoms, the New York Times bestselling author of I’m Still Here chronicles her efforts to live as her full self in a society that wants women—and Black women in particular—to do anything but that.

As an antiracism educator and writer leading through America’s cycles of racial unrest, Austin Channing Brown reached a crossroads. “I love my work,” she writes, “and I am tired. We are tired. Tired of protesting. Tired of ‘saving democracy.’ Tired of educating and explaining.” She began to ask, “What do I deserve, not just as a citizen but as a human?”

Full of Myself answers that question. Weaving personal narrative with perceptive social commentary, Brown offers a look at the mechanisms that limit who Black women are allowed to be—at work, at home, in community—and the defining moments when she decided that self-possession is the justice work she had been made to undervalue. From skinny-dipping in the ocean to becoming a mom, she delves into the drama of life and invites readers to begin defining themselves not as empty vessels to improve the world, but as a people born free in spirit, in hope, in joy.

For Black women seeking to understand the true roots of their burnout, or for anyone wondering what it means to live joyfully in a hostile world, Full of Myself is a breath of fresh air and an invitation to full humanity.

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