Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

How many times have people recommended this book to me? At least a hundred, I'm sure. But I was determined to stay away from it. I've been encouraged to read celebrity memoirs before, and, time and time again, I was disappointed. Celebrities can't write, I told myself.

Then a copy of Born a Crime appeared in my Little Free Library, and I was tempted. Why not try it?

I've had to adapt my former precept to most celebrities can't write. Trevor Noah is the exception. Not only can Noah write, he can write with the best of them.

This is the story of Trevor Noah's young life, growing up in the worst of times in South Africa, with a white father and a black mother. He tells the stories of his life trying to fit in at school with a racial group that accepts him (is he white? is he black? is he colored?) when none of them really do. He tells stories of his mother and his older relatives and their beliefs. He tells stories of South Africa. And all of these are tinged with humor and deep emotion.