Same Kind of Different As Me - by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

This book was really not at all what I expected. I picked it up at the bookstore one day on a whim. It looked like it might be interesting and then after I bought it I found it was an upcoming book for one of the library reading groups I was going to. I started it late so I didn't end up going to the book club to discuss it, but it is well worth discussing.

"Same Kind of Different As Me" is written by two men and is the story of their separate journeys that eventually merged. Denver Moore was born in Lousiana on a Plantation to a family of share-croppers. Slavery was long since passed, but share-cropping had replaced it, meaning that the black families still lived in small shacks on the white family's land and still worked the land in exchange for those houses and whatever they needed, but nothing more. They were not paid in money, and were given "credit' at the "The Man"'s store to buy the things they needed. Credit they would have paid off with the cotton they harvested if the harvest had ever been more than what they owed; remaining forever in debt to "the man". Once Denver was grown he eventually jumped a train to Texas where he found himself homeless but felt it was still a step above the life he had previously lead.

Ron Hall, on the other hand, had grown from the son of a poor farming family to a multi-million dollar art dealer, living in the lap of luxury, but kept grounded by his wife. His wife convinced him to join her in her efforts to help the homeless after she dreamt that that was something she needed to do. They began showing up regularly to the shelter and helping to cook and serve meals and it wasn't long before they were helping in other ways. Ron's wife had another dream about a homeless man who would change things. When she first saw Denver, she knew he was that man and tried to convince her husband to befriend him; not at an easy task.

Over time, Ron & Denver did become friends and they taught each other a great deal. This book is their story and one well worth reading. Is is the story of how one person can create great changes in the life of many. It is the story of dreams that do come true and lives that can be changed. I can understand why this book made the best seller list and has stayed there.

I don't know what I expected when I picked it up, but it wasn't the story I found or the way that it touched my heart and made me actually glad I had read. Few books leave you with that kind of feeling.