Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Banned Books Week 2012



I hope that all book lovers are celebrating the freedom to read what we choose this week and every week.  What disturbs me most about book censorship is the magical world of imagination so many children are denied through the misguided intentions of their parents.  My reading life was never censored, a gift I credit to my mother who loved books and encouraged me to love them, too.

Some links on this subject that might prove of interest are as follows:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/30/banned-books-week-top-10-_n_1926829.html?utm_hp_ref=books
http://bannedbooksweek.org/
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek 
http://www.abffe.org/?page=BBWHandbook
http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/censorship/a/bannedbooks.htm  


 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Catching Up

I can hardly believe that it's been a month since my last posting.  It is shaping up to be a very busy fall indeed.  The National Book Festival in DC on September 22nd and 23rd was a blast!  It's always hard to choose between listening to the authors speak or obtaining signatures from your favorite authors.  I came away with fewer signatures than I wanted, but I heard some incredible talks by some amazing authors.  Patricia Polacco gave one of the best talks I've ever heard from an author.  I was literally moved to tears by the beauty of her words, and I don't cry easily.  I will post more about the authors and books from this fantastic festival later.

It is now October, and I have a backlog of newly published books to read and add to my already gargantuan list of TBR.  This week is an important one in the lives of readers, as it is Banned Books Week.  We give focus to our freedom to read what we choose and support the fight against book censorship.  I will be listing some links to Banned Books Week and sharing some of my favorite challenged/censored books. 

And then, it is the month of Halloween, my favorite time of year.  On top of all the newly published and other books waiting to be read by me, I need to pick out at least one Halloween read for this year.  I will probably do a short reread of a favorite like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and a new spooky read from my collection of ghostly tales.

My reading goal of 75 books for this year has taken a hit in September, as my reading time was minimal, much to my dismay.  So, I'm hoping October will be more reading friendly or certainly more conducive to my sitting in my favorite chair and losing myself in story.  Fingers crossed and books open to the ready.