Are You a Reading Rebel? Banned Books Week comes to a close...

It's a wrap for Banned Books Week...

Have YOU been subverted, converted, corrupted, poisoned, or ruined because you read a book? Oh, I mean because you read one of the MANY books that have been Challenged or Banned? Speak to me... Oops, let's not go there, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was recently called "pornographic". Even though thousands of young people have written to the author to acknowledge the positive impact, even life saving, that Speak had on their lives. It (there's another challenged book- It by Stephen King) created quite a stir in the blogging and reading community, and the publisher, Penguin, took out a full page ad in the New York Times featuring testimonials of the impact of Speak. There is a Chocolate War, I mean war because The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is a banned book, going on between censors and readers, and we must keep our eyes open to what's going on. I am My Sister's Keeper (Ok, just had to get that in for Jodi Piccoult fans...) so I take Banned Books Week to highlight some of the books, many of which have won numerous honors in the literary community, that we may not have been able to read if the people who wanted to remove them from library & school shelves, and even bookstore shelves had their way. If Hansel and Gretel could get challenged I knew there was no hope for Snow White! And All I have to say is Where's Waldo?! (When you find him, tell him he's been Banned too!) ttyl, Suzanne

Banned Books Week... Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson...

Winner of the 1995 PEN/Faulkner award

On San Piedro, an island of rugged, spectacular beauty in Puget Sound, a Japanese-American fisherman stands trial for murder. Set in 1954 in the shadow of World War II, Snow Falling on Cedars is a beautifully crafted courtroom drama, interracial love story, and war novel, illuminating the psychology of a community, the ambiguities of justice, the racism that persists even between neighbors, and the necessity of individual moral action despite the indifference of nature and circumstance.

In 1995 Snow Falling on Cedars was named 1995 book of the year by the American Booksellers Association. It also won the PEN/Faulkner award! What is the PEN/Faulkner award? Founded by writers in 1980, and named for William Faulkner, who used his Nobel Prize funds to create an award for young writers, and PEN, the international writers’ organization, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation brings together American writers and readers in a wide variety of programs to promote a love of literature. It's also one of the foremost prizes for literary fiction. Snow Falling on Cedars has also been challenged 4 times by parents who have objected to the books sexual content and obscene language. First challenged in 1997 by parents in the Snohomish, Wash. School District, who at the same time acknowledged the book's literary value. Next in 1999 it was pulled from the Boerne, Tex. Independent High School library and barred from the curriculum, although later it was returned to the library. In 2000 it was restricted by the South Kitsap, Wash. School District board, and then challenged, but retained, again in 2003 by the Modesto, Ca. City School Board for the advanced English classes. In this last case the school board said administrators should give parents more information about the books their children read, including annotations of each text. Parents can then opt out of any assignments they find objectionable.

What's really interesting is that David Guterson credits another frequently Banned & Challenged author as a major influence in his writing Snow Falling on Cedars... Who was that? None other than Harper Lee, whose To Kill a Mockingbird if one of the top 10 frequently challenged books...

"During his years as a teacher, Guterson discovered another major influence in To Kill a Mockingbird. "No other book had such an enormous impact [on me]" he has said of Harper Lee's splendid Southern classic. "I read it 20 times in 10 years and it never got old, only richer, deeper and more interesting." He admits freely to borrowing many of the novel's structural and thematic elements for his own 1994 tour de force, Snow Falling on Cedars. When he won the 1995 Pen/Faulkner award for Snow Falling on Cedars, Guterson quickly recognized the reclusive Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird for his success. He wrote to Lee asking her to come to the award ceremony in Washington, D.C., but being a highly private woman, she didn't attend."

Have you read Snow Falling on Cedars? I haven't yet, but now it's definitely going on my TBR list! Isn't it amazing how many Banned & Challenged books end up as "Books of the Year" and host to other literary prizes!

Banned Books Week... A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

It was a dark and stormy night... in the world of banned books!

How can you not just love a story that starts out with, " It was a dark and stormy night."! As part of Banned Books Week I decided I would open the beloved children's classic (and challenged book), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and hop on board for an amazing time traveling adventure with Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace. And what an adventure it was! I met three unearthly strangers (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which), traveled to Uriel where I took a ride on a beautiful centaur with wings up to the tallest mountains that disappeared into the clouds, I took a terrifying trip to Camazotz, a dark planet, where the dark force there wanted to take away my individuality, but who was finally defeated by love, and I met other strange creatures that were as curious about me as I was about them (tentacles and all) Oh, and I almost forgot... I learned about a tesseract, which of course is a wrinkle in time.

The story centers around the Murry family, whose parents are scientists. Mr. Murry has disappeared after a government experiment, which we later find out has to do with time travel. Mrs. Murry and her 4 children, Meg, Charles Wallace, Denny and Sandy, and faithful dog Fortinbras continue with their lives while waiting to hear from Mr. Murry. It's been a year with no word, rumors abound, and Meg is getting ever so impatient. When one dark and stormy night a stranger enters their lives, Meg learns that there is a way to find her father and hopefully bring him home. With the help of her younger brother Charles Wallace and soon to be best friend Calvin, they are whisked off through time and space to places unknown...

A classic story of the battle between good and evil, Madeline L'Engle has created a wonderful fantasy world, with a perfect protagonist in Meg that any young girl of a certain age can relate to, who struggles with being "different" from the other kids she goes to school with (awkward AND with glasses), but who eventually comes to appreciate her own uniqueness. The writing is wonderful, with passages that seem to be a feast for the eyes...

"They left the great granite plain and flew over a garden even more beautiful than anything in a dream. In it were gathered many of the creatures like the one Mrs. Whatsit had become, some lying among the flowers some swimming in a broad, crystal river that flowed through the garden, some flying in what Meg was sure must be a kind of dance, moving in and out abover the trees. They were making music, music that came not only from their throats but from the movement of their great wings as well."

Why has A Wrinkle in Time been repeatedly challenged? It was first challenged, but retained, in 1985 by a parent of a Polk City, Fl. Elementary School student contending that the story promoted witchcraft, crystal balls and demons. Then it was challenged in 1990 in the Anniston, Alabama schools because someone felt that the book sends a mixed signal to children about good and evil. The complaint also objected to listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to defenders of Earth against evil. In 1996 it was also challenged, but retained, by the Catawba County School Board in Newton, N.C. A parent requested the book be pulled from the school libraries because it allegedly undermines religious beliefs.

"What a child doesn’t realize until he is grown is that in responding to fantasy, fairly tale, and myth he is responding to what Erich Fromm calls the one universal language, the one and only language in the world that cuts across all barriers of time, place, race, and culture. Many Newbery books are from this realm, beginning with Dr. Dolittle; books on Hindu myth, Chinese folklore, the life of Buddha, tales of American Indians, books that lead our children beyond all boundaries and into the one language of all mankind." ...From Madeline L'Engle Newbery Award acceptance speech

If you haven't read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, I highly recommend it! It was 190 pages of pure pleasure. And the adventures don't stop there either- Madeline L'Engle wrote a series of books about the Murry family called The Time Quartet, which includes A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Did you read this challenged book as a child?! I wish I had! *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Banned Book Week and Guest Post by Author Carrie Ryan

As readers our freedom to read is without question important to us. But how do authors view banning and censorship?! YA author Carrie Ryan shares her thoughts with this important piece that really hits home the reason why we need to fight against the banning and removal of books from our schools and libraries for ourselves and most importantly for our children...

Won't someone please think of the children?

I'm so proud and pleased to live in a world where young girls are never sexually abused. Where women in high school or middle school aren't raped. Where teen boys never contemplate suicide (or, heaven forfend, actually attempt and accomplish it). I'm blessed to live in a world where there's no bullying, no cyberbullying, no eating disorders or emotional abuse. Where girls don't stick fingers down their throats and slide knives or blades over their skin intentionally. Where teachers don't sleep with students, where fathers don't sleep with daughters, where no one under consenting age has sex, thinks about sex, comes close to having sex, gets pregnant, gets a disease, has an abortion or has a child when they're still in their tweens. How lovely that all girls and boys are virgins throughout middle and high school. That nary a drop of alcohol or a whiff of drugs passes their lips, their noses, their veins.

Surely each child at every school is well loved, well nourished, well cared for. Well clothed and well mannered with bright futures ahead that don't involve peer pressure and binge drinking and drugs and gangs.

Clearly none of those terrible things ever happens in the lives of REAL teens. So why would we ever need books about such horrid and odious happenings? Why would we allow such texts to enter the hallowed halls of our children's schools? Or, worse, to actually be offered on a list of recommended reading? Or even more awful to contemplate, used in a classroom? Forget that such books may have won awards or received starred reviews or been included list after list. Forget that teens have written to authors in tears, in gratitude, in awe that some of those books have changed their lives. That some of those books have saved them.

We don't need those books anymore! Therefore, we don't need them in our classes, in our schools or in our libraries. Hasn't anyone ever wondered what would happen if we let our perfect, pure, untouched and untarnished teen minds read such smut? They might contemplate drugs or sex or suicide. Clearly, all it would take is one page - one paragraph - of Laurie Halse Anderson's book Wintergirls to change even the healthiest girl anorexic! No girl today would ever have such thoughts otherwise!

Won't someone please think of the children? What are we teaching them with these books?

Unless... unless we've somehow failed. Unless we missed something. Unless there are teens out there that are in trouble. That have faced obstacles that their parents don't know about. Unless there are teens out there with secrets -- secret pains and secret fears -- that they can't take to their mother or father or sister or priest or teacher. Maybe they're ashamed. Maybe they're afraid.

Maybe they need to be shown that they're not alone. That you can survive abuse. That you can overcome bullying and peer pressure. That your friends could be facing these issues. That you can find help. Or even, what happens when you don't.

Maybe we need to have more faith in teens that reading a book won't brainwash them. That maybe instead it will expand their horizons. And maybe as the adults of the world that's our job - to show them the world and be there to answer questions and support them.

I get it. I understand that its easier to keep teens in the dark. It's easier to believe that teens aren't dealing with these difficult issues. What parents want to introduce their precious child to all the bad things in this world? What father wants to explain what rape is?

But I need to make this clear, and this comes from my experience and from my friends experiences and from the teens I've talked to: this stuff happens. And it happens to teens and tweens far younger than any of us would ever want to contemplate. They deal with these issues whether we want them to or not. This is life and life can really suck and it can be messy and dangerous and sad. And hiding from it doesn't make it go away.

So whenever someone screams "Won't someone please think of the children" and then they propose banning books or removing them from the classroom or the library, I want to ask them what they think it accomplishes. Because not talking about the difficult issues in this world doesn't make them not exist. Not letting teens read about them doesn't mean teens are somehow not going to face them.

We're not protecting anyone by keeping them ignorant. And banning books or pretending this stuff doesn't happen is the height of ignorance.

Thank you to the authors who write about these difficult topics and to those who fight to keep them in schools.

Carrie Ryan is the author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead-Tossed Waves and the soon to be released The Dark and Hollow Places. You can learn more about Carrie and her books at www.Carrieryan.com. And you can read Carrie's original post on her blog, Carries Procrastinatory Outlet.

I want to thank Carrie Ryan for permission to share her wonderfully written article! This post really resonated with me and I can only hope that it reaches out to many other readers in the same way.

Banned Books Week... What Kind of Reader are YOU?

It's Banned Books Week and inquiring minds want to know - what kind of reader are you? Not sure? Take the ACLU's Banned Book Quiz to find out...

Below is a list of 20 of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. Check the box next to every book you've read to find out if you're a rebellious reader.

c Any book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

c I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

c The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

c The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

c To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

c James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

c Native Son by Richard Wright

c Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

c The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

c The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

c A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

c The Pigman by Paul Zindel

c Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

c The Dead Zone by Stephen King

c A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

c Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

c Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford

c Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

c Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

c Lord of the Flies by William Golding

What Kind of Reader Are You?

How many books did you check off above?

18 - 20: Totally Banned Bookworm

14 - 17: I'll Take Mine in a Plain Brown Wrapper

9 - 13: Brave New Reader

5 - 8: A Little Forbidden Reading Never Hurt Anybody

1 - 4: My Teacher Made Me Read It

0: Literary Lightweight

The Sunday Salon and Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! AND Banned Books Week! That's right, it's that time of year again to celebrate YOUR freedom to read! This years theme is Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same! And this week at Chick with Books we're going to highlight books that were banned or challenged.

Held during the last week of September, this year that means Sept. 25th - Oct. 2nd, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

It's important to note that the American Library Association does welcome parents who care about what their child is reading, and their involvement in overseeing what they deem appropriate or inappropriate. But not wanting YOUR child or teen to read something and trying to BAN any particular book from other children or teens (or adults!) is where the first amendment comes into play. Think for Yourself! And Let ME make MY own choices! This is particularly important when it comes to public libraries, which is sometimes the only resource people have to reading books! How do you feel about the banning of books?! Here are the top 10 challenged books of 2009 as reported to the OIF, or the Office of Intellectual Freedom...

Out of 460 challenges ...

1. “TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series)", by Lauren Myracle

Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: Homosexuality

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky

Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee

Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. “Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult

Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker

Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier

Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

I can't imagine not being able to read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee! What a great book! In my opinion, the book challenges racism, not encourages it. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult was a favorite among my reading group bringing up the issues of a person's right to choose, not advocating suicide. Charlotte's Web, Little Red Riding Hood, In the Night Kitchen all challenged?! Check out the ALA's list of top 100 Banned/Challenged Books of the decade! And then tell me what books you were surprised to see on the list!

Last year I highlighted 2 of my all time favorite "banned books", The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, met Holden Caulfield as I read Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, featured I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou for Memoir Monday, and featured a often times forgotten author and her book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Where will this year take us? This week we'll meet a young girl from the Holocaust, see why someone felt a 1963 Newbery Medal Winner should be banned, and why a Snowy book that won the PEN/Faulkner award and was named 1995 book of the year by the American Booksellers Association was challenged, barred from the curriculum, but finally returned to the school library.

This year my Banned Book reading challenge read will be The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Written like a diary, I'll be thrown back into high school and trying to survive those years all over again. What are YOU reading for Banned Book Week?! Need some Banned Book Suggestions? Here are some suggestions...

A Time To Kill by John Grisham... John Grisham wrote this riveting story of retribution and justice — at last it’s available in a Doubleday hardcover edition. In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence…as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town…Clanton, Mississippi. The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young man. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. Until her black father acquires an assault rifle — and takes justice into his own outraged hands. For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client’s life…and then his own…

This Book was challenged but retained in a Fargo, ND high school advanced English class "despite the novels graphic rape and murder scenes." Although I've never read this particular John Grisham novel, there was a time where I couldn't get enough of his courtroom thrillers. I've never been disappointed when picking up a John Grisham novel because his writing has always been consistently good. Have you read this one yet?

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx... Brokeback Mountain was originally a short story in Annie Proulx's collection of short stories called Close Range. These stories are "reflections on the lives of a handful of characters striving to define themselves against the unforgiving landscapes of Wyoming." After the success of the movie of the same name, Brokeback Mountain was reprinted as its own stand alone novel. What's interesting in this case of a challenged book is how far the school in question went to protect its freedom to read... St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, Tx. (a private school) returned a three million dollar donation rather than submit to the donor's request that the short story be removed from the school's list of optional reading for twelfth graders. This is a wonderful collection of short stories and if you enjoyed the movie and want to read the actual story, and the movie was true to the actual story, I would pick up Close Range to be able to read more than just Brokeback Mountain.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier... One of the best-loved paintings in the world is a mystery. Who is the model and why has she been painted? It is the story of Griet, a 16-year-old Dutch girl who becomes a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her calm and perceptive manner not only helps her in her household duties, but also attracts the painter's attention. Though different in upbringing, education and social standing, they have a similar way of looking at things. Vermeer slowly draws her into the world of his paintings - the still, luminous images of solitary women in domestic settings. In contrast to her work in her master's studio, Griet must carve a place for herself in a chaotic Catholic household run by Vermeer's volatile wife Catharina, his shrewd mother-in-law Maria Thins, and their fiercely loyal maid Tanneke. Six children (and counting) fill out the household, dominated by six-year-old Cornelia, a mischievous girl who sees more than she should. As Griet becomes part of her master's work, their growing intimacy spreads disruption and jealousy within the ordered household and even - as the scandal seeps out - ripples in the world beyond.

This book was banned in Iran in 2006. In a statement, "The new government intends to take positive steps for reviving neglected values and considering religious teachings in the cultural field."

I hope I've stirred your desire to read a banned book! Let me know if you'll be reading anything challenged and banned! And share what you think about banning books!

Sunday Salon... Banned Books Week finishes up with a Thank You and a Special Giveaway!

The Banned Book Giveaway has Ended! CONGRATS! To Stpand who won! He Chose Catcher in The Rye! Thanks to EVERYone for joining in on the fun! And for participating in Banned Book Week!

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

Today wraps up Banned Books Week. A week to celebrate the freedom to read. It's been a wonderful week to share favorite books, discover new books and talk about the challenges that face authors whose words may offend some and inspire others...

During this week there has been chatter about how Banned Books Week is really a fallacy- that even if a book is banned somewhere such as your child's library, that you can still get the book elsewhere. So that really books aren't banned in the sense that you CAN'T get them, so why Banned Books Week?

Banned Books Week to me is the celebration of the freedom to read & the freedom of expression. Yes, in the truest sense of the word, banned may not be accurate in the U.S. because even if the book is banned somewhere, you should be able to purchase the book elsewhere. But it's the threat to our freedoms, the threat to our talented writers who may feel inhibited in their writing that makes this one week important, a week to examine the books that are challenged & banned and the reasons behind the controversies. If readers never said a word and let every book that someone didn't approve of be removed from the shelves, how many books would be left?

So Thank You to everyone who shared their thoughts, books and links to their blogs in order for us all to appreciate the written word! I know I discovered new books to read! And of course I spent the week with Holden Caulfield... I'll catch you up later with that...

In the meantime... as a special thank you for everyone who followed along here with Banned Books Week, and Chick with Books readers, I'm going to giveaway one paperback copy of ANY of the "Banned Books" I talked about this week for banned book week! So, starting with last weeks Sunday Salon which highlighted 3 banned books, just leave a comment letting me know which banned or challenged book you'd like to read , and leave me your email address too! The giveaway is open to EVERYone (as long as I can mail a book to you!) and that means INTERNATIONAL! The giveaway will end next Sunday October 11th at 11:59 Pm!

Next sunday, Sunday Salon will be back with some great recommendations and books that caught my eye! Monday Memoirs will be taken over by 2 great books that are being highlighted all over the reading blogosphere for that one day. (Memoir Monday will be back the following monday!). October is National Reading Group Month and we'll be talking about that next week, and recommending some great book club reads. So, stop by next week and in the meantime, enter the giveaway for a banned book! Leave me a comment below!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

Catcher in the Rye ... the week I spent with Holden Caulfield! (caution this may contain spoilers!)

Holden Caulfield and I spent the rest of the week together... When last I checked in I had just started the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and ended at the point where Holden leaves his dorm in the middle of the night (End of Chapter 7)...

What a whirlwind tour of New York! And how depressing too. Holden just craved companionship, and at every chance he got he tried to hold on to it in order to hold off the loneliness that surrounded him like a cocoon... First we hopped on a train, ran into a classmates mother, spent the trip shooting the breeze with her, pretending to be someone else and got off at Penn Station in NYC... trying to think of someone, ANYone, to call and spend a little time with, but ending up not calling anyone. So we hopped in a taxi... Oops, Holden gave the taxi driver his real address- big mistake! He definitely doesn't want to deal with his parents just yet... so he asks the driver to turn around and go to this hotel. A depressing looking dive... And that's how the beginning of the story took off. Holden going down to the hotel lounge, spending some time with a few women, drinking and being rejected, again... then on to another bar, more drinking and even though he was surrounded by people, more rejection... Finally he gets himself a hooker, gets beat up, loses some money... spends some time with one of the guys from school, gets bored and calls an old girlfriend. Spills his guts about the way he feels, asks her to marry him and go away with him, gets rejected and ends up broke. By now, he decides to go home. See his sister, who really is his only ally... He sneaks home, spends time with his sister, still can't deal with seeing his parents, sneaks out... All I can say is that Holden Caulfield is a pretty interesting character. The situations he gets himself into are sometimes funny and sometimes a bit sad. He's trying to be all grown up, but he's really not... If only he could make that one connection, someone who would understand all his teenage angst... I can see why David California wrote 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye which is suppose to tell the story of Holden Caulfield 60 years after we turn the last page the Catcher in the Rye. The ending of the Catcher in the Rye leaves you wanting more! You want to find out what happened to Holden after he got home and finally confronts his parents! But in typical Holden style, and if you read J.D. Salinger's book you'll know what I mean, Holden says...

" That's all I'm going to tell about. I could probably tell you what I did after I went home... but I don't feel like it."

I wasn't sure how I would like the Catcher in the Rye when I first started reading it. Set, in the beginning, in a boy's prep school, I wasn't really that taken with the story right away. But Holden grew on me... and so did the story! I enjoyed my New York travels with Holden and would explore more of New York with him if I could... And if you haven't read the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, I would recommend cracking the spine on this one!

Have you read the Catcher in the Rye? Tell me what you thought of the book, of Holden, of J.D. Salinger's decision to sue to stop the publication of David California's book, 60 Years Later!

Banned Books Week! National Reading Group Month! and a Book that fits into BOTH catagories... their eyes were watching god by Zora Neale Hurston

"I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions."

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was one of the most significant collectors and interpreters of Southern African American culture, writer, folklorist & anthropologist. A graduate of Howard University and Barnard College, she then spent 2 years in graduate studies in anthropology at Columbia University. Her other love was writing , which she combined with her research in folklore and anthropology.

"She refused simply to record the ways of her people and thereby condemn her “studies” to dusty library shelves where only researchers would consider them. Rather Zora used her creative genius to being the unique and wonderful culture of African Americans to mainstream America via captivating novels, short stories and dramatic presentations. The woman from Eatonville, Florida, has captured the attention of a worldwide audience with her interpretation of African American culture as a part of the human saga."

She worked with Langston Hughes, influenced writers such as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. But she was also a controversial writer... Thinking like a folklorist, Hurston strove to represent speech patterns of the period which she documented through her research. But other African American writers criticized her for using language that represented a "stereotype". Eventually she fell out of favor with the times and wound up broke and working as a maid at the time of her death. She was buried in an unmarked grave. A terribly sad ending. The writer Alice Walker went to pay her respects to Zora Neale Hurston who's book their eyes were watching god "speaks to me as no novel, past or present, has ever done." and decided that the writer deserved more than an unmarked grave. Her writing was so inspiring to Ms. Walker, that she brought Zora Neale Hurston out of obscurity and back into the limelight...

their eyes were watching god is the best known work by Zora Neale Hurston. Initially published in 1937, this novel about a proud, independent black woman's quest for identity, a journey that takes her through three marriages and back to her roots, has been one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed novels in African-American literature. It's a story about Janie Crawford, an attractive, confident, middle-aged black woman, who returns to Eatonville, Florida, after a long absence. The black townspeople gossip about her and speculate about where she's been and what happened to her husband, Tea Cake. They take her confidence as her being snobbish, but Janie’s friend Pheoby sticks up for her. Pheoby visits her to find out what happened. And that's the beginning of a story filled with failed marriages, strong women and finally true love... And a CHALLENGED BOOK! Why? Because of it's language and sexual explicitness. Most recently challenged in 1998.

Have you read their eyes were watching god? It's been on my bookshelf waiting for me to crack the spine! Time magazines literary critic listed their eyes were watching god as one of the 100 best English-Language novels from 1923 - 2005. Would you like to read an excerpt? Here's a link to Chapter One! their eyes were watching god has a reading group guide available from Harper Collins HERE. Zora Neale Hurston's choice of writing style & dialect, and use of folklore are some of the discussion points.

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready! AND at a BARGAIN price of $3.95!

Memoir Mondays and Banned Book Week... I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

"being aware of her displacement is the rust on

the razor..."

Today is Monday... and that means Memoir Monday! How would you feel if you poured out your soul, revealed painful secrets and someone decided your heartfelt words, in essence your life was "too graphic", "pornographic" and "objectionable"...

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the autobiography of Maya Angelou and describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s. Dealing with abandonment issues (her parents divorce when she's three & off she goes to live with a grandmother), racism, segregation, being brutally raped at 8, guilt & shame, an unwanted pregnancy and life as it came to a young black girl in the south, we get a picture of a hard and frightening life. These are hard issues to deal with and in Maya Angelou's lyrical prose and remarkable candor, she shows that racism is a product of ignorance and prejudice, and that she has found the strength to rise above her horrible circumstances. Courage is a word that come to mind along with part of the poem of the same name as her book and written by her...

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill

Of things unknown but longed for still

And his tune is heard on the distant hill for

The caged bird sings of freedom.

Interesting is the part of the book where Maya is introduced to the wonderful world of books and the power of words, all of which help Maya deal with her world...

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings was nominated for a National Book Award in 1970 and remained on The New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. It has been used in high schools & universities, and the book has been "celebrated for creating new literary avenues for the American memoir." It has been praised as an important piece of literature, and the New York Times Book Review calls Maya Angelou an author who "writes like a song, and like the truth."

What are you reading for Banned Books Week? Have you read I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings? Tell me what you think of the writing and the message...

*P.S. This book is Kindle Ready! For a Bargain Price of $6.99!

Catcher in the Rye update... Spoiler Alert

I met Holden Caulfield yesterday... he was playing the tough guy, but I could tell it was all an act. He doesn't quite fit in... he feels an awkwardness that makes him call the people around him morons & phonies, but he still wanted to be part of them...

He joined the fencing team... as manager. Not really involved with the team but there... He went to the Big Game but sat on top of the hill looking down at everyone instead of joining in... (it was pretty cold up there, snow and all and I kept trying to convince him to leave.) He isolates himself and it's so sad... No real friendships... Maybe it's because he keeps getting thrown out of schools... Did I tell you? Oh I guess not, Holden just flunked out of Pencey's. This is the third exclusive boys boarding school...

When his history teacher Mr. Spencer leaves him a note saying he wants to see him, you can almost see that warm & fuzzy feeling inside of him that someone is going to miss him. Until he gets there and it's a lecture... ( at least we left that cold snowy hill!) So that's it. He goes back to his dorm, packs it up and is getting out of there... His one last act is to try and feel something about leaving... trying to remember something that will make him miss what he's leaving behind so he can say goodbye to it all... finally he remembers a time where he was playing football with a couple of guys and that's it... he feels something to miss... On his way out the door...

"When I was all set to go, when I had all my bags and all, I stood next to the stairs and took a last look down the corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't know why..." But then at the top of his voice he yells, "Sleep tight, ya morons!"

I left Holden on his way out the door... I'll meet up with him at chapter 8 to see where he's going...