Sunday Salon... Banned Book Week Continues... and some Great Banned Books you should READ! Plus a banned book bargain on Kindle!

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...

Banned Books Week continues with highlights of some great books that were NOT on the top 10 list of someone out there... books that for one reason or another someone found objectionable. Can you believe that Charlotte's Web by E.B. White was challenged? The beloved children's story of friendship between a pig and a spider was challenged for its "unnatural" depiction of talking animals! Or how about Little Red Riding Hood? In 1990 it was banned by two California districts because an illustration shows Little Red Riding Hood's basket with a bottle of wine in it (along with bread & butter), and this could be seen as condoning the use of alcohol! Besides quite a few of my favorite children's books being on the Banned and Challenged list, there are a few recent additions to the banned book list that if you haven't read, you should! Oh, and at the very bottom of the page... you just HAVE to watch the video that The American Library Association put out for Banned Books Week! It's only 2 minutes long, but it says it all!

The first banned book today I want to showcase is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. What a wonderfully written book of friendship, loyalty and betrayal! The novel centers around the friendship of two boys, Amir & Hassan, in Afghanistan. Amir is the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan is the son of Amir's father's servant. They are from different classes but are the best of friends and inseparable. The book has been challenged repeatedly for its violence and a sexually explicit scene. That particular scene was brutal and heart wrenching... The story brought me to tears and haunted me for quite some time afterwards. The meaning of friendship, the horrors of war and a class system that seems unfair. If you haven't picked this book up I would highly recommend it. There are some amazing twists and turns in the plot and the story spans the time from boyhood to manhood for these two characters. A friend lent me this book and as I reluctantly picked it up to read it, I found myself lost in the story and couldn't put it down.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult was pulled from classrooms in Clawson, Michigan in 2008 because the story was to racy for middle school children. "Anna Fitzgerald has spent her whole life in and out of hospitals, not because there is anything wrong with her, but because she has the ability to help keep her older sister alive. In fact, that was the sole reason Anna was conceived and genetically selected. Her older sister Kate has a rare form of leukemia and her parents will try anything to save her. When Kate needs one of Anna's kidneys, at age 13, Anna decides enough is enough and sues her parents for the right to control her own body." This was a thought provoking and wonderfully written book. Jodi Picoult is known for her books dealing with sticky issues and this story is a good example. We read this in my reading group and the story lends itself to a great discussion! The ethics of having a baby to help a sick sibling... Moral obligations to a member of your family... Harvesting of organs... But this isn't just a straightforward story of family obligations, there are things going behind the scenes between these two sisters who do indeed love eachother... If you haven't read My Sister's Keeper yet, put it on your TBR list!

One of my favorite books of all time, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett! Removed from a Cleburne, Texas high school English summer reading list in 2009 because the novel contains a rape scene and passages of explicit sex. By the sounds of it, that is all you would remember of the story, but it's definitely not. This book was also my very first recommendation on Chick with Books! Here's my blurb about it from February, "A wonderful story with all the elements! Adventure, treachery, art, love, sex and superstition. What starts as a story of Tom Builder and his love of family & craft, grows into the tale of the assasination and sainthood of Thomas Becket. The characters are so real they almost walk out of the pages! So, get ready to experience the building of a magnificent cathedral, the world of 12th-century England and a cast of characters you simply will not forget. You will not be able to put this book down once you open it. You'll wish there were 900 more pages!" If you like stories set in the middle ages you will love this book! We also read this in my reading group. I had to do a bit of convincing because it was such a thick book, but EVERYone loved it! The pages just flew by! When you are done with the book tell me what you thought of William!

Want to see the list of the top 100 banned or challenged classics? Here's the link to the American Library Associations list. And here's the link to the beginning of Banned Book Week here at Chick with Books. Read all about what the Freedom to Read is all about, and see who else is participating in Banned Books Week! What books have you enjoyed that can be found on the banned & challenged book list? Are you going to read any banned books this week? Let me know what books are on your shelf and what you're reading! ....*Oh, and I just started Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger... if you look at the post before this one, I talk about meeting Holden Caulfield!

Stop by tomorrow for Memoir Monday and our memoir that was a banned book!

*P.S. The Kite Runner, My Sister's Keeper and Pillars of the Earth are all Kindle Ready! And Pillars is a bargain right now at under $7!

Happy reading... Suzanne

Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz and A Kindle related gift

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....

One of those very busy weeks, with a few trips to the vet for my reading companion BJ (he doesn't do any of the reading though, he just listens..), but now he seems to be on the road to recovery, with a course of rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. So in between reading doggie 'health books', there have been quite a few "Books with Buzz" to talk about this week... and I'll be making up for my lack of reviews this past week, this coming week! For now though here are a few notable books to put on your TBR list!...

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf. "It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night. Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried tobe the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. " So much good talk about this book. A few people I know who have read it were drawn in immediately to the story and couldn't put it down. So, this is on my TBR list and I think it's going to be on quite a few 'must read lists' in the coming months.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman "Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless. Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought it would. Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real." This book has been described as 'Harry Potter discovers Narnia is real' and is suppose to be an adult story book. Lot's and lots of positive buzz for this book! A homage to Harry P. For all of us who miss reading about Harry this might fit the bill, but with more of an adult twist here and there.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. Thanks to the Man Booker Prize longlist I read about and was intrigued by this book. "Olive Wellwood is a famous writer, interviewed with her children gathered at her knee. For each, she writes a private book, bound in its own colour and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh the children play in a storybook world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and friends, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets. Born at the end of the Victorian era and growing up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, a whole generation grew up unaware of the darkness ahead; in their innocence, they were betrayed unintentionally by the adults who loved them." The saga of the families plays out in the changing times of the culture and we are swept away with them... The change of life from the victorian times to the more 'progressive' edwardian times.

Ok, now a little something for your Kindle.... (also meant for books too!)

A Kindle friendly present... Have you ever tried to lean your Kindle against something to read it hands free. To have it stand up while you're lying down? Well, I bought a Peeramid BookRest, a kind of pyramid shape pillow with a ledge to rest your book and a tassel bookmark to keep your page. But I thought my Kindle would fit perfect on that little ledge and it sure did. Use it on the floor, on your lap, etc. It comes in a lot of colors and a few different material choices. It looks like a throw pillow when not it use... Click on the link above to go directly to the Peeramid's website....

I ordered mine from Amazon.com, but if you do a google search for Peeramid Bookrest there are quite a few places that sell them. They retail between $32 and $40 depending on the fabric.

I hoped I peaked your interest a little here! Don't forget there are some great giveaways going on and next week there will be a couple more interesting giveaways. One of which is going to be international! So keep in touch, tell me what books you're reading this week! And if you have a furry pal at home give him or her a big hug!

Happy reading...

Suzanne

Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz, a Reading Challenge, and a Book Download Freebie!

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....

So the past week has been a great one for reading... I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford! What a wonderful story! A childhood romance, a story that demonstrates the horrors of a time in history with internment camps, and the story of family. I'll be posting my review this week... This week has also been a great one for finding some new books to put in the TBR pile...

This week I received a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange. Vampires are all the rage these days and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice now has it's own! The book starts where Pride & Prejudice leaves off- the morning of the wedding of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Written in the same manner as the era it represents, it has gotten great buzz from Austen fans as the prepublication has hit the road! Mr. Darcy's aloofness is finally explained as he tries to keep his secret - he's a vampyre! The cover is perfect too! And I can't wait to read this! If you are a Austen fan and love a good vampire, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre will be on the shelves this tuesday Aug.11th! You can read more about the book at the blog Mr. Darcy Vampyre!

Another book with a lot of great buzz is The Sister by Poppy Adams! The story of two sisters who reunite after being estranged for 50 years! "Virginia is the sensible older sister who stayed, carrying on the family tradition of lepidopterology (the study of butterflies), while the reckless and free-spirited Vivien left to lead a cosmopolitan life in London. The story, told from Virginia’s eerily limited perspective, involves their parents’ descent into sadistic and capricious behavior, an accident in Vivien’s youth that left her unable to have children, and a plan that she had for her husband to impregnate Virginia instead. Adams creates an engrossing atmosphere of gothic mystery"... I picked this book up this week and can't wait to crack it open! I had heard some "If you Like The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield you'll like The Sister." And if you haven't read The Thirteenth Tale, it is a good story, with a gothic air of mystery in a run-down house, with dark secrets & lies, and sisters...

Also this week I picked up a couple of books by japanese authors. One of which was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, who is a critically acclaimed author of japanese literature. His work tends to mix the mundane things of everyday life with the bizarre. His writing is described as being poetic and his stories never boring. And so, I picked up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle... "Bad things come in threes for Toru Okada. He loses his job, his cat disappears, and then his wife fails to return from work. His search for his wife (and his cat) introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters, including two psychic sisters, a possibly unbalanced teenager, an old soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War, and a very shady politician."

Picking up the book by Murakami was perfect timing because as I was reading Bird Book Dog a blog by my friend Harvee Lau, I saw she joined a reading challenge! The Japanese Literature Challenge! There are many "reading challenges" on the blogs. It's a fun way to try reading something new, nudge you into reading something on your TBR pile, and a great way to meet other people who love to read! The Japanese Literature Challenge is organized by Bellezza at her blog Dolce Bellezza . Anyone can sign up for the challenge, which is to read one book of your chosing of a Japanese author. She has reading suggestions too! I'll be posting about the challenge this week on the blog. In the meantime, you can check out Docle Bellezza and Bird Book Dog by clicking on their names, I've linked it to their blogs.

And a quick note here for my Kindle readers! And anyone who loves a free book! Simon & Schuster is offering a free download of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld until Sept.5th. It's a YA book that I've been wanting to read for a while. Uglies is the first in the trilogy. It's about this future world where at the age of 16 you must get an operation to become "beautiful". The Uglies are the pre-sixteen girls who are tend to play tricks and get into mischief as they wait their turn. But of course not everyone wants to go thru with this procedure and there is a rumored rebel settlement and there is a reason behind the required transformations too... Lots of great buzz and thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free download. And Thanks to Debbie of Debbie's World of Books for sharing the information about the download on her blog! The free download is in celebration of Scott's new book Leviathon, which is the start of a new series for him. You can check out his blog HERE! And click on "free download" above to get your PDF of Uglies. I already put this on my Kindle DX without a problem this time!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

Sunday Salon

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....

That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book....

And this week is my first week participating in the Sunday Salon! Currently there are 416 book bloggers who belong to the Salon! I thought it would be fun to sit down with a cup of coffee and share what books and bookish things happened all week!

First off there was plenty of reading this week! I finished our book

club read, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. What an amazing book! Have you read it yet? First of all for anyone not familiar with the book, it is a memoir. And Jeannette Walls holds no punches. To say her life was unconventional is an understatement. She had two sisters and a brother. They lived out of the cars, in various shacks, their beds were cardboard boxes, they sometimes went days without food... their mother was a free spirit and a painter, their father a charismatic drunk. They learned how to pack up in the middle of the night and leave in a hurry... Surprisingly Jeannette, her sister Lori, and her brother Brian all grew up to be normal, healthy individuals. And she doesn't write with bitterness about her upbringing. It was like a wonderful adventure at times. And I think it hardened their resolve to live normal lives on their own. Eventually they all moved to New York. And Jeannette's parents did as well, but they chose to still live on the streets... If you get a chance to pick this book up do it!

I Also read Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti. I already wrote a

review post on this book, but thought I would mention it again as a fun quick read that won't disappoint! Also read Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandell, and loved it! I will have a full review up on Monday. It's about this girl Lilia and her life as she constantly disappears from one place to another... The writer did such a unique job of writing her story back and forth thru time without missing a beat. There was a lot of buzz on the book blogs about this one and I am glad I finally got a chance to read it! Anyone else read it? Please let me know what you thought about it! Especially the ending! It's another book you should put on your TBR list if you haven't read it already!

Now I just started reading Seduce Me by Robyn Hart. I received in the mail for a blog tour the author is going to have in mid-Aug. Robyn Hart is a historical romance writer and Seduce Me is the first in what is going to be the Legend Hunter series. The Legend Hunters are a secret group that are after treasures, antiquities, etc. The beginning of Seduce Me is kind of like an Indiana Jones film, with dark musty stone corridors and a treasure being hunted for. In this case the treasure is the legendary Pandora's box, which is found and which lands in the hands of scholarly Esme, who can't help but get herself cursed by mishandling it. (It is Pandora's Box!) She is cursed by LUST and I can't wait to see how and if she get's herself out of it! Of course there is a handsome guy who is helping Esme try to solve the problem... I'm halfway thru and it reads like an adventure story with some sparks, but it is a romance and I'm sure it's going to heat up even more as it goes along! Will let you all know about it!

Anyone with an iPhone? I downloaded the free app this week from Barnes & Noble for my iPhone. Have you heard about it? It's a cool app that allows you to photograph a book cover with your iPhone and then it will search for that book, give you reviews and find & reserve that book at any Barnes & Noble bookstore. Say, you're at a friends house and want a book she has... just by a touch of the button you photograph it, hit search on the iPhone and the book and all the info appears on your screen. What I thought was also cool ( and a little 'big brotherish') was that it asks you if you want to find the book locally and if you press yes, it will bring up on the screen all the local Barnes & Nobles near you. I know it must use the GPS to know where you are, because it doesn't ask for your location, but it still was amazing. And I'm sure there are glitches and older titles probably will not register, but interesting app....

So, that's all my reading for this week... How about you?! What have you been reading this week! Let me know what you've got a bookmark in!

Happy reading.....

Suzanne