BANNED BOOKS WEEK
Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us: Banned Books Week 2021
Banned and challenged books have made us question the ways of the world — and sparked heated debates for as long as any of us can remember. Banned Books Week runs from 9/26 – 10/2 and the titles on this year’s list include the top 10 most challenged books of 2020 — some you know and, if not, maybe this is the year you read them.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men and The Bluest Eye are the veterans of this list, and in the age of #MeToo and I May Destroy You, it’s stories like Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson that we look back on as an introduction, for many of us, to sexual assault and the power of speaking up.
Separating the work from the artist is an ongoing debate that no one seems to agree on. Known as one of the most frequently challenged books since its release, for its use of profanity and sexuality, National Book Award Winner, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Native American writer Sherman Alexie, have become the perfect example in recent years.
George — the Stonewall Award-winning debut by Alex Gino — is no stranger to the list. An important story about a transgender girl named Melissa and being true to who you are, even if it takes others a little while to get on board.
What are you reading lately?
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8081
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Re: What are you reading lately?
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/tag ... ooks-week/
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8081
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Re: What are you reading lately?
Hubby shares this from his The Sun subscription.
https://thesunmagazine.org/issues/550/s ... nd%20Notes
https://thesunmagazine.org/issues/550/s ... nd%20Notes
READERS WRITE
Sisters
BY OUR READERS • OCTOBER 2021
My sister and I are twins: I was born first, and what the doctor thought was the placenta turned out to be Elena. Her head was small, so there was some concern about her health. “They did all kinds of tests — but you both were normal!” my father insists. Sometimes Elena gestures to me and says with a chuckle, “I was just her leftovers.”► Show Spoiler
The differences between us were obvious early on. The only thing I worried about on school-picture day was wearing my favorite barrette, but picture day caused Elena such anxiety she was once taken to the emergency room for a debilitating neck spasm. In junior high, after our mother died unexpectedly and our dad began drinking and hoarding, my sister dyed her hair black and became a goth. I was voted friendliest in our eighth-grade class.
After high school I got better and better jobs until I moved away to attend medical school. Elena got a position in a retirement-home dining hall and still works there more than twenty years later, making a little over minimum wage. She adores the residents. She’ll clutch her heart and tell me, “Oh! Mr. Petey died!” or, referring to a retired professor with Alzheimer’s, “I love my George.”
Now our father is dying. I’m too resentful of his years of alcoholism and dysfunction to want to care for him, and I dread the idea of touching his body. But Elena doesn’t mind. When the hospice nurse can’t come, my sister dresses his bedsores. She ignores the decades of clutter piled around the rented hospital bed, leaving just a narrow path to walk through. She pulls off the bandages and inspects him, squinting through her glasses. “Looking better,” she says.
I’ve always wished my sister could be more like me. Suddenly I wonder if I should be more like her.
K.A.
Redwood City, California
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
-
- Posts: 980
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:11 am
Re: What are you reading lately?
Wow! This reminded me to get a subscription to Sun again. Thank you.
-
- Posts: 980
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:11 am
Re: What are you reading lately?
Also, once a rabid reader, I was sad to discover I couldn't focus on reading print books without great effort. And even then, I forget what I read in the last paragraph or page.
I used to read an average-size book in three days, most being vivid movies in my head. A friend sent "American Dirt" to me months ago and I've read the first 20 pages five times.
I just ordered and received three books of short stories by Allister McCloud and I hope to capture the joy of reading again.
I used to read an average-size book in three days, most being vivid movies in my head. A friend sent "American Dirt" to me months ago and I've read the first 20 pages five times.
I just ordered and received three books of short stories by Allister McCloud and I hope to capture the joy of reading again.
- Reality Check
- Posts: 2457
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:46 pm
- Verified: ✅ Curmudgeon
- Contact:
Re: What are you reading lately?
Our friend John Woodman has a new book out titled How We Fix America. John has changed his political views and has moved from the Republican to the Democratic party. He has also come around on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights. I think if you contact John he would send you a pre-print electronic version.
https://howwefixamerica.com/
Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/abetteramerica
https://howwefixamerica.com/
Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/abetteramerica
Re: What are you reading lately?
I remember him! I think I first met him on Dr. Conspiracy's website. Happy to hear he's now a Dem
You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy.
- Reality Check
- Posts: 2457
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:46 pm
- Verified: ✅ Curmudgeon
- Contact:
Re: What are you reading lately?
He was a frequent guest on Reality Check Radio also. We have become friends over the years. We have exchanged a number of Facebook DM's and phone calls. His book/course is an easy read.
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8081
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Re: What are you reading lately?
https://time.com/6121064/national-book-awards/
Here Are the Winners for the 2021 National Book Awards
BY HILLEL ITALIE/AP
NOVEMBER 17, 2021 9:41 PM EST
NEW YORK — Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book, a surreal meta-narrative about an author’s promotional tour and his haunted past and present, has won the National Book Award for fiction — a plot twist Mott did not imagine for himself.
Hell of a Book is a satirical take on a Black writer’s adventures on the road for a promotional tour — Mott himself had his share of experiences while talking up such previous works as his debut novel The Returned — and a stark and disorienting tale of racial violence and identity, drawing on recent headlines and the author’s childhood.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
- northland10
- Posts: 6517
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:47 pm
- Location: Northeast Illinois
- Occupation: Organist/Choir Director/Fundraising Data Analyst
- Verified: ✅ I'm me.
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8081
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Re: What are you reading lately?
I am completing the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
Re: What are you reading lately?
I’m rereading (audibly) the Outlander series. The final book is out but I want to read the series one last time before I finish it.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
Re: What are you reading lately?
I think she has written a book with Hillary Clinton.Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:51 am I am completing the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
- Tiredretiredlawyer
- Posts: 8081
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:07 pm
- Location: Rescue Pets Land
- Occupation: 21st Century Suffragist
- Verified: ✅🐴🐎🦄🌻5000 posts and counting
Re: What are you reading lately?
I thought that's what I saw on Kindle offerings!
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.
- Foggy
- Dick Tater
- Posts: 11147
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
- Location: Fogbow HQ
- Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
- Verified: grumpy ol' geezer
Re: What are you reading lately?
Leviathan Falls, by James S.A. Corey, the ninth (and final) book in The Expanse novels. The first 8 were excellent, so I expect no less. I think it (the series) was made into a big-production Tee Vee series (on Amazon Prime?), of which I have seen zero episodes. I prefer books, but that's just me, cantankerous ol' coot.
I'm Foggy and I forget if I approved this message.
- Kriselda Gray
- Posts: 3125
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 pm
- Location: Asgard
- Occupation: Aspiring Novelist
- Verified: ✅
- Contact:
Re: What are you reading lately?
The first two seasons were on Sci-Fi, but Bezos loved the show enough personally that he saved it and moved it to Amazon Prime.Foggy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:35 pm Leviathan Falls, by James S.A. Corey, the ninth (and final) book in The Expanse novels. The first 8 were excellent, so I expect no less. I think it (the series) was made into a big-production Tee Vee series (on Amazon Prime?), of which I have seen zero episodes. I prefer books, but that's just me, cantankerous ol' coot.
I've not read the books, but have seen most of the series, so I don't know how they compare, but the series itself is really good! They've tried to make living in space look as realistic as possible and do a MUCH better job of not telegraphing upcoming twists than most shows. The actors do a solid job of making their character both relatable and realistically multi-dimensional - with very few exceptions, no one's all-good or all-bad. I loved the story of the first three seasons, but
► Show Spoiler
► Show Spoiler
Seriously. though, I'd recommend at least giving it a chance - I was really impressed with what they were doing.
- Dr. Caligari
- Posts: 183
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:39 am
- Location: Irvine, CA
- Occupation: retired lawyer
Re: What are you reading lately?
I just finished The Hollow Places, a very good (and very creepy) horror novel by T. Kingfisher. I'm now starting A Confederacy of Dunces, which I've always meant to read and never got around to.
J.D., Miskatonic University School of Law
Re: What are you reading lately?
Between them, A Confederacy of Dunces and The Crying of Lot 41 sum up the mid-1960s.Dr. Caligari wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 7:39 pm I just finished The Hollow Places, a very good (and very creepy) horror novel by T. Kingfisher. I'm now starting A Confederacy of Dunces, which I've always meant to read and never got around to.
Re: What are you reading lately?
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victor
By Ben MacIntyre.
OMG, it’s so good. A movie is coming out this year.
By Ben MacIntyre.
OMG, it’s so good. A movie is coming out this year.
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
Re: What are you reading lately?
That does sound good!
(The actor with the glasses and mustache is in Succession.. I saw him in something else recently (The Restaurant? and was surprised he was a Brit.)
- Foggy
- Dick Tater
- Posts: 11147
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
- Location: Fogbow HQ
- Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
- Verified: grumpy ol' geezer
Re: What are you reading lately?
In the books, I feel like that was a long time ago. In the storyline of Leviathan Falls, that's so long ago (more than 20 years) it has no real impact; in other words, if you didn't remember it had happened, you wouldn't miss any of the meaning of anything in this book. I think that was all in just one of the books.Kriselda Gray wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 6:31 pm ... it looks like the main storyline is built on a trope I'm not very fond of.► Show Spoiler
► Show Spoiler
I'm Foggy and I forget if I approved this message.
- Kriselda Gray
- Posts: 3125
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 pm
- Location: Asgard
- Occupation: Aspiring Novelist
- Verified: ✅
- Contact:
Re: What are you reading lately?
Foggy wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 1:16 pm In the books, I feel like that was a long time ago. In the storyline of Leviathan Falls, that's so long ago (more than 20 years) it has no real impact; in other words, if you didn't remember it had happened, you wouldn't miss any of the meaning of anything in this book. I think that was all in just one of the books.► Show Spoiler
► Show Spoiler
- Foggy
- Dick Tater
- Posts: 11147
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:45 am
- Location: Fogbow HQ
- Occupation: Dick Tater/Space Cadet
- Verified: grumpy ol' geezer
Re: What are you reading lately?
OK, that's a pretty severe departure from the books, but hey, it's Hollywood. You have to expect a lot of difference between the book and the movie. The weirdest one was Ready Player One, which I saw in the theater before I read it, and wow. Were those the same story?The ex has returned and is a very bad guy who has their kid working for him, so Mom has to try to get close to them so she can rescue the kid.
Anyway, in the books
► Show Spoiler
I'm Foggy and I forget if I approved this message.
- Kriselda Gray
- Posts: 3125
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:48 pm
- Location: Asgard
- Occupation: Aspiring Novelist
- Verified: ✅
- Contact:
Re: What are you reading lately?
Interesting. Maybe it ends up staying closer to the books than I thought - what you describe certainly sounds a lot more like something I'd enjoy watching as it goes against the usual trope. I think I just may have to check that out!
- RTH10260
- Posts: 16899
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:16 am
- Location: Switzerland, near the Alps
- Verified: ✔️ Eurobot
Re: What are you reading lately?
Lost library of literary treasures saved for UK after charity raises £15m
The Honresfield library, including manuscripts by the Brontës, Jane Austen and Walter Scott, had been at risk of falling into private hands
Alison Flood
Thu 16 Dec 2021 13.07 GMT
It is an unprecedented treasure trove of the UK’s literary heritage, from a letter in which Jane Austen anticipates the end of a love affair, to a handwritten manuscript of Emily Brontë’s poems that was once believed lost. Now the Honresfield library has been saved for the nation after a charity raised more than £15m in just five months to acquire it.
Half the amount was donated by Sir Leonard Blavatnik, with a further £4m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF). The remainder was raised through donations from organisations including the TS Eliot and the Foyle foundations, another £2.5m from museums and libraries, and “thousands” of individual donations, which raised just under £150,000 from people around the world.
A rare handwritten manuscript of Emily’s poems, mentioned in the preface to Wuthering Heights, with pencil corrections by Charlotte.
A rare handwritten manuscript of Emily Brontë’s poems, mentioned in the preface to Wuthering Heights, with pencil corrections by Charlotte. Photograph: The Honresfield library
Assembled towards the end of the 19th century by the Rochdale mill owner William Law, the Honresfeld library has been almost entirely inaccessible for the last 80 years. It was put up for auction at Sotheby’s earlier this year, to the horror of literary institutions up and down the country, who feared that precious manuscripts by the Brontës, Austen, Walter Scott and Robert Burns could fall into private hands. Led by the charity Friends of the National Libraries (FNL), an “unprecedented” consortium of libraries and museums came together to save the collection – which includes more than 500 manuscripts, first editions and letters – for the nation. The vendors and Sotheby’s agreed to postpone the sale while the funds were raised.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/ ... raises-15m
Re: What are you reading lately?
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler