You've Been Banned!

National Banned Book week starts today.  As a book lover seeing these two words so close together kind of frightens me!  I'm not sure how this ever became an option.... I mean, what happened to my inalienble rights?  What happened to my right to choose?  What I find more laughable is this:  When you tell someone not to do something the natural reaction is to do it; therefore, you crazy book banning people - you've just made the book interesting for a whole pile of people who would have never read it if you didn't tell them not to.  HA!  Take that!

I am proud to say that I have read 8 of the top 10 "Most Banned Books".  I think I'll read the other 2 now just because I can!!  Take a look at the link and see how you did! http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/index.cfm
I read an article that suggested forming a book club around books that have been banned. After looking at the list I think it's a great idea! There would be a wide variety and no shortage of material.


Here is another list of books the have been banned or challenged. Some that might surprise you.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20100924/en_ac/6827290_10_surprisingly_banned_books
With several books on this list being children's books I find  myself wondering - Do you think it would be better if your child just didn't read at all?  You could go that route too - if you think that's best.  It's YOUR job to instill morals and values in your child - not the book's.  If you teach them right from wrong they will be able to discern that while reading. I'm just saying......

Until next time - Happy Reading!! If you are looking for something to read, may I suggest starting with the #1 most banned book! It's an all time favorite of mine.

It Brings me Joy

Even though I own a e-reading device (the Nook to be exact) few things bring me greater joy and peace than going into a book store.  I will never stop buying "real" books.  I have the e-reader for convenience and space issues more than anything.  I do love it but that doesn't change the feeling I have when I walk in a book store.  ESPECIALLY an independent store.  You know, they kind you find on vacation and WISH was in your home town.

I don't remember the name of it, but I was in Bozeman a few years back and they had this amazing book store on the main street.  I just fell in love with the place.  It was all wood and warmth, with cozy little areas for piling up a stack of books to look at. 

Here, in Fargo, I do have a special affinity for Zambroz Variety Store.  It has a good selection, not only of books but of gift items, cards, home decor - a little bit of everything.  My only wish is for a cozy spot to sit for a bit.

This morning on a tweet that I received I found the article posted below.  I lived in the Twin Cities for about 10 years. I loved it there.  I am ashamed to say I have only been in one of the stores on the list.  It is my goal to hit the other nine in the very near future.  I see a weekend trip on the horizon.

Do you have a favorite store in your area?

http://wcco.com/10best/best.independent.bookstores.2.1912643.html

A Couple of Things.....

First of all, I should wait until my book club meets but I need to talk about this book now!  We just read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  Now, I loved the premise of the book.  I loved the idea of being able to taste someones feelings as you were eating.  Not that I really want to posses that quality but I could buy that as someones "gift".  That said, the book was just plain strange!  I found myself reading and mid paragraph I was like.....What???  When did we switch from this to that?  Not only that but......(SPOILER ALERT) what's with the brother?? I mean come on!  You want me to believe he's a chair?? 

If you've read the book, I'd love to hear your comments.  Maybe I completely missed something.  My group gets together next Tuesday and I can hardly wait.  This was not at all what I expected this book to be.  I think the original idea was great but somewhere...it went sadly wrong.

Second, have you ever read a book, liked it, but could never really understand what all the excitement was about?  I have that problem right now.  The Help is one of those books for me.  I bought it (over a year ago), read it, liked it but cannot, for the life of me, understand why it's been on the best sellers list for 66 weeks in a row.  It was a good book - interesting characters, nicely written, especially for a first novel but for me, it lacked any lasting impression.  I don't find myself going back and thinking about the characters and wondering what they are doing now  - I don't have any interest in reading it again - i just don't really get it.
So, could someone explain the ongoing fascination?  Again, I LIKED the book, it was a good read but I just don't see it as a classic, or worth 66 weeks on the best sellers list with no sign of an end.

The Oprah Factor

Did you hear the news? Oprah picked her new book!  I think you'd have to be living under a rock to not hear the big news.  Funny, I've been trying to go on a media fast, (it's a long story but trying to get the negative out of my life and frankly, the only thing that make the news is bad news, the drama.....think about it) but even in my avoidance of the news and newspapers I would have heard about Oprah's book announcement one way or another.

I have to tell you, I was disappointed on so many levels.  The book,  in case you haven't heard, is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  Here are a couple of my reasons: First of all, the book was already a huge seller even before the announcement.  Critics and bookworms have been waiting for it's release for months.  Secondly, the author totally disregarded his good fortune at being selected by Oprah with a previous book, The Corrections.  I think he already had one windfall because of her and I'm not sure he should get a second chance after the first book was only moderately good in the first place. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I normally read Oprah's picks and I usually enjoy them.  I started reading them on the very first pick, The Deep End of the Ocean. I love to read and wasn't in a book club at that time, and it was a great way to be a part of a group.  Some of my all time favorite books have been Oprah selection, I Know This Much is True, White Oleander, Here on Earth, just to name a few.  I will miss the Queen of Talk when her show ends after this season.  It is just my wish that she would have picked someone new - someone unheard of, someone not already famous.....

All this said - I planned on reading Freedom even before the announcement.  I had downloaded a sample to my Nook, Gatsby, and enjoyed what I read. I am willing to give Mr. Franzen one more chance, I guess maybe that was Oprah's view too.

The List!

Well, here is The List, or at least the start of it.  I know a few of you are still working on yours.  I will continue to add to it & update it as I get more in.  Thank you for participating. It was really fun to see the results.  Top 25 are in orange.  I just thought I would include the rest of the votes because it's interesting. Thanks again!  Keep sending them in!

#1 - Gone With the Wind


The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harry Potter Series
Wuthering Heights
Little House on the Prairie Series
The Kite Runner
The Godfather
The Complete work of Wlm Shakespeare
Twilight Series
White Oleander
The Lovely Bones
Charlotte's Web
Pride & Prejudice
Catcher in the Rye
Loving Frank
Sarah's Key
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Lord of the Rings
The Bible
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
I Know this Much is True
Jane Eyre
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Color Purple
A Clockwork Orange
The Grapes of Wrath
Drangonlance
Memoires of a Geisha
Sea Glass
East of Eden
Of Mice & Men
The Shack
Artemis Fowl Series
The Little Prince
The Chronicles of Narnia
The DaVinci Code
Welcome to the Great Mysterious
A Time to Kill
The Space Trilogy
My Sisters Keeper
The Host
Winnie the Pooh
The Dark is Rising
The Tenth Circle
The Wind in the Willow
Where the Red Fern Grows
She's Come Undone
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Grinch who Stole Christmas
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Hobbit
1984
Frankenstein
The Prince of Tides
The Vampire Chronicles
Body Surfing
Bridges of Madison County
The Diggingest Dog
A Canticle for Liebowitz
Plain Truth
The Last Lecture
Dracula
Little Women
The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe
Bel Canto
Lord of the Flies
The Wizard of Oz
Bury My Hearth at Wounded Knee
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The BFG
The Millennium Series
Atonement
Old Yeller
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Time Machine
Don Quixote
The Song of Solomon
Zoya

This is Where I Leave You

I finished the book This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper last night. I'm not sure if it is just because I've been reading so many books from other eras lately or if it was just that great of a book but I really enjoyed it.

The story is about the Foxman family. They are your typical dysfunctional American family. Three brothers, a sister and a mother who can't seem to remember she's past her prime. (I kept picturing Joan Collins from the Dynasty years)

The book begins with Judd, the character from who's point of view the book is written, finding out about the death of his father. The fathers dying request is that the family sit Shiva for a week. The thought of spending that much time with his family is really not what Judd is up for....you see he just found out that his wife is having an affair with his boss. Ah, the plot thickens!

Through the next week we follow Judd through coping with the death of his father, dealing with the demise of his marriage & rediscovering his crazy family. Of course the story wouldn't be complete without a bombshell delivered by his estranged wife right in the middle of it all. (As if him finding her in bed with his boss wasn't enough) Oh, and did I mention that his mother was famous for writing a book on how to raise children? You just KNOW that is going to lead no where good!

The story ends without really putting together all the answers for you. You are left to assume what you well however, it was good enough for me. I didn't find I needed all the i's dotted or t's crossed. It was a story about life & family after all & when do we really ever get to know all the answers when it comes to our own life & family?

This book is not for everyone. There are some graphic scenes and lots of language & talk about sex but I have to tell you I laughed out loud. I could just SEE these things happening. Like when Judd's little nephew came to the dinner table proudly displaying the "poop he made in the potty" you just couldn't help but visualize the scene in your own dinning room with your own family. And when the poop landed on someones plate through a series of unforeseen events....you couldn't help but wonder who's plate it would have landed on in your house. Or the time when the family went to Synagogue & somehow or another a joint appeared....you can imagine how that turned out.

I loved the Foxman family and their quirky neighbors and friends. I'm pretty sure I know them......


Four out of Five Stars

What are your reading habits?

Do you ever go on a buying spree and then run out of time to read? Or maybe you buy so many that you don't know where to start....I have these problems. Now not only to do have too many physical books to read but I have too many virtual books as well.

Do you reread your favorites? Have you ever hated a book so much and then had this amazing discussion about it and had to read it anyway? Have you ever started a book and then a year or two later finally gotten around to finishing it? If you answered yes to any of these questions raise your hand.

Or how about this one....have you ever read a book that took so much out of you that you couldn't read again for a really long time? I had that happen to me a few years ago when I read I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. It was a long book & it took me a while to get into it but Oprah loved it so I kept reading. When I finally finished it, it had taken so much out of me emotionally that I literally didn't read another book for a year. I just couldn't imagine ever being that invested in another book.

So tell me, what are your reading habits? What pit falls do you encounter? How do you get out of a reading slump? How do you finally dig into that book that you've been putting off forever? Is there a book on your shelf that keeps calling your name? What is it and why haven't you read it? I'm curious....am I the only book lover who has to talk themselves into reading from time to time?

I leave you with this final thought. It's my favorite paragraph from I Know This Much is True. I'm not to proud to say, I read it with tears streaming down my face. Both because I found it so fitting (to the book as well as my own life) & because I had finally finished the journey.

"I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark woods of my own, and my family's, and my country's past, holding in my hands these truths: that love grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.
This much, at least, I've figured out. I know this much is true."

It's all about the girl.....

I got sucked into a series a while back. I'm 2/3 of the way through it. It's with mixed emotions I await May when the 3rd and final book will come out. I will most likely find myself waiting at Barnes and Noble in the middle of the night to be the first one to buy the final book in the Millennium series.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo took me on a journey to another land. Admittedly, I struggled to get into it. There were so many characters and I kept trying to "see" the area in which the book took place, never mind the fact that I've never been to Sweden. However, after I set my mind to just reading it and stop trying to figure out all the towns and scenery, I couldn't put it down. I couldn't wait to read the next part - but wait I did, a whole year!!!

The Girl Who Played with Fire finally came out this past summer. I read it in about 2 days. No wading through names and places like the last time, just hit the ground running and don't look back! What a ride it's been so far.

The journey will end this spring and because of the early death of the author The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest will be the 3rd and final book. This is why I have such mixed emotions. I want desperately to know how it all ends but at the same time want there to be more. The main characters in this book have me hooked. They will stay with me for a long time I am sure.

These books have been a smash hit in Europe for a while. It took us awhile in the US to catch on to this new trend of Scandinavian Mysteries. My cousin and his wife have read the last installment and offered to send it too me.....We've joked about how the story would lose a bit in translation if I have to try to learn French at the same time. They've assured me the final book is every bit as interesting as the first two.

Steig Larrson, the author of the series, died shortly after he delivered the 3 manuscripts that would become the Millennium Series. He never got to revel in his success. There has been a lot of speculation about his death in the years since. In Novembers issue of Vanity Fair there was a particularly good article on Mr. Larrson & it appears some foundation to the theory of these books being more than fiction. It seems many people got quite nervous about some of the accusations made in the book. Of course this bit of salaciousness does tend to add to the intrigue of the books, doesn't it? Maybe his death was just plain luck for the publisher. It certainly makes for excellent marketing!

If any of it is true of not, I may never know. What I do know is these books have been an excellent read and a incredibly interesting escape. They are a quite graffic and not for everyone but if you like a good political thriller or just to read about another country, give them a try. I have not been dissapointed.

Lisbeth Salander I am pulling for you girl!