Calling All Book Lovers - People Who Love to Read

The TV is OFF and has been off all evening. I do not want to hear one word of you-know-who nor catch a glimpse him as I pass through the living room on the way to the kitchen for more coffee. Fie on the lying scoundrel; I do not need to get my blood pressure up and risk another stroke. He isn't worth it.

Blogger was being contrary again which prevented me from working on the other blogs, so I spent time going through my file cache. I do not know how I overlooked posting on banned books last September but for a confirmed book lover it is never too late. A long while ago I posted about my wrath and indignation when some African-American activists got Little Black Sambo removed from some school library shelves (and recently on another blog). As a child I loved that book and re-read it many times. I never saw a black person until I was about ten years old; that little book had created a very positive impression of Africans in my mind which, in conjunction with my blessed grandmother's teaching against racial bias, helped offset negative input when I was older.

The list of books banned or offered for banning is astonishing. Many are considered classics in American literature. What motivated the blue-noses to want most them banned is a puzzle to me. One good site to access the list is:
http://www.ecommercearena.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3885
text:
Celebrate your freedom to read
9/12/2006 01:55:00 PM
Posted by Leslie Burger, President, American Library Association
What was your favorite book when you were in school? Did F. Scott Fitzgerald give you an inside look at a world of glamorous parties where the wealthy fell in love and went home with their feelings hurt? Did Holden Caulfield speak directly to your inner misanthrope? For decades, literary classics such as The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye have had a profound impact on millions of readers.

Yet every year, there are hundreds of attempts to remove great books from schools and libraries nationwide. Fortunately, the American Library Association and many other organizations are fighting back with Banned Books Week, taking place this year Sept. 23-30.For 25 years, libraries and bookstores nationwide have been celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week, which is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the National Association of College Stores, and endorsed by the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

Now Google has joined the party. At google.com/bannedbooks, you can use Google Book Search to explore some of the best novels of the 20th century which have been challenged or banned. And while libraries and bookstores around the country celebrate the 25th anniversary of Banned Books Week with special readings, displays, and more, you just might end up with a visit to your local library or bookstore and an old favorite or a new banned book in hand.
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WA: To me, banning books goes hand in hand with book burning, a tactic used by repressive regimes and conquerors. This heinous practise has robbed us of great literature of the past and of history and scientific achievements in olden times. We are so smug about our scientific and technological advances in modern times, yet there in much in the past that we still do not know how it was accomplished. Knowledge has been lost that would benefit us today if not for the stupidity of mankind.

Don't have time to visit a library? Scroll down through Sherhazade's posts on "Looking Oppositely" at:
http://sherhazade.blogspot.com for links to on-line books and for excellent book reviews. Some links she offers are:
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page ; http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4517 ; http://www.readprint.com ; http://readprint.com/author-29/Emily-Dickinson

Attwoods offers a link for a John Steinbeck book "The Moon is Down" at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~attwoods/moon1.html

If anyone has links to other on-line books, please post them in comments.

Doing this post is a refreshing break for me from politics and war. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.