Read a banned book this week

It's Banned Books Week.

Of the list on this page, I've read the following:

• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
  
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (partially read)
  
• Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
  
• Forever by Judy Blume
  
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  
• My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
  
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
  
• A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
  
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  
• Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
  
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
  
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
  
• Blubber by Judy Blume
  
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (in my TBR pile)
  
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
  
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
  
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  
• The Pigman by Paul Zindel
  
• Deenie by Judy Blume
  
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
  
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  
• Cujo by Stephen King
  
• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  
• Fade by Robert Cormier
  
• The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney (does seeing the movie count?)
  
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  
• Carrie by Stephen King
  
• Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
  
• The Dead Zone by Stephen King
  
• Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
  
• Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
  
• How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

When I was a teenager, I used to make it a point to read "banned" books. No one was going to tell me what to read. Granted, the library was rather small at my school, and most of the books I read on my own time from the town library. I can recall only one person at my school who read an alternate selection when the English teacher was reading a certain book. However, I don't recall what book it was. If I recall correctly, her parents objected to the book. *shrugs* They were conservative Baptists, and she wasn't in my class.

I remember reading "Crime and Punishment" and "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" in high school. Reading those two books awakened my love for classic literature and for Russian literature. I can't say I was too keen on the Shakespeare we read, though.

I like to think I was subversive, reading "Gone with the Wind" in sixth grade, and "The Color Purple" in eighth grade. That book of mine got passed around quite a bit. I was reading a lot on my own. I read "The Winds of War" in junior high as well. No one ever objected to the books I was reading or to the ones I was passing around to other students. My mom let me read anything and everything.

In fact, I was in college when a friend of mine told me that her parents objected to a particular book she borrowed from me. She had left the book lying on her bed and her mom saw the title. I guess the title "Hot Blood" plus the book's subject matter would bother certain types of people. ;)

Born to Run turns 30

On Nov. 15, Columbia Records is releasing a new box set of Springsteen's original "Born to Run" album, including two DVDs, and a 48-page book.

Wahoo! Something to ask for for Christmas!

More Books for Sale

Check out my shop on half.com. All the books I sell come from a smoke-free home, and are practically brand-new.

Go see if any of them strike your fancy. :)

"Justice, not Vengeance"

Simon Wiesenthal died today. According to the article, he helped bring more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice. He was 96. NYT obit

Book blog update

Over at Livejournal, I've been keeping track of the books I've read this year. I just updated my blog.

I had a wisdom tooth yanked out last Wednesday, so I haven't felt like doing much of anything.

Left Behind

The human cost is high enough, but when I saw a devoted companion of nine years being left behind on a shelterless interstate, I could bear it no longer.

The dog was a poodle mix, I think. Its people got on a bus to be evacuated, but it was not allowed on the bus.

That image, more than any other, will stay with me for a long time.

Dead babies, dead old people, dead dead dead... what will the final toll eventually be? Why was no one prepared? Why did the governmental infrastructure (not highways--the actual chain of command, I mean) fail? Because of no communications abilities? I guess they thought it would never happen to them, while they were the ones on watch.

Whatever aid is raised will only be a drop in the bucket.

Who is going to stand up and take charge?

Ya think?

A daily meditation I received today:

Don't think too much about tomorrow
Otherwise you will not live today fully as you could.
--Bashir

More Charity Efforts

Thanks to this post on blogcritics.org, I found this page which is a list of blogs urging readers to donate to charities. My chosen charity is the Humane Society of the U.S. I know that people need help, but the animals have no one to voice their needs. Click the pic of the cute dog in the sidebar and it will take you to the HSUS donation webpage.

Please, do what you can, but beware of scam sites. Oh yes, they're already out there. Donate to a reputable charity.

Events as They Happen

Interdictor's firsthand Livejournal blog of events unfolding in NO. Check it out. (via metafilter)

Things are tough all over

I know that things are tough all over, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but explain to me how gas prices jump 20¢ in one hour??? Last night, when I went to eat at a local pizza place with my mother-in-law, gas at a particular station was $2.99 a gallon. I understand that, but when I drove past that station on the way home, gas had shot up to $3.19 a gallon. Twenty cents in one hour--even after the prez said he would open up the strategic oil reserves. WTF?

....

The worst of human nature is showing in this disaster. I feel sorry for the people who need help and are unable to get it because of the "dangerous looters" and other gun-wielding idiots. But this just goes to show you how unprepared the cities/states really were for a disaster of such magnitude. The line between "civilization" and "every man for himself" is very thin. The people who were able to leave got out in time--other people who couldn't leave did not (the poor, the invalid, the sick), and they are the ones who need the most help now. I hope that other cities are able to learn from this disaster.

My heart goes out to those who are still suffering, and who will continue to suffer in the months ahead. Good luck.