More On Books
(Not to be confused with Moron Books)

Banned Books Week: Sept 24-Oct 1
Village Books, my favorite (former) local bookstore, sent me their current e-newsletter today. Along with new reads and upcoming author visits, they brought to my attention another significant news item: "Every year during the last week of September, bookstores and libraries throughout the country join together to observe Banned Books Week. The week celebrates the freedom to read what one chooses and the privacy to protect those choices."

Following is a link to the list of the top 100 banned books for 1990-2000. If you're like me, you might have fun glancing over the list to see which ones once moved, disturbed or inspired you as you read them; you might also see books you've been wanting to (re)read for a while. Consider picking one up to read in the next month (and let me know if you do!).

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

My Summer Reading

• Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, Sarah and Elizabeth Delany; also On My Own at 107: Reflections on My Life without Bessie, Sarah Delany. These books were a quick but meaningful read. African American centenarian sisters reflect on a hundred years of political, environmental and social changes as well as the significance of knowing another person intimately for that same unfathomable amount of time. Although their stories are told with the help of a journalist, I could hear their witty, bright, funny, kind voices (and the differences between the two!) on every page.

• Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson. In many ways I can see how this book has recently been canonized: female (anti?)heroine, motherlessness, exploration (explanation?) of transience, generally poetic writing.
  

• The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Seierstad. A journalist lives with an Afghani family and tells their story. Seierstad doesn't candy-coat anything (attitudes toward women, children working, war-torn families) but makes clear this is only one story of many and not to be read as every family. Excellent reading.
  

• Straight Man, Richard Russo. Takes academia and the institution to task through the voice of a punchy, middle-aged, quirky narrator. By the author of Empire Falls (Pulitzer Prize winner) and Nobody's Fool, the writing is smart and thought-provoking. I loved this book.
  

• Wild Life, Molly Gloss. I enjoyed the wild ride of this one, and although it felt a little bit forced at times, I was swept away by the exploration of one woman's reflection on her independence and her relationship to the supernatural and the natural. It was an added bonus that the story addresses regional lore and takes place in turn of the (20th) century Columbia River Oregon/Washington (including Astoria, Kai and Dana!).
  

• A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris. Perhaps I just wasn't up for another abandoned-girl-in-search-of-identity book, but I wasn't completely sold on this one. The writing was excellent though and the story was compelling; I have a feeling it just might not have been the right book for the right time for me.
  

More Summer Reads (Young Adult literature)

• The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman. Couldn't put this book down. Can't wait until Dane and Aubrey read this in a few years (maybe at age 10?). This one' s up there with Harry Potter and Narnia in terms of character, plot, ingenuity and adventure.
  

• Persepolis and Persopolis 2, Marjane Satrapi. Set in 1970s-80s Iran, Satrapi tries to come to terms with her childhood in light of political and social unrest (disaster, despair). Similar to Maus, this book tells a story through comic strip smoothly and powerfully. I think this is thought-provoking teen reading. (I'm still waiting to get Persepolis 3 from the library.)
  

• Redwall, Brian Jacques. Warrior mouse; rat villain; animal battles. Good stuff. I remember learning of this book when I was teaching English 101: in an essay one of my male students wrote that this book had been the first book he read that took him to another world. Prior to reading this book, he didn't readly "get" reading; after he read this book at age ten, though, he "got" it: he'd race home from school to read it, his mom couldn't get his attention to look up from it for a snack, and he'd read it by flashlight late into the night. I didn't have this experience, but I can see why a ten-year-old might.

• Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson. Argh, matey--thrilling adventure on the high seas and on a deserted island for any lad or lassie. Stevenson tells a great tale through his young and innocent narrator.

As always, I'm open for suggestions/recommendations, curious to hear what you're reading,

Anjie