When Randy Bragg receives a telegram from his older brother, Mark, the words Alas, Babylon jump out at him. As boys, the Braggs used to listen outside Fort Repose's African-American church and listen as the Preacher would utter those same two words throughout his sermons to warn the congregation of horrible things waiting those who went astray.
Pat Frank's novel, published in 1959, tells of a world pushed over the brink of a war so horrible that it sets civilization back a thousand years. Yet this is no Mad Max or any other sci-fi appocalypse book; it was based on what could potentially happen had the Cold War heated up.
Meeting up with Mark, Randy learns a horrible truth: career military man Mark has reason to believe that the world is about to topple over the edge to a horrific war. Handing Randy a sizable check, Mark tells his brother that his (Mark's) wife and children are flying in to Fort Repose in an effort to survive.
The family is barely in Randy's house when the war begins. The book then takes the reader into a fast-paced tale of What If the unthinkable happens.
While the book is over fifty years old, it is well worth the time to read it.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen; 4 of 5 stars
Anna Quindlen has a knack for making the mundane interesting, letting the reader know that every day stuff is both universal yet individualistic. Her book Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is no different. A former New York Times columnist, Quindlen has written essays here that explore different facets of women's lives.
In her essay Advice to My Younger Self, Quindlen writes, "It’s nothing short of astonishing, all that we learn between the time we are born and the time we die. Of course most of the learning takes place not in a classroom or a library, but in the laboratory of our own lives...[These lessons are] clear only in hindsight, frequently when some of its lessons may not even be useful anymore." That is how life is for all of us, yet it takes a true wordsmith to write this truth so succinctly.
While I've loved Quindlen's fiction since stumbling upon Black And Blue years ago, this was one of my first forays into her essays. As I read Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, I found myself occasionly thinking, "Yes! That's it exactly!" In her essay Faith, she mentions that when we're kids, days seem to fly by while the years crawl but that when we're older, it's the reverse: the days crawl by as the years fly. While I'd instinctively known this, I'd never given it much thought. For most of us over a certain age - well beyond our teens - all we have to do is look back over our lives to realize how true this is.
Well worth the read.
View all my reviews at Goodreads.com.
Anna Quindlen has a knack for making the mundane interesting, letting the reader know that every day stuff is both universal yet individualistic. Her book Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is no different. A former New York Times columnist, Quindlen has written essays here that explore different facets of women's lives.
In her essay Advice to My Younger Self, Quindlen writes, "It’s nothing short of astonishing, all that we learn between the time we are born and the time we die. Of course most of the learning takes place not in a classroom or a library, but in the laboratory of our own lives...[These lessons are] clear only in hindsight, frequently when some of its lessons may not even be useful anymore." That is how life is for all of us, yet it takes a true wordsmith to write this truth so succinctly.
While I've loved Quindlen's fiction since stumbling upon Black And Blue years ago, this was one of my first forays into her essays. As I read Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, I found myself occasionly thinking, "Yes! That's it exactly!" In her essay Faith, she mentions that when we're kids, days seem to fly by while the years crawl but that when we're older, it's the reverse: the days crawl by as the years fly. While I'd instinctively known this, I'd never given it much thought. For most of us over a certain age - well beyond our teens - all we have to do is look back over our lives to realize how true this is.
Well worth the read.
View all my reviews at Goodreads.com.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
World Book Night
Did you know that today marks the annual World Book Night? If you answered No, don't feel bad; neither did I. But according to an article in USA TODAY, it is! According to the article, World Book Night happens on April 23 because it's Shakespeare's birthday. (And yes, I know: if you click on the link that says Pop Candy, you'll see a darkening globe with last year's date; no matter; the time on the article was posted this morning.)
On Saturday, April 20, USA TODAY published their weekend picks for book lovers. The list consists of: The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age, by Robert Weintraub, The Fever Tree, by Jennifer McVeigh, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick, by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You: Retrain Your Brain to Conquer Fear, Make Better Decisions, and Thrive in the 21st Century, by Marc Schoen with Kristin Loerg, and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler.
So, celebrate World Book Night. If the books on USA TODAY's list don't sound appealing, pick another book - even if it happens to be Dr. Seuss's classic Green Eggs And Ham!
On Saturday, April 20, USA TODAY published their weekend picks for book lovers. The list consists of: The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age, by Robert Weintraub, The Fever Tree, by Jennifer McVeigh, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick, by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You: Retrain Your Brain to Conquer Fear, Make Better Decisions, and Thrive in the 21st Century, by Marc Schoen with Kristin Loerg, and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler.
So, celebrate World Book Night. If the books on USA TODAY's list don't sound appealing, pick another book - even if it happens to be Dr. Seuss's classic Green Eggs And Ham!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Operating Instructions:A Journal of My Son's First Year
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne LamottMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Most readers I know - and I'm including myself here - tend to classify writers and books, even if it's on a subconscious level: there are writers we absolutely love, those we can't stand, and those we're neutral about.
Since discovering Anne Lamott's books maybe ten years ago, I've absolutely loved her writing. There are one or two of her books I couldn't get into, but that's fine, since most of what she's written is wonderfully quirky. She has this really funny, left-wing way of looking at things, not unlike my point of view, not to mention a touch of drama-queen-ness that I love.
That said, I'd been meaning to read Operating Instructions: A journal of My Son's First Year, her book about her first year as a single mom, for a while. I'm not sure why I hadn't read it completely when I first heard of it. Maybe it was the fact that my kids are grown, so it's been forever since I've dealt with a baby. But considering her son Sam is now an adult, with a child of his own, that argument was a little weak. So, I broke down and decided to give it a go.
Wow, what a book. Operating Instructions moves with the speed of a small brook, meandering slowly along, rather than with white-water-rapids speed. It was taken from the journal Lamott wrote during Sam's first year. We learn that Sam spends some time being a little colicky, which works his mother's last frayed exhausted nerve and we feel her frustration. (Fortunately, she discovers how to help Sam through this.) We see him roll from front to back for the first time. We see everything Lamott goes through, her family and friends helping out, her wonderful sense of humor and irony, her love for Sam...everything.
All in all, Operating Instructions is a good book to read for anyone who's ever had children, thought about having children, knows children, and loves funny, left-wing liberal parents. I have a feeling I'll be reading Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son, the book she wrote with Sam about his son. I'm looking forward to it.
View all my reviews
Monday, April 15, 2013
To Kill A Mockingbird
Here is another repost from my blog Life In The Left-Hand Lane (http://life-in-the-left-hand-lane.blogspot.com).
I'm a writer, and I'm also a reader. I feel that the two are strongly connected; most of the writers I know also read a lot. Some of us touch base periodically to get caught up on books, articles and stories we've read: "Just started reading..." "Oh, I read that last month. Loved it; couldn't put it down," or "I really couldn't get into to at all because...Finally had to put it down."
I've picked up several books - and enjoyed them - on the word of other writer/readers. I've also felt better knowing that someone else whose writing I enjoy and whose opinion on good books is similar to mine says that he or she really couldn't get into whatever book I found lacking.
Most of us have favorite books that we go back to time and again. One of my favorites is Harper Lee's classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. I just finished it again for the umpteenth time this morning. The copy I put back on one of my many bookshelves is easily the tenth (or more) copy I've owned; I tend to reread it until it falls apart. One copy that I'd bought did manage to get gift-wrapped and sent to my mom several Christmases ago; that one doesn't get added to the count.
"Thanks for sending To Kill A Mockingbird this year," Mom said when she called. It had been years since she'd read it, and had been meaning to pick up a copy. Several weeks later, she called to tell me it was better than she remembered. I'm always glad when the two of us agree on a book; reading is one of the loves she passed on to me.
One of the many things I frequently find interesting in Harper Lee's book is how she manages to tie Atticus Finch's thoughts on Mrs. Dubose's bravery at the end of Part I to the fight Atticus faces in Part II. While Mrs. Dubose's thoughts on Atticus's defending Tom Robinson are a reflection of many of the townspeople's sentiment - as well as the nation's sentiments on race during the 1930s, they are drastically different from Atticus Finch's sentiment, as well as that of several of the people who fit prominently in the book. Atticus Finch may have been appointed to defend Tom Robinson by the court; however, he intends to actually defend the innocent man.
But back to what Atticus says about Mrs. Dubose: After he returns from her house and tells Jem and Scout that Mrs. Dubose has died, he says that she was the "bravest person I know." Why? Jem wants to know. How can Atticus say this, when Mrs. Dubose held such different views from his own? It turned out that, while dying, she was addicted to morphine for the pain from her illness and she wanted to come off it before she died. Courage, to Atticus's way of thinking, isn't "'...a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her...She was the bravest person I know.'"
Before and during Tom Robinson's trial, Atticus tries his hardest to win Tom's freedom. Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout afterwards that while the verdict was a foregone conclusion - the American South, 1930s, a black man's word against a white man's word - that Atticus was the only lawyer in the area who could keep a jury deliberating for as long as it did. Afterwards, Atticus intended to appeal the verdict. True, this may be something lawyers are supposed to do, but considering the time/place/race issue, many lawyers may not have pushed the issue. Atticus knew, going in, that it would be an up-hill battle, but he was even more courageous than he had given Mrs. Dubose credit for.
The ending - when Bob Ewell attempts to kill Jem and Scout, only to die by falling on his own knife as the reclusive Boo Radley rescues the children - is as moving as the rest of the book.
The somewhat battered copy is now back on the bookshelf, and will be retrieved in another year or so to be reread.
I'm a writer, and I'm also a reader. I feel that the two are strongly connected; most of the writers I know also read a lot. Some of us touch base periodically to get caught up on books, articles and stories we've read: "Just started reading..." "Oh, I read that last month. Loved it; couldn't put it down," or "I really couldn't get into to at all because...Finally had to put it down."
I've picked up several books - and enjoyed them - on the word of other writer/readers. I've also felt better knowing that someone else whose writing I enjoy and whose opinion on good books is similar to mine says that he or she really couldn't get into whatever book I found lacking.
Most of us have favorite books that we go back to time and again. One of my favorites is Harper Lee's classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. I just finished it again for the umpteenth time this morning. The copy I put back on one of my many bookshelves is easily the tenth (or more) copy I've owned; I tend to reread it until it falls apart. One copy that I'd bought did manage to get gift-wrapped and sent to my mom several Christmases ago; that one doesn't get added to the count.
"Thanks for sending To Kill A Mockingbird this year," Mom said when she called. It had been years since she'd read it, and had been meaning to pick up a copy. Several weeks later, she called to tell me it was better than she remembered. I'm always glad when the two of us agree on a book; reading is one of the loves she passed on to me.
One of the many things I frequently find interesting in Harper Lee's book is how she manages to tie Atticus Finch's thoughts on Mrs. Dubose's bravery at the end of Part I to the fight Atticus faces in Part II. While Mrs. Dubose's thoughts on Atticus's defending Tom Robinson are a reflection of many of the townspeople's sentiment - as well as the nation's sentiments on race during the 1930s, they are drastically different from Atticus Finch's sentiment, as well as that of several of the people who fit prominently in the book. Atticus Finch may have been appointed to defend Tom Robinson by the court; however, he intends to actually defend the innocent man.
But back to what Atticus says about Mrs. Dubose: After he returns from her house and tells Jem and Scout that Mrs. Dubose has died, he says that she was the "bravest person I know." Why? Jem wants to know. How can Atticus say this, when Mrs. Dubose held such different views from his own? It turned out that, while dying, she was addicted to morphine for the pain from her illness and she wanted to come off it before she died. Courage, to Atticus's way of thinking, isn't "'...a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her...She was the bravest person I know.'"
Before and during Tom Robinson's trial, Atticus tries his hardest to win Tom's freedom. Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout afterwards that while the verdict was a foregone conclusion - the American South, 1930s, a black man's word against a white man's word - that Atticus was the only lawyer in the area who could keep a jury deliberating for as long as it did. Afterwards, Atticus intended to appeal the verdict. True, this may be something lawyers are supposed to do, but considering the time/place/race issue, many lawyers may not have pushed the issue. Atticus knew, going in, that it would be an up-hill battle, but he was even more courageous than he had given Mrs. Dubose credit for.
The ending - when Bob Ewell attempts to kill Jem and Scout, only to die by falling on his own knife as the reclusive Boo Radley rescues the children - is as moving as the rest of the book.
The somewhat battered copy is now back on the bookshelf, and will be retrieved in another year or so to be reread.
Repost from Life In the Left-Hand Lane
This is a repost from one of my other blogs, Life in the Left-Hand Lane (http://life-in-the-lelft-hand-lane.blogspot.com), dated December 29, 2012:
I love to read. Always have. I blame my parents, in a good way. Between bedtime stories, watching both Mom and Dad reading a wide variety of books in their spare time, and receiving books for birthdays, Christmases, and just because, I learned that books were to be explored and enjoyed. A person can learn a lot from books.
It was on one website that I frequent that I learned about another cool site called Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com. Maybe you've heard of it. Or not. But on Goodreads, a reader can keep track of books she or he has read, is currently reading, wants to read (oops, must add the Narnia series!), learn about what others are reading, what others feel are must reads and what can be passed on. One can connect with friends on the site and get emails when books (and comments on these books) are added to friends' lists.
At the moment, I'm reading several books, a habit I got into as a kid during summer vacation. Getting home after the last day of school, I'd grab a stack of five books, read the first chapter of the first book, stick in on the bottom of the stack, read the next book's first chapter, then the next book...You get the idea. When I'd finish one book, it would go back on the bookshelf, another stuck into its place, and the reading would go on. By mid-summer, I might be on chapter one in one book, chapter ten in another, five in the third...Drove my mother crazy.
"How do you keep all the stories separate?" she'd ask. Just do, I'd tell her. She'd wander off, sighing, happy, I'm sure, that at least I was reading.
"I wouldn't worry about it," my grandmother told her when she relayed it during one of Grandma's visits. "I used to that all the time." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I still do." If it was good enough for Grandma...
Two of the books I'm currently working on are Seasons of Real Florida, by Jeff Klinkenberg, and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen. Both are interesting reads, similar in some ways, way different in other aspects.
Klinkenberg's Seasons..., as with his other books, is a collection of his columns first published in the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times). He introduces the reader to all sorts of interesting characters and Florida locales. His writing makes the reader think that Klink has the perfect job: wander the state, meet cool people, see cool places, and then write about them. Jeff, if you ever decide to retire, please put in a good word for me at the Times!
Quindlen's Lots of Candles... is also a collection of short essays. (She wrote for the New York Times for several years; several of her non-fiction books are collections of some of these essays.) Her essays tend toward her observations on life.
In one of the essays in Lots of Candles..., she mentions being a control freak, to the point of having a local anesthetic when having a hysterectomy. The surgeon, knowing a control freak when she saw one, told Quindlen that she would not be allowed to talk while the surgery was going on. I really had to laugh while reading Quinlen's description of being a control freak, as I've been there. I, too, tend to be a bit of a control freak, as well as a bit of a slob.
An aside: When Paul was alive, he played Felix Unger to my Oscar Madison; we used to joke that if anyone ever did a remake of The Odd Couple using a married couple, we'd be perfect. While I'm not enough of a slob to be on an episode of Hoarders, it's only because I am a control freak. And maybe the two apparent opposites feed into each other: I can never keep my home as neat as my mom used to, or as neat as I'd love to, so why bother? But then the control-freak-ness kicks in and...
There have been times when I've been in my friend Kevin's cab and told him that I wanted to go somewhere, then proceeded to tell him exactly how to get there. Kev will usually give me a look and ask who I think is doing the driving. If I mention wanting to be in control, he'll tell me that I'm simply neurotic. Nothing like having someone know you too well...
Kevin reads a lot, too; over the years, I've noticed numerous books in his cab. (Cab driving does give one down time between calls.) He's recommended several books, and I've told him about several, even handing him a copy of Elie Wiesel's Night, a book he devoured in a day or two before passing it on. (It was an extra copy and I'd told him to pass it along.)
Paul was a reader, too, liking a variety of books from Tom Clancy and mysteries to short stories. But there were several times when I'd buy a book for myself, put it on the table, then not be able to find it later. "Oh, I started reading it," Paul would say. "You really need to read this: it's great!"
We'd discuss books, what we were reading, what stood out in the book, what inspired us for a variety of reasons...
It's a rainy Saturday, the last weekend in the out-going year. I intend to do some house-cleaning (it's that control-freak thing), but I also intend to get royally lost in a couple of books. Will I read about more quirky Floridians? More Quindlen musings? AWOL on the Appalachian Trail on my Kindle? Who knows...maybe all three. It'll drive Mom nuts, but at least she'll take comfort knowing I'm reading!
I love to read. Always have. I blame my parents, in a good way. Between bedtime stories, watching both Mom and Dad reading a wide variety of books in their spare time, and receiving books for birthdays, Christmases, and just because, I learned that books were to be explored and enjoyed. A person can learn a lot from books.
It was on one website that I frequent that I learned about another cool site called Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com. Maybe you've heard of it. Or not. But on Goodreads, a reader can keep track of books she or he has read, is currently reading, wants to read (oops, must add the Narnia series!), learn about what others are reading, what others feel are must reads and what can be passed on. One can connect with friends on the site and get emails when books (and comments on these books) are added to friends' lists.
At the moment, I'm reading several books, a habit I got into as a kid during summer vacation. Getting home after the last day of school, I'd grab a stack of five books, read the first chapter of the first book, stick in on the bottom of the stack, read the next book's first chapter, then the next book...You get the idea. When I'd finish one book, it would go back on the bookshelf, another stuck into its place, and the reading would go on. By mid-summer, I might be on chapter one in one book, chapter ten in another, five in the third...Drove my mother crazy.
"How do you keep all the stories separate?" she'd ask. Just do, I'd tell her. She'd wander off, sighing, happy, I'm sure, that at least I was reading.
"I wouldn't worry about it," my grandmother told her when she relayed it during one of Grandma's visits. "I used to that all the time." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I still do." If it was good enough for Grandma...
Two of the books I'm currently working on are Seasons of Real Florida, by Jeff Klinkenberg, and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen. Both are interesting reads, similar in some ways, way different in other aspects.
Klinkenberg's Seasons..., as with his other books, is a collection of his columns first published in the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times). He introduces the reader to all sorts of interesting characters and Florida locales. His writing makes the reader think that Klink has the perfect job: wander the state, meet cool people, see cool places, and then write about them. Jeff, if you ever decide to retire, please put in a good word for me at the Times!
Quindlen's Lots of Candles... is also a collection of short essays. (She wrote for the New York Times for several years; several of her non-fiction books are collections of some of these essays.) Her essays tend toward her observations on life.
In one of the essays in Lots of Candles..., she mentions being a control freak, to the point of having a local anesthetic when having a hysterectomy. The surgeon, knowing a control freak when she saw one, told Quindlen that she would not be allowed to talk while the surgery was going on. I really had to laugh while reading Quinlen's description of being a control freak, as I've been there. I, too, tend to be a bit of a control freak, as well as a bit of a slob.
An aside: When Paul was alive, he played Felix Unger to my Oscar Madison; we used to joke that if anyone ever did a remake of The Odd Couple using a married couple, we'd be perfect. While I'm not enough of a slob to be on an episode of Hoarders, it's only because I am a control freak. And maybe the two apparent opposites feed into each other: I can never keep my home as neat as my mom used to, or as neat as I'd love to, so why bother? But then the control-freak-ness kicks in and...
There have been times when I've been in my friend Kevin's cab and told him that I wanted to go somewhere, then proceeded to tell him exactly how to get there. Kev will usually give me a look and ask who I think is doing the driving. If I mention wanting to be in control, he'll tell me that I'm simply neurotic. Nothing like having someone know you too well...
Kevin reads a lot, too; over the years, I've noticed numerous books in his cab. (Cab driving does give one down time between calls.) He's recommended several books, and I've told him about several, even handing him a copy of Elie Wiesel's Night, a book he devoured in a day or two before passing it on. (It was an extra copy and I'd told him to pass it along.)
Paul was a reader, too, liking a variety of books from Tom Clancy and mysteries to short stories. But there were several times when I'd buy a book for myself, put it on the table, then not be able to find it later. "Oh, I started reading it," Paul would say. "You really need to read this: it's great!"
We'd discuss books, what we were reading, what stood out in the book, what inspired us for a variety of reasons...
It's a rainy Saturday, the last weekend in the out-going year. I intend to do some house-cleaning (it's that control-freak thing), but I also intend to get royally lost in a couple of books. Will I read about more quirky Floridians? More Quindlen musings? AWOL on the Appalachian Trail on my Kindle? Who knows...maybe all three. It'll drive Mom nuts, but at least she'll take comfort knowing I'm reading!
Monday, April 1, 2013
Banned Books
This past weekend, I managed to do some cleaning. Family was coming for Easter dinner, so I figured I'd at least tidy up a little.
There were piles of paper on the table and in various places around the house. Putting them in one main pile (now on the table), I glanced through them. Some of the stuff got thrown out. But among the keepers was a list of banned books that I'd printed up a while back, and it got me to thinking about, well, banned books. A tee-shirt carried by one of the progressive (read left wing) catalogs that arrive in my mail box with some regularity states "I read banned books." I really would like to buy it sometime, because I do tend to read banned books. Tell me what I can and can't read, and I'm likely to get a little cranky.
Anyway, the list got me thinking: Is there any one place to find a list of banned books? Of course, the answer is a resounding Yes. I know, you might very well be thinking, "You could Google up banned books," which is exactly what I did.
One list, put out by the American Library Association, gave a list of Banned and Challenged Classics. It has taken Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List and simply put on the ALA's site the classics that were banned and challenged. According to the site, "The titles not included may have been banned or challenged, but we have not received any reports on them. If you have information about the banning or challenging of these (or any) titles, please contact the Office for Intellectual Freedom."(1, 2; see below for links)
Curious, yet, as to what these banned classics are? Here's how I plan to do it: I will list Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List (found at http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/radcliffes-rival-100-best-novels-list/ and on the ALA's page), then put an asterisk (*) next to the books on this list that the ALA says have been banned and/or challenged, as well as boldface the banned/challenged titles. This way, you won't have to read through two lists. (Again, the ALA's banned/challenged list comes directly from the R.R. 100 Best Novels List.
Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald *
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger *
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck *
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee *
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker *
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce *
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison *
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding *
9. 1984, by George Orwell *
10. The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov *
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck *
13. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller *
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley *
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell *
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway *
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner*
20. A Farewell to Arms,by Ernest Hemingway *
21. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston *
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison *
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison *
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell *
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright *
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey *
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut *
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway *
31. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London *
34. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin *
37. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
38. All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren *
39. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien *
41. Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair *
46. Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence *
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess *
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin *
51. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
52. Howards End, by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote *
54. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie *
56. Jazz, by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron *
58. Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor
62. Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence *
65. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut *
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles *
68. Light in August, by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs *
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh *
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence *
76. Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time, by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias, by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer *
81. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise, by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller *
85. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians, by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser *
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop,by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willow, by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman,by John Fowles
94. Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike *
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
How many of these have you read? I know I've read quite a few of the books on this list. I also know that there are many more books that have been banned over the years that are not on this list of classics. I've also read many of those "non-classics" that have been banned. Will I continue to do so? You'd better believe it! Will I read a book simply because it's been banned? Maybe. But a good book is a treasure, whether it's been banned or not.
So, if you're looking for another book to read (I'm hoping you're already on Goodreads.com), check out this list, find one you've been meaning to read, and get started. Happy reading!
1. The link for the quote, which was on the American Library Association's website, can be found at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics.
2. ALA's quote also has a clickable link to email the Office for Intellectual Freedom. That email address is oif@ala.org.
There were piles of paper on the table and in various places around the house. Putting them in one main pile (now on the table), I glanced through them. Some of the stuff got thrown out. But among the keepers was a list of banned books that I'd printed up a while back, and it got me to thinking about, well, banned books. A tee-shirt carried by one of the progressive (read left wing) catalogs that arrive in my mail box with some regularity states "I read banned books." I really would like to buy it sometime, because I do tend to read banned books. Tell me what I can and can't read, and I'm likely to get a little cranky.
Anyway, the list got me thinking: Is there any one place to find a list of banned books? Of course, the answer is a resounding Yes. I know, you might very well be thinking, "You could Google up banned books," which is exactly what I did.
One list, put out by the American Library Association, gave a list of Banned and Challenged Classics. It has taken Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List and simply put on the ALA's site the classics that were banned and challenged. According to the site, "The titles not included may have been banned or challenged, but we have not received any reports on them. If you have information about the banning or challenging of these (or any) titles, please contact the Office for Intellectual Freedom."(1, 2; see below for links)
Curious, yet, as to what these banned classics are? Here's how I plan to do it: I will list Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List (found at http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/radcliffes-rival-100-best-novels-list/ and on the ALA's page), then put an asterisk (*) next to the books on this list that the ALA says have been banned and/or challenged, as well as boldface the banned/challenged titles. This way, you won't have to read through two lists. (Again, the ALA's banned/challenged list comes directly from the R.R. 100 Best Novels List.
Radcliffe's Rival 100 Best Novels List
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald *
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger *
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck *
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee *
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker *
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce *
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison *
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding *
9. 1984, by George Orwell *
10. The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov *
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck *
13. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller *
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley *
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell *
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway *
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner*
20. A Farewell to Arms,by Ernest Hemingway *
21. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston *
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison *
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison *
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell *
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright *
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey *
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut *
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway *
31. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London *
34. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin *
37. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
38. All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren *
39. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien *
41. Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair *
46. Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence *
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess *
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin *
51. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
52. Howards End, by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote *
54. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie *
56. Jazz, by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron *
58. Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor
62. Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence *
65. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut *
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles *
68. Light in August, by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs *
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh *
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence *
76. Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time, by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias, by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer *
81. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise, by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller *
85. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians, by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser *
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop,by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willow, by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman,by John Fowles
94. Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike *
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
How many of these have you read? I know I've read quite a few of the books on this list. I also know that there are many more books that have been banned over the years that are not on this list of classics. I've also read many of those "non-classics" that have been banned. Will I continue to do so? You'd better believe it! Will I read a book simply because it's been banned? Maybe. But a good book is a treasure, whether it's been banned or not.
So, if you're looking for another book to read (I'm hoping you're already on Goodreads.com), check out this list, find one you've been meaning to read, and get started. Happy reading!
1. The link for the quote, which was on the American Library Association's website, can be found at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics.
2. ALA's quote also has a clickable link to email the Office for Intellectual Freedom. That email address is oif@ala.org.
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