Month: September 2014

Apologies for the Inconvenience

If you had problems viewing the Virtual Read Out, those issues have been addressed.

But what of the inconvenience of banned and challenged books? Do the school boards, parents, or “concerned individuals” ever apologize for limiting the First Amendment, for restricting education, or for judging the opinions of others?

As Banned Books Week draws to a close, remember that the war is far from over. The censors may lose a battle, but they haven’t surrendered the war.

Be Wary.

Be Vigilant.

Be Reading.

Virtual Read-Out

RIMH exclusive: rare footage of the blogger reading from two of his favorite books!

 

Imagine A World Without Books

It would look something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BBW Artwork

Some time ago I wanted a custom iPhone case. Although I never ordered it, I just couldn’t throw the artwork away; perhaps because it was the first time I semi-successfully created a fire effect in Photoshop. Enjoy!

Burning Fahrenheit 451

Challenged Sentences

LeatherBooksWant to read something for Banned Books Week but just don’t have the time? You’re in luck! Below, you’ll find ten of the most challenged books in the United States condensed (by me) into one sentence.

Irony isn’t lost on me; it wasn’t too long ago in writing about Fahrenheit 451 that I included the line:

Classics cut to fit fifteen-minute radio shows, then cut again to fill a two-minute book column, winding up at last as a ten- or twelve-line dictionary resume.

However, my goal is not to tell the story; rather, to whet your appetite for more.

Enjoy, fearless reader!

Ulysses (James Joyce; “explicit nature” and “promoting lust”): As an omniscient observer, spend 16 June 1904 with Leopold Bloom in Dublin.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee; “racial slurs, profanity, and blunt dialogue about rape”): Scout, a young girl in Maycomb, Alamaba, learns from her father why racism is wrong.

The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway; profanity and sex): A group of young people attempt to forget the horrors of WWI with sex, parties, and alcohol.

Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut; “depraved, immoral, psychotic, vulgar, and anti-Christian”): A soldier in WWII, Billy Pilgrim suffers from shell-shock.

1984 (George Orwell; sexual content and violence): A totalitarian government breaks Winston Smith.

The Jungle (Upton Sinclair; socialist philosophies): Discover the horror of meatpacking in the early 1900s (and socialism, too).

James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl; “inappropriate language, encourages disobedience to parents, references to drugs and alcohol, and ‘magical elements’): A young boy flees his abusive aunts in a magical fruit with talking insects.

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald; “language and sexual references”): Jay Gatsby throws extravagant parties in an attempt to win the love of Daisy Buchanan.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller; “offensive language”): John Yossarian deals imaginatively with Air Force bureaucracy in WWII.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain; race and social issues): Huck Finn runs away from home and rafts down the Mississippi River with escaped slave Jim.

A Word to the Unwise

At this place, on May 10, 1933 Nazi, students burned the books of writers, scholars, journalists, and philosophers.
At this place, on May 10, 1933, Nazi students burned the books of writers, scholars, journalists, and philosophers.

A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.

– Ellen Hopkins

guyfawkesmaskRemember, remember
The fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

gunpowderbarrelsBut what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes, and I know that, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught. He can be killed and forgotten. But four hundred years later an idea can still change the world. I’ve witnessed firsthand the power of ideas. I’ve seen people kill in the name of them; and die defending them. But you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it or hold it. Ideas do not bleed. They do not feel pain. They do not love.*

Ideas are Bulletproof

*From V for Vendetta

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