Banned Books Week

2007 Banned Books Week: Ahoy!
Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book
This is a gentle reminder to both of my loyal readers that Banned Books Week (BBW) starts tomorrow (Sept. 29 – Oct. 6).

Although it is small and insignificant, I did spend a good chunk of time this week creating a spotlight about BBW for the Internet Public Library. Fortunately, my youngest sister took a computer class a few years ago, so I learned basic html skills. You can admire my handiwork here. (As a disclaimer, I did not select the links.)

Now that I’ve patted myself on the back, we can move on. I’ve already written a post on reading banned/challenged books, so I won’t bore you again. In reality, the point of BBW is to promote the freedom to read.

It’s not one of those freedoms we usually think about, but what a privilege. I mean, if we want to, we can read brilliant books or absolute junk.

Speaking of which, here are a few overrated books I freely read. You’ll notice they are fairly old because I have recently exercised my right not to read overrated tripe:

• The Lovely Bones: It had such a promising start, but what happened at the end? I won’t give the story away (entirely), but did Alice Sebold watch Ghost a few too many times?
• Cold Mountain: This book is nothing more than a glorified romance novel, and I do not understand the hype for a moment. Charles Frasier conveniently rescues characters dozens of times from the clutches of death just to let them die for melodramatic effect. Give me a break.
• Girl with a Pearl Earring: The entire time I read this book, I was sure something was going to happen. It never did. Talk about a snore.
• The Secret Life of Bees: Overall, I enjoyed this book, but sometimes I felt Sue Monk Kidd hitting me over the head with her message of acceptance, tolerance, and diversity. Yes, I get it.

Talk about freedom.