I hear on NPR this evening that Palin tried to have books removed from her local library when she was mayor. She also threatened to fire the librarian for non-compliance.

That's it! I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until now. She has no respect for the Constitution of the United States.

Remember, Banned Books Week is this month!

Tags: bbw, books, censorship
Current Location: home
Current Mood: pissed off
Current Music: nothing.... too angry for music

Apparently this is not a good year to be my favorite of anything.

Tags: authors, books

The 22nd of August is Ray Bradbury's birthday. Ray Bradbury is an author who has had had a large influence on me and who I am as a person.

Sure authors like Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain and Douglas Adams have helped me hone my sarcastic wit since a young age. But Bradbury was different. He makes me think. He makes me fear. He makes me question. He helps me remember to stand up to authority when needed. He reminds me that censorship is a true threat, he reminds me to play the devil's advocate when no one is willing to take a logical (but unpopular) point of view.

The list goes on and on.

Thank you Ray, you have helped to open my mind.

Tags: birthdays, books, homage, literature, sci-fi
Current Music: "A Sound of Thunder"

A visitor dropped by today. A brown owl in fact. He was a very odd looking owl. I guess that's just how magical he is. He was wearing a brown uniform and instead of flying with his wings he drove a brown truck. I didn't know owls could do these things. He gave me a specially mailed package that read "DO NOT DELIVER BEFORE JULY 16." and "Amazon.com." He said, "whoo-whoo" as he left but it sounded a lot like "Goodbye, enjoy your book" in English.

Amazing. Truly Truly amazing. I want a pet owl!

Tags: books, silly
Current Mood: amused

So we're reading this Beverly Cleary classic at the school where I work. I decided today to bring in two eggs. One is hard boiled. The other is not. We'll see what kind of good minds they have figuring out which is which.

(No, I'm not going to let them smack it against their heads).

Tags: books, silly
Current Mood: chipper

X-Posted to stuntviolist, 15000pages, 50bookchallenge

If you would like to see my reviews of these books please see the book reviews on my personal website.

Fiction:

1. Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd
2. Lamb -- Christopher Moore
3. The Bad Beginning -- Lemony Snickett
4. The Reptile Room -- Lemony Snickett
5. Wicked -- Gregory Maguire
6. Summerland -- Michael Chabon
7. Extremely Loud and Encredibly Close -- Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Under the Glacier -- Halldor Laxness
9. Summer Reading is Going to Kill Me --
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams
11. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -- Douglas Adams
12. Fluke (I know why the winged whale sings) -- Christopher Moore
13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- J.K. Rowling
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabahn -- J. K. Rowling
15. Runny Babbit (A Billy Sook) -- Shel Silverstein
16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- J.K. Rowling

Non-Fiction Books

1. The Elegant Universe -- Brian Greene
2. How to Keep Dinosaurs -- Robert Mash
3. The Ancestor's Tale -- Richard Dawkins
4. What's the Matter with Kansas? -- Thomas Frank
5. On Bullshit -- Harry G. Frankfurt
6. Comma Sutra -- Laurie Rozakis
7. Frank Zappa -- Barry Miles
8. Nothing's Sacred -- Lewis Black
9. Freakonomics -- Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Unfinished/In Progress:
1. The Federalist Papers -- Alexander Hamilton, et el
2. The Attack Against America -- Philip Roth (freaked me out a lot. I'll pick it back up again soon)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- J.K. Rowling
4. Last Child in the Woods -- Richard Louv
5. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 -- Beverly Cleary (I'm reading it to children in a summer program).

Number of books read: 25
Number of pages read: 7488

Tags: books