Scribbles & Munch

      Ok, I know I said my next post was going to be all geeking-out over nerd stuff, but then...well...when you're not really plugged into social media, you find out about stuff in the most interesting ways.  For example: I found out that today is the last day of National Banned Book Week by going to a farmers market.

Check out these bad-ass rebels!  Library board VOLUNTEERS!  Spreading dangerous notions in a public space like a farmers market, in plain sight of children!*

      I also bought Pearwood scented olive oil soap & a bunch of the most beautiful kale I've ever seen, but that's not the point of this story.  The point of this story is banned books.  The very words have an interesting double effect on me.  On the one hand, it brings to mind scenes of movies where books are burned in village squares, which always make me cry.  No, really--scenes in movies where books are thrown on a bonfire make tears run down my cheeks.  My heart hurts to see it.  I have yet to watch a screen adaptation of Farenheit 451, but if I do, I'm sure I'll through an entire box of tissue.
      On the other hand, thinking of banned books raises this delightfully devilish feeling in me.  It makes me want to be all rebellious and go read!  Naughty books, shocking books, historically accurate books, I want to fling myself through the library doors & shout, "Come, you collections of the printed word, hit me with your best shot!  Corrupt my fragile mind!  Plant dangerous notions in my mind!  Make me question the status quo, and doubt the morals of my ancestors!"
      I realize that sounds pretty damn dramatic, but you have to consider how many books I've read that have been banned in one place or another:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Harry Potter & fill in the blank by J.K. Rowling
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

      Those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head without looking at a list online.  Oh, wait, I'm sure Animal Farm and Catcher In The Rye were banned.  And probably The Diary of Anne Frank.  And Lady Chatterley's Lover, right?  I can keep going but it would take me all day.

I feel like if I ever wrote a book that was thought-provoking enough to get banned, I would feel tremendous pride.  Next best thing to winning a Pulitzer, honestly.

      The point is...I'm still waiting to turn into a danger to society.  When are these books going to deliver on their promises & make me an extremist rebel of some kind?!  I mean, at some point, I'm supposed to put down the mug of tea, get up out of my reading chair, & go explode something, or start an underground group of some sort, right?  So far all I've done is go to peaceful protest marches & do my research before I vote.  Oh yeah, & then I vote.  That's not radical, is it?
      I keep wanting to read more.  I suppose that's pretty radical in & of itself.  What's your favorite banned book?  I need some recommendations for after I go read The Handmaid's Tale.
      I think I'm going to make a point of buying a banned book for everyone in my family for their birthday next year.  Ok, now I'm feeling rebellious.


*Also, when the heck did A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein become banned?  Isn't there a poem in there about making a hippopotamus sandwich?