Banned Books Challenge Completed

Well I've officially completed the Banned Books Challenge. Right down to the wire in true Chris form. I've really enjoyed this challenge. It's given me the opportunity to read quite a few books that I feel that I should've read ages ago and to revisit books that I have read ages ago and wanted to read again.

It's amazing how often books are challenged these days and the reasons why they are challenged are ridiculous. In challenging these books and in banning these books, we are telling our children not to think outside of the box. We're telling our children to hold a very narrow view of life and to shelter themselves from the reality of what life is. Everything is not candy coated in the real world and I think we do a very grave injustice to our children by banning books. So many wonderful life lessons and wonderful stories are being taken away from our children. How many kids never experienced Lewis Carroll's Wonderland? How many children never journeyed into Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time because of censors? It's a sad thing that these books are being held from children.

Not all of these books are children's books. I agree that not all are appropriate for children. But all have their place in the world. Kurt Vonnegut, Aldous Huxley, and Ray Bradbury had amazing things to say with their magnificent works, yet someone decided that their right to free speech should be banned. And in a way, the people who banned those books prove the importance of those books.

So I say that we make a special effort to embrace these books and cherish the stories that they tell. Here are the ones that I embraced during this challenge:

1. The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4. Grendel by John Gardner
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
7. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

The Figure In The Shadows by John Bellairs

The second book in John Bellairs trilogy, The Figure in the Shadows, delighted me as much as the first. This book follows our same characters as the first book: Lewis, his Uncle Jonathan, and Mrs. Zimmerman, and adds Lewis' new best friend Rose Rita.

Lewis is still quite the unpopular kid at school as he was in the first book. He's still chunky, still no good at sports, and is still quite clumsy. He's getting picked on quite a bit at school. To try to cheer him up, his Uncle Jonathan goes through an old chest with Lewis and they root through all kinds of old treasures. Among them is an old "lucky coin." Mrs. Zimmerman declares that the coin has no magical value, but Lewis is not convinced and decides to wear the coin aware his neck. Things start to look better for Lewis, but with things looking better, a not so friendly side of Lewis appears (can we say "my precious"). A figure in the shadows also appears as do some haunting messages.

The illustrations by Mercer Mayer are great. I love Mayer's work and always have. His Little Critters books were some of my favorites when I was a little kid, so it was nice to see some of his work that was new to me.

The Figure in the Shadows is another delightfully creepy tale by John Bellairs and I'm so glad that chose to read this series! Next up is the Letter, The Witch, and the Ring...the final book in the trilogy. Just to remind everyone, you can get all 3 of these novels in one hardcover book called The Best of John Bellairs for $9.99. I'm reminding you because I think it's a great deal and I'm really enjoying them. Really quick reads and quite fun. Perfect for those looking for something for the R.I.P. challenge.

This is the last book on my list for the Banned Books Challenge. I think it's so silly that this book has been banned! My best guess for why it's been banned is for some minor cursing and religious reasons, and for witchcraft I'm sure. Whatever, I'll definitely be passing this book onto my kids one day way in the future. I would've loved these stories around 10 years old. They're great!

A Few Thoughts On Books, Movies, And Vacation

I knew it had to come sooner or later...the first book of the year that I couldn't stand. It was Grendel by John Gardner. I really wanted to like this book. I read it for the Banned Books Challenge and I'm not going to do a review of it because I really couldn't do it justice. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what half of the book was about because it couldn't hold my attention. My mind would wander and I couldn't be bothered to go back and see what I missed. The writing came off as pretentious to me and I should've known I wouldn't like it when I saw that the New York Times said that it was an "Extraordinary Achievement." Not that I always disagree with the New York Times, but I picture rich literary people at snobby parties talking about the "cleverness" of this book. Just not my cup of tea. It grabbed me during a couple of passages, particularly at the end, but it wasn't enough to save the whole experience. Ah well, it happens.

I've found myself craving more George R.R. Martin the past couple of days which is a really good sign. I really enjoyed A Game of Thrones, and the more it sinks in, the better it was. So last night I ordered A Clash of Kings (alongwithsevenotherbooks), the second book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and I just can't wait to read it! I'm so glad that I decided to start this series and I was so very pleasantly surprised by it. Highly recommend that one to anyone who's a fan of fantasy or really just a fan of a good character driven story.

Movies...I watched Sin City with my little brother for the first time today and it was incredible! I don't know why I waited so long to see this one. Definitely a one of a kind experience. It's filmed like no movie I've ever seen before and it's a treat for the eyes...but then again, isn't any movie with Jessica Alba. OK...that was lame. But seriously, the use (or lack of use) of color in the movie was great and Frank Miller's story was just incredible. I'm going to have to pick up the graphic novels. According to IMDB, Sin City 2 is in pre-production and Johnny Depp is rumored to be in this one. Can't wait. They even have Sin City 3 listed on IMDB, so fans of the original may have quite a few treats coming.

I also rented The Queen which I may start tonight, but seeing as it's already 12:30 in the morning, I may just save that one for tomorrow. I've heard that Helen Mirren did an outstanding job in this movie and I've been wanting to see this one, so I'll let you know how it was.

I'm also a big fan of horror movies and this usually includes the really bad ones as well, but Pulse was just too bad...even for me. I rented this one last week and it was just so stupid. It was the one where a computer virus kills people. So stupid, don't waste your time. Not a single part that even remotely creeped me out, the story had so many holes that it wasn't funny, and the acting was God awful. Just no.

And finally, the next vacation of the year is being planned. Since Katrina, I've been going to see Megan about 4 or 5 times a year. This year, I haven't been to see her once yet! I was there for New Years Eve, so that kinda counts and we went to Mexico together, but I haven't been to Texas. So I think I'm making the trip up there on July 16th or 17th and am coming back on the 22nd. I always have such a great time when I'm up there with her and it'll be nice to spend the time together doing the things we love to do...the little things I miss like getting coffee, shopping at Target, going to the bookstore, going to dinner...all that jazz. And I get to see Buddy and the rest of her family. I miss everyone there! Can't wait!

A Day Of Reading and Reflection

I've felt very "blah" today. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not the greatest either. It made for some good reading as I'm nearly done Beowulf in preparation for reading Grendel for the Banned Book Challenge. Beowulf's great and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend Seamus Heaney's translation of it. Full review coming later.

The Once Upon a Time Challenge is officially completed, though I still plan on fitting in a reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream and maybe John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things if there's time. I'll miss this challenge a lot. I read fantasy throughout the year, so it's not the genre I'll miss, but it's the amount of discussion on fantasy literature that I'll miss. Though I know there are so many great fantasy bloggers out there ;)

So aside from reading, today's been a day of self reflection. Where I am now, where I've been in the past, where I'm going in the future. I'm happy with where I am now. I don't think I was fully aware of that because I never really took the time to just sit and think on it, but I am. I've achieved many of my goals but feel short changed sometimes because there's no immediate result aka I don't have a job right now. I'm surrounded by people who love me and I have a great support system in place and I appreciate that. I forget to focus on the positive sometimes and get wrapped up in the negative and sometimes take others down in that negativity. That's got to end. Negativity is hard to avoid and easy to get caught up in, but I've got to learn to fight it. No point in dwelling on things. Focus on the future. And that's what I'm doing. I've scheduled an appointment to meet with the head of the PhD program in Counseling at UNO next week. I'm really excited, though as I look at the application, I don't know how great my chances are at getting into the program. That's basically why I want to meet with her. She sounds really nice and sounded interested in meeting with me, so that should be good. Also applied for a slew of new jobs today, so keep your fingers crossed!

OK, off to finish Beowulf! Til next time....

So Speaking Of Stuff.....

I went to Borders today! Why Borders instead of Barnes and Noble you might ask? Well I went to Barnes and Noble first and I'm just about fed up with the one here. I'm sure you all know that the reason I went to the bookstore today is because Colleen Gleason's new book Rises the Night is out in stores today!! Well, once again, Barnes and Noble didn't have it shelved! Our Barnes and Noble is horrible about this. Every time I want a book that is recently released, it's never on the shelves. I have to go to customer service and ask them for it and they have to go in the back and someone always comes back with this idiot grin on their face and says "oh, we didn't unpack those yet...here you go." So this time, I just left instead of asking and brought my business to Borders. I'm sick of it.

Borders was quite a nice experience today! I found all kinds of stuff as you can see by the picture. First and foremost is the reason I went. Colleen's new book, Rises the Night...second in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. It is the sequel to The Rest Falls Away which was one of my favorite books of the year so far. If you haven't read it yet, I highly suggest it. It will appeal to just about anyone. You can read my review here. If you have read it, go out and buy Rises the Night!! Help Colleen make the best sellers lists. I read somewhere that first week sales matter the most and the book is only $6.99, so even if you think you may read it down the road, go out and buy it this week. And if you do buy it this week, take a picture of yourself with the book and send it to Carl at Stainless Steel Dropping for his contest and you may win an advanced reader copy of The Bleeding Dusk, the third installment in the series! I'll be jumping into Rises the Night as soon as this post is finished!

Another purchase was Marilyn Manson's new CD. I've been a fan of Marilyn Manson's for over 10 years now. It goes back to my goth days. It started out of shock value. He was, and still is to an extent all about the shock value, and so was I back then. And I guess my enjoyment of his music is still related to memories of teenage days. But I must say that his new album is really good! I was really surprised. I imagined that it would be horrible and almost laughable, but it's not at all. I'm really enjoying it. The title of the album is no less offensive than anything else he's done: Eat me, Drink me...I don't think he'll ever change in that way, and his voice is still bad as ever, but it works for him...and it works for me. I've seen him in concert a bazillion times, and the man is an amazing entertainer. He puts on a show like no other. His new video is very well done, but once again, a tad bit on the risque side. You can find it on his website. It's for the song Heart Shaped Glasses. It was shot by James Cameron believe it or not. I don't recommend watching it if your at work or around children. The opening 30 seconds had me thinking I was watching some kind of gothic, high budget soft-core porn....there's no nudity, but there might as well be. Aside from that, it's a really great video :p Maybe Quix will like it...there may be books involved :p

Next purchase - The new Realms of Fantasy! Amazing issue! The cover article is on the new Harry Potter movie and has a behind the scenes exclusive. There is also an article by Terri Windling of Endicott Studio on the themes in stories about Rapunzel. And there's a whole feature on Charles Vess and his art for Stardust!! yay!! And of course there are all the wonderful short stories including one by Tim Pratt.

I also finally got my hands on a copy of Geek Monthly! Another yay! This is one that I've been looking out for for awhile and that my Barnes and Noble apparently refuses to carry...but Borders had it :) This one came recommended by Carl, and I'm glad I finally found it!

Also picked up Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis and The Giver by Lois Lowry as both are books I'm reading for the Newbery Challenge. I'm guessing I'll officially start that challenge in July seeing as I still have to finish both the Once Upon a Time Challenge AND Banned Books Challenge this month. Phew!

I always tell the people at Borders "no" when they ask me if I want to sign up for their rewards card. I say no because I mostly shop at Barnes and Noble and always assumed that you had to pay for their rewards program like you do at Barnes and Noble. Well no one ever mentioned THAT IT'S FREE! So when I asked the lady today how much the program was for future reference and she said "it's free", I said "well sign me up then." So I'm now a Border's member too. Yay for Border's Bucks!

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five is perhaps one of the most recognizable anti-war novels. I had blushingly never read this one before. It's one of Megan's favorite books, and she's tried to get me to read it for years. And now I have, and I'm so glad that I have.

Slaughterhouse-Five is Kurt Vonnegut's satirical tale of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran who is "unstuck in time." What this means is that Pilgrim often disconnects from the present and picks up again at some other time in his life and usually at a different location. Pilgrim was in Dresden during the bombings, he was in Nazi concentration camps, he was at home with his wife, visiting with his recently married daughter, visiting with his son who was a green beret, being abducted by aliens and taken to the planet, Tralfamador, where he is put on display at a zoo.

I found this book to be quite powerful. It's a touching story at times, very light-hearted and almost humorous at times, and at other times just disturbing. It's a story that will always remain relevant in these days of war. It shows how powerful of a thing war is and the traumatic toll that it can have on the life of a soldier.

Vonnegut's writing style is amazing. I found myself asking "what makes a book a classic?" This book is the perfect example of a classic. It's a writing style that's totally in a league of it's own. The book flows so easily, yet there's so many complex connections made in it. Little tiny lines that stand out at first come back in a major way later in the book tying into the main plot. Vonnegut was a master of the American novel.

This book was read for the banned book challenge. I can see how this book would unfortunately be banned for so many reasons. Most of them to do with politics and war. There are probably some religious groups that have tried to ban this book as well for some of it's references to Jesus.

It's a sad thing that Kurt Vonnegut died recently. The world is a little less fortunate without him in it. He's contributed so many other classics to American Literature and I look forward to reading some of them. He's an author that will be missed by a huge number of fans...So it goes...

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

"O brave new world," he repeated. "O brave new world that has such people in it. Let's start at once."
"You have a most peculiar way of talking sometimes, " said Bernard, staring at the young man in perplexed astonishment. "And, anyhow, hadn't you better wait till you actually see the new world?"

Brave New World, where do I begin. I'd have to agree with what a friend of mine said about this book. It should not be read in high school. I think that it's point would be missed. At face value, it's a fascinating read. Huxley's world is so upsettingly vivid that it lures the reader in and makes one turn pages continuously. What's even more fascinating is the social commentary beneath the outward appearance of the novel. And I think that would be missed among adolescents.

Brave New World is the story of a world that has come to be after the "nine years war." In this world, individuality is no longer welcomed. Humans are no longer born in the traditional sense of the world. They are grown. Mankind has been reduced down to genetic manipulation and is created on an assembly line. Mankind comes in various ranks. There are the best of the best, golden and chiseled, and there are the worst of the worst, the fetuses who are injected with alcohol while they are growing. Whether the best or the worst, each person serves a very specific function to the new society.

There are so many disturbing aspects of this book. Mother is a word that causes people to blush since there are no mothers anymore. Love is disgusting and unfathomable yet sex is encouraged even as children during "erotic play" time. Contraceptives are carried around on a belt worn by women. Relationships do not exist beyond sex. People are discouraged from ever being alone (after all, one may have time to think). And if one ever gets unhappy, all you do is take a soma, a hallucinogen that makes everything o.k. God does not exist.

"But if you know about God, why don't you tell them?" asked the savage indignantly. "Why don't you give them these books about God?"

"For the same reason as we don't give them Othello: they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God now."

"But God doesn't change."

"Men do, though."

God has become nothing but a myth that society mocks and laugh at. God has become replaced with the term "Ford". I must say that Huxley had excellent insight into what the invention of an automobile could lead to. The book is filled with "Oh Ford!", "The year of our Ford", and "his Fordship." I can't help but think of the first commandment and the story from the bible of the golden calf. "You shall not worship false idols." Huxley has given us the extreme of worshipping false idols and shows societies tendency to replace God with material possessions. The soul of a human has been replaced with chemicals, "groupthink", genetic engineering, and false happiness. What we are left with is an empty shell; a robot that looks like a human. Sex exists to make people happy, not to reproduce. If reproduction occurs, there are whole buildings dedicated to abortion. Motherhood is not welcomed in this brave new world. And what a brave world it is to make so many assumptions.

These are some of my initial thoughts on the novel. I can't do it justice with a simple blog post. Huxley has created a masterpiece that was relevant from the day it was published and will always remain relevant. It is a telling example of what the loss of spirituality can do and of the necessity of so many emotions that we perceive as negative.

This book was read for the banned books challenge. It's ashame that people ban books such as these. Yes it's disturbing, but it's message is one that should be heard by all. It warns of the dangers of banning books that make one think. It shows the power of the human mind that is actually able to think out of the box. It opens one's eyes to the dangers of being just like everyone else. It's a book that should be required reading, but maybe not in highschool. Save this one for the college years.

I loved the cover to this edition. It drew my eye right away. Greg Kulick did the cover design and illustration. It's the Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition and it is packed with extras in the back. I recommend this one!

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 is such a classic, and sadly, I had never read it. Now that I have, I can see why it's a classic and can see why it will always remain one and remain relevant. This was a very powerful book. Picture a world engaged in war, a world full of censorship, a world where there is no speed limit, a world where people do not engage with each other, but rather engage with the walls. This is the world that Ray Bradbury has created in Fahrenheit 451.

451 is the number that the firemen wear on their uniforms. The jobs of the firemen are not to put out fires, but rather, start them. Books are banned in Bradbury's world. Books are seen as not real, silly, impersonal, influential, propaganda and will not be tolerated by the government. So it is that the job of the firemen is to burn every book in existence and to imprison the owner of the books. Quite a scary thing. One of the firemen, Montag (the central character) has kept some books of his own. Upon reading them, he finds that books should exist, and you can see the dilemma that this could cause. That's all I'll say so as not to ruin the story for those who have never read this.

This is also my first Bradbury work, and I'm very happy that I've finally discovered him. He is Orson Scott Card's favorite author, so I figured he had to be a pretty damn good writer...and he is! I look forward to reading more of his work. I have Something Wicked This Way Comes sitting on my shelf, so that'll be the next Bradbury. I also have a short story by the name of The Homecoming illustrated by Dave McKean.

This was book 3 for me in the Banned Books Challenge. It's very ironic that this book has been banned seeing as the book is about books being banned and censorship. My thoughts on why it may be banned is because of Montag's challenge of authority. This is shown as a good thing in this book and he is the hero, and it's generally not well taken in our society when one goes up against the government or any form of authority. I think it's ridiculous to ban this book though. This book speaks volumes about power in the wrong hands, ignorance, and many other themes that I could go on forever about. Bottom line is that this is a wonderful book and although it has been banned in some places, I'm glad to see that it is required reading in so many other places.

Other Reviews:

Melody

I May Be Broke, But I've Got Peter Beagle

Thanks to Carl, I had to go spend money on a book today :p. It's really not his fault though, it was my choosing. One of the books that I signed up for for the Once Upon A Time challenge was Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Now, I have all the other books that I'm reading for the challenge sitting on my shelf, but I just had to have this one first even though I had only $18.99 in my checking account (it's called being a grad student). On the positive side of being a grad student, my stipend should be coming in in about 4 days, so I'll manage.

I tend to do this alot with books. I have probably about 50 books sitting on my to be read shelf, including the other 4 books I'm reading for the challenge, but I still manage to always "need to buy" another book. That's one thing I like about these challenges - I can commit to reading some of these that have been sitting on the shelf, lonely and abandoned for far too long. Unfortunately though, I don't own the rest of the books that I signed up for for the Banned Books Challenge, so I'll have to be buying those. It's worth it though.

So now I just need to finish Fahrenheit 451 tonight for the banned books challenge and then I can start The Last Unicorn. Can't wait!

Another great thing about these challenges is that I'm getting to meet all of these other great bloggers out there who have also signed up for the challenges. And with fantasy being my favorite genre, there are lots of new friends out there!

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

What a classic! Everyone knows the story of Alice in Wonderland, made even more popular by Disney years ago. All I knew of Alice was the Disney cartoon and the artwork of Tenniel and Rackham. What I didn't know was the brilliant writing style of Lewis Carroll, the author who created Alice and her Wonderland.

Carroll is one of the most clever writers I have read. I kept thinking to myself as I read this book, "how the hell did he come up with this?" The dialogue is pure genius. I loved every minute of the Mad Hatter and his tea party.

The story is very short and without much of a plot, but that is what can be expected of a dream. It's sort of just a walk down the rabbit hole and through wonderland. But in that walk, we meet fascinating creatures; creatures and objects present in the real world, but with a fantastical twist.

What I loved more than anything was the book itself. I got a beautiful edition of this book through Dreamhaven, published by Firefly. It was a $30 on sale for $7.95. It's hardcover, clothbound, with thick, high quality paper and illustrations that I've never seen before for Alice.

The illustrations are done by Ralph Steadman. His work looked familiar and I found out that he is the artist from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I didn't know what to think of the images at first, but I liked them by the end. They are definitely geared towards a more adult audience, but then again, I forget what it's like to be a kid. He adds a certain edge to the characters. The characters become menacing and bizarre. He gives a great introduction in the book and explains why he drew each one of the images the way he did.

The book was read for the banned books challenge. Once again, I'm not exactly sure why the book was banned, but I would guess that it would be banned due to some suggestive drug-influenced scenes and the crazy queen who wants to cut everyones head off. It's amazing how many wonderful books people have attempted to keep away from the public's eyes. Amazing and sad.

Some interesting Alice news, Marilyn Manson is currently shooting a movie that he wrote called Phantasmagoria which is a biopic of Lewis Carroll as he wrote Alice in Wonderland. Manson will play the Queen of Hearts.

I leave you with a fun quote from the Duchess taken from her and Alice's conversation on where exactly mustard comes from:

"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise"

Who comes up with this stuff?!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

I read A Wrinkle in Time as a child and didn't remember anything except for the cover, which I used to love. The cover has changed since the last time I read the book, but the beautiful story has not. I must say, the only thing that I actually recalled when reading this book was the dog's name (Fortinbras) and the tesseract. But it was such a delight to read this book again.

This book is the first in a series of four. I wasn't aware that there were sequels, and now I'm very happy that there are. Meg and Charles Wallace are 2 of 4 children in their household. Both are not the most popular at school. Their parents are both brilliant scientists, but their father has been off on "business" for awhile and no one has heard from him. On a stormy night, a Mrs. Whatsit arrives at their door. Mrs. Whatsit sets into motion a time travelling, and space travelling voyage that is beyond what any of the children could ever expect. This is everything great about Sci-Fi. Wonderful and sometimes scary new worlds, new cultures, new creatures and beings...Everything a reader would love. It is up to the children in this book to find and rescue their father and ultimately rescue the world (which I hope continues in the storyline).

This is a wonderful book for readers of all ages. Though I didn't remember most of the story, I did remember that as a child I couldn't put this book down. It's magical, and L'Engle has such a passion in her writing. She has a passion for literature, for words, for other worlds, for the imagination, and for the power of children.

I read this book as the first book in the Banned Books Challenge. I'm really confused as to why this book would be banned. Most books are banned due to religion or politics, and my closest guess would be religion. There's one passage in the book where Mrs. Whatsit is talking about the many people who have come to Earth trying to fight the shadow that is enclosing Earth. The first she mentions is Jesus and then puts him in the company of DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Shakespeare, Bach, Gandhi, Buddha, Beethoven, etc. I certainly don't think that this merits the book to be banned, but I can see how some extremists may do so.

I felt an especially close bond with this book as I saw L'Engle's obvious love for Shakespeare's The Tempest, my favorite play of his. In fact, when talking to the children, Mrs. Whatsit quotes my favorite quote where the title of this blog is taken from..."We are such stuff as dreams are made on..." And excellent quote to sum up this wonderful story.

Guilt Trips on a Monday

Without getting into too many details, I really hate it when people make sad attempts at putting guilt trips on people. If you need constant reinforcement, there are probably certain professions (such as counseling) that you probably don't belong in. Geesh...

Today was actually a decent Monday aside from the above comment. I think what kept me going strong today was that I know I don't have my ethics class tomorrow night....just the internship and I actually enjoy that, so it's all good.

As I walked into school today, I noticed a piece of paper in my box. This paper was strange. It was a form to fill out to nominate ourselves for the dean and/or chancellor's award. Who does that? Shouldn't it be the faculty's job to nominate us for said awards. I just find it strange and conceited to nominate one's self for an award. What does it actually mean when you get it in that scenario.

And finally, I've been enjoying Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. It's the first book I'm reading for the Banned Books Challenge, which I'm getting a late start on. I read this book as a child and absolutely loved it. It feels good to revisit it. Carl is starting a Fantasy and Fairy Tale challenge really soon that I'm REALLY looking forward to. Already starting to think of my books. I think I'll finally read The Last Unicorn for this one.

Banned Books Challenge

Just found a really great challenge online. Details at Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books. Basically, the challenge is to commit to reading as many banned books as you would like between now and June 30th. I've registered for 8. Most are classics that I have never had the chance to read *blushes* and I also put A Wrinkle in Time in there just because I loved that book as a kid and would like to revisit it. I'm posting my books on my side bar and will also post them in this post:


1. The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
4. Grendel by John Gardner
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
6. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
7. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle