In high school we read (I think this is the title) Johnny Got His Gun, about a young man who had lost all his limbs in war and was lying in a hospital bed asking all the hard questions about what his life now meant, and challenging the reader to think of the horrors of war. It was disturbing. It was supposed to be. No doubt these a-holes in Virginia are the same folks who love to call liberals "snowflakes." Who is the f-ing snowflake now? (Great reading list, btw)
I loved "Beloved" when I read it many years ago. I should probably read it again. The one good thing that comes from these ridiculous campaigns against books is that they raise the profiles of all the novels being questioned. Who knows how many people out there are buying "Beloved" because they want to see what all the fuss is about?
Elizabeth, I don't know why I am still amazed by such deliberate ignorance. I wonder if Ms. Murphy and others like her have read the whole book (and frankly, it's a good thing that it gave her high-school aged son nightmares). A long time ago when I was standing in line to see The Last Temptation of Christ, very controversial at the time, a young man carrying pamphlets made his way through the line urging us not to see this movie for various religious I-know-better-than-you reasons. I asked him if he had seen the movie and he answered, "Not personally, no." What are people so afraid will happen if they educate themselves? I said to the young man, "The only way to see a movie IS personally." But he was young and he didn't understand. Which is exactly why he should have seen the movie and made up his own mind before he cruised through a line of movie-goers peddling someone else's opinion.
Thanks for writing about this. I've been on a news purge lately and did not know. Your reading list is inspiring.
Those with tiny, frightened minds have always wanted to prevent any sort of beauty or truth that might interfere with their narrow closet of thought and belief.
Thank you so much for your book list for 2021. There is no book that would come before Beloved on a list of books that marked turning points in my life, although There, There, by Tommy Orange stands next to it. And To The Lighthouse. And The Mountains Sing, by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.
Beloved is extraordinary. At the other end of the spectrum I’ve always hated Catcher in the Rye. But I know that because I read it. I better stop now because I feel a rant coming on.
If there's anything that excites me when I'm reading someone's blog, it's a list of the books they've read. Should I assume you would recommend all of them, too, as worth reading or at least giving a chance to? I don't read every book I order from the library; not by a long shot. Most times my interest has been piqued by an author interview on one of the radio programs I listen to regularly; but often what the authors have to say about their books is more exciting or inspiring than the books they've written. I'm disappointed a lot of the time. Thank goodness I haven't purchased the books, much as I wish I could afford to support writers financially. -Kate
In high school we read (I think this is the title) Johnny Got His Gun, about a young man who had lost all his limbs in war and was lying in a hospital bed asking all the hard questions about what his life now meant, and challenging the reader to think of the horrors of war. It was disturbing. It was supposed to be. No doubt these a-holes in Virginia are the same folks who love to call liberals "snowflakes." Who is the f-ing snowflake now? (Great reading list, btw)
I loved "Beloved" when I read it many years ago. I should probably read it again. The one good thing that comes from these ridiculous campaigns against books is that they raise the profiles of all the novels being questioned. Who knows how many people out there are buying "Beloved" because they want to see what all the fuss is about?
By the way, "Hell of a Book" is a great title!
Elizabeth, I don't know why I am still amazed by such deliberate ignorance. I wonder if Ms. Murphy and others like her have read the whole book (and frankly, it's a good thing that it gave her high-school aged son nightmares). A long time ago when I was standing in line to see The Last Temptation of Christ, very controversial at the time, a young man carrying pamphlets made his way through the line urging us not to see this movie for various religious I-know-better-than-you reasons. I asked him if he had seen the movie and he answered, "Not personally, no." What are people so afraid will happen if they educate themselves? I said to the young man, "The only way to see a movie IS personally." But he was young and he didn't understand. Which is exactly why he should have seen the movie and made up his own mind before he cruised through a line of movie-goers peddling someone else's opinion.
Thanks for writing about this. I've been on a news purge lately and did not know. Your reading list is inspiring.
Those with tiny, frightened minds have always wanted to prevent any sort of beauty or truth that might interfere with their narrow closet of thought and belief.
I just the news about Virginia and "Beloved". WTF! It never ends.
I took a class on Toni Morrison in college and it was such a gift to spend a semester immersed in her books.
We read Elie Wiesel in high school. Literature like these books are a gift to our humanity.
Thank you so much for your book list for 2021. There is no book that would come before Beloved on a list of books that marked turning points in my life, although There, There, by Tommy Orange stands next to it. And To The Lighthouse. And The Mountains Sing, by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai.
Beloved is extraordinary. At the other end of the spectrum I’ve always hated Catcher in the Rye. But I know that because I read it. I better stop now because I feel a rant coming on.
If there's anything that excites me when I'm reading someone's blog, it's a list of the books they've read. Should I assume you would recommend all of them, too, as worth reading or at least giving a chance to? I don't read every book I order from the library; not by a long shot. Most times my interest has been piqued by an author interview on one of the radio programs I listen to regularly; but often what the authors have to say about their books is more exciting or inspiring than the books they've written. I'm disappointed a lot of the time. Thank goodness I haven't purchased the books, much as I wish I could afford to support writers financially. -Kate