Banned Book Week is here! Please check out the giveaways happening around the blogs – and here! Enter the post page here and find all the current giveaways and banned book posts!
*Note: Commenting on any of my banned book related posts this week will enter you into my giveaway. (one entry per relevant comment)
This is a sticky post. All current posts are below – this post will remain on top during banned books week.
The air is starting to hold a chill and the leaves are starting their last hurrah… and yes, Banned Book Week is approaching fast. For the fourth year in a row I will be hosting one of my favorite reading events – Banned Book Week.
So Sheila, what exactly do you mean by banned books?
Thank you for asking! Banned Books are books that have been challenged to be removed from a location – ie… Library, school, book stores, etc… because someone believes that the book is unsuitable for many reasons: language, subject material, graphic, sexual, suggestive, you name it – someone will try to ban or challenge it.
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.
You would be shocked. I was! We are talking (and this is just to name a few…)
Charlotte’s Web (talking animals int he work of Satan!)
Lord Of The Rings (Satanic!)
The Harry Potter Books (Witchcraft!)
Huckleberry Finn (language!)
Tom and Huck (boys behaving badly!)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Use of the “N” word)
Fahrenheit 451 (for _get this- burning of books and banning people from reading)
Hunger Games (kids killing kids)
Little Red Riding Hood (the cover appears that “Red” just might have wine in that basket for Grandma)
It would actually be funny if it were not true. The list goes on and on including most of our classics. Here is a more extensive list of some of the top banned books through the years.
There are some amazing reads on this list. For the past 4 years I have dedicated Banned Book Week to only read banned books and because of that I have read some great classics, re-read some childhood favorites, and explored new books to me as well.
Do not get me wrong – being pro-banned books does not mean that I want to read every banned book. For instance, I have no interest whatsoever to read 50 Shades Of Gray. However, I do not have the right to say that because I choose not to read it that no one can. That is the difference.
As in the past years, I am looking for awesome people like you to join me during September 21 – 27 to either: share a favorite banned book post, read and review a banned book, write a post about why banning is wrong or a personal experience with a banned book in your area, etc… Sign up below and I will connect with you on the day that you are willing to post. Banned Book Awareness is a great way to explore amazing reads and remind us that we have the freedom to read what we choose.
There are lists of Banned Books everywhere and I have yet to find an amazing all inclusive one, but here are a few areas to look for a list so your Banned Book Reading Week:
List Of Books Banned By Governments
Frequently Challenged Classics
Banned Books That Shaped America
I hope you will join me! I will have a banned book post up every day and off the top of my head I believe I will be reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, In Cold Blood (our book club read for October), and I have always wanted to read Lord Of The Flies.
Did you know that one-third of your day is on auto pilot? And I don’t mean when we are sleeping. I mean when we are working, working out, cleaning, eating… and yes – driving. Jeremy Dean explains why habits are so hard to break, but not impossible. This book is how to take charge of our brain and make it stick, resulting in a happier, healthier, more creative and productive you.
Honestly…. I have been listening to this audio off and on for so long now I do not even recall why I first wanted to listen to it. I believe it was because I find the human psyche to be fascinating. What makes us tick? Why do some think it is ok to do the things they do (thus my interest in true crime), and why do some of us work so hard to do good and others really do not care…
Habits, I guess are one of the things that interest me. Why is my routine to get up around 6 am each morning 7 days a week, grab my coffee and merge with my lap top for at least an hour? Why do I not instead put on some pounding music, and hit the downstairs treadmill right away for 30 minutes as I wish I would do? Why do I constantly notice what time it is in the morning and say “Oh crap!” And run to get ready for my day?
And I know this isn’t just me…. we all have our routines/habits and some are good – kudos to you that do get up and take a morning walk consistently or hit the gym… you are my heroes and I strive to be you! But maybe some of us have trouble rolling out of bed by 9?
While the book gives good advice on how to break a habit and the research is well laid out and even fascinating, I did not come out the other side feeling I had learned anything I did not already know or if I did not know, once I heard it thought it was common sense. While interesting, probably not a book I need to listen to again.
And yeah…. I still get up at 6 am and drink my coffee and putz on my laptop and ignore my treadmill.
GAH. 😉
Happy Saturday! Another week has flown by! This week I have been working in my office on rewrites, research, a couple of days dedicated to the baskets for the auction next Friday prep,Book club and an author event, and I spent some time extracting honey. Yup honey.
For this weeks Saturday Snapshot and Weekend Cooking I thought I would share some pictures of the amazing process of honey extracting.
My friend Amanda started raising bees a little over three years ago. The fun thing about her story is that she is pretty much self taught between books (yay books!) she purchased at our local book store and You Tube Videos. What started out as a hobby has grown into a full grown commercial bee business from rearing her own queens, splitting hives, providing bee nucs for other companies (pretty much a bee starter kit), pollinating almond trees in California – and of course producing and selling honey.
Her business, Buck’s Busy Bee’s has grown exponentially and as of this fall she will have over 2,000 hives.
A few months ago I was contracted to write her story for our local magazine Her Voice. That article came out this week but unfortunately while in magazine format, has not yet been put on line so I am unable to link to it.
I have helped Amanda off and on through the years from going into the hives, to building the frames that go into the boxes they live in, to harvesting honey, and now most recently; extracting the honey. When giving my notice recently to invest more time into the writing opportunities that are coming in, Amanda asked me if I would want to assist her with the bees when I am able to.
Uhhh…. YES.
I really do enjoy learning about the bees and this is the final push before the bees are trucked off to the warmer states – Florida and California where they will spend their days in the sun, probably in the next 5 weeks or so. Amanda’s husband owns a trucking company so he takes the bees to their warmer destination as they do not do well in the cold Minnesota winters. Lucky bees!
So here is the process:
Each host home, (a home that has given space for there to be hives on the property) will receive a case of honey as a thank you. The rest of the honey will first go on sale at the Little Falls Craft Fair which is the 6th and 7th of September and after that what is left will be on sale on her website.
It really is a fascinating process and who knows… maybe someday I will write a book about bee keeping, or have a bee keeper character in it. 😉
This post is a part of Saturday Snapshot where people all over the world post pictures of what they are doing, or what they have done in the past. It’s great fun so pop on over to West Metro Mommy Reads and see what others are taking pictures of 🙂 I am also linking this to Weekend Cooking found over at Beth Fish Reads because this is kind of a foodie post too 🙂
A few days ago I posted my thoughts on Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. Last night, the Bookies Book Club met for pizza and reviewed this book as well and then followed up by seeing the author speak.
The whole Orphan Train experience has been fun. First, our Book Club won the books from a Harper Collins on line contest. Then our Library secured her to come and speak in our town, AND it just happened to be on the day our book club normally meets AND happens to be the Bookies Anniversary month (13 years!), it sounded like a fun night.
When we went to see the author of Orphan Train speak we were in for a real treat. Christina Baker Kline was a delight to listen to. She put an impressive amount of research into the book, fueled on to the topic as her husband’s grandfather was an orphan on the train.
When Christina asked the audience if anyone knew someone who had been on an orphan train, a third of the rooms hands shot up. Wow.
As you can see, Minnesota was one of the higher states as far as the count of orphans were that road the trains. It was sad to learn that only 30% of the children were orphans. Many were abandoned, and some were even taken. Christina said that you did not want your children outside after dark for fear that they be snatched and put on the trains.
The children mainly were between the ages between 2 and 14. Preferred were boys between the ages of 9 and 14 as they were handy to use on the farms and they could sleep in the barn. Babies were the next in demand and these trains of babies were called Mercy Trains. The hardest to place were girls as they could not do the physical labor that was needed and they were more underfoot as girls did not sleep in the barns but in the homes instead. Harder yet to place, Christina said, was red heads. No one wanted red headed children or children with freckles. Christina had articles where they specifically said they do not want any red headed children claiming that they were more prone to disobeying and fights.
Most of the children were not adopted by the families that took them in. Adoption meant inheritance and people did not want these children to inherit their lands. They were chosen and signed for with very little paper work – and yes, like in the book Orphan Train, some were abused.
The trains ran from 1854 – 1929. Over that time more than 100,000 children were placed in homes – many with no records of who they were or where they came from. Christina had documented conversations with some of the Orphan Train riders she had spoke with and even though the survivors are now in their later 90’s, they still say they always felt something was missing – while they may have been placed in good homes, they still felt somewhat disconnected and knew that “these were not my people.”
When Christina first started her research she was able to connect with around 60 Orphan Train Riders. Now she said there is about 25 left in the world, and it is their descendants that have picked up the torch to carry on the research and the questions yet unanswered.
The Bookies overall rated the book a strong 4 out of 5. Most of us really enjoyed the historical fiction mixed with fact. Following up with the author event was a real treat and for me, has left a need to know more. This will not be my last look into the Orphan Train. Thank you Christina Baker Kline for opening our eyes to such an important part of our history.
Do you know anyone who has ridden the orphan trains?
I am home. Wiped out. Tired. Lots to do. Home.
Friday I drove with my friend Amy to a hotel in the cities to meet up with Jennifer and Jody, the other two girls that we were doing the mud run in Wisconsin with on Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun and I will have pics up later of the mud run – we use old school disposable camera’s because.. well it’s mud. And lots of water we jump in, swim in… and well, more mud.
Then… after the Mud Run we drove to Shakopee Minnesota to drop Amy off with friends for Canterbury Downs (horse races!) and I hurried home to shower, change, pack, and head to Crosslake Minnesota for day two of the Camp Benedict AIDS bike ride. I did not ride as I had missed day one and did not want to have my car and bike and have to figure out how to get the car back home, 40 miles away. I did go to cheer on the riders and spend time with friends. I was tired but it was good to catch up with everyone and I seen them off this morning as they started their ride.
So now I am home and need to get in my office and get some work done. I have work to do on the book and I need as much time as possible in the office this week to make the deadline coming up. Here are the books that came in the house the past two weeks:
I was out of town last weekend so did not put a post up – but lots of goodies have come in the door!
A full house here but books make me smile 🙂 Hope the rest of your Sunday is wonderful!
Recently I was at our cabin on the North Shore, right off Lake Superior. It is a 3 1/2 hours from our home… a jaunt by any account but one that is worth it. Once there – I am out of internet and cell phone range. It usually winds up being quite the reading time.
Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf was one of the books I enjoy during this last trip. I have read Heather before and enjoyed her writing very much. This latest book, makes for GOOD Summer Reading! I picked the book up in the sunny afternoon and I did not stop until I closed the last page that evening.
About Little Mercies
In her latest ripped-from-the-headlines tour de force, New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf shows how one small mistake can have life-altering consequences…
Veteran social worker Ellen Moore has seen the worst side of humanity—the vilest acts one person can commit against another. She is a fiercely dedicated children’s advocate and a devoted mother and wife. But one blistering summer day, a simple moment of distraction will have repercussions that Ellen could never have imagined, threatening to shatter everything she holds dear, and trapping her between the gears of the system she works for.
Meanwhile, ten-year-old Jenny Briard has been living with her well-meaning but irresponsible father since her mother left them, sleeping on friends’ couches and moving in and out of cheap motels. When Jenny suddenly finds herself on her own, she is forced to survive with nothing but a few dollars and her street smarts. The last thing she wants is a social worker, but when Ellen’s and Jenny’s lives collide, little do they know just how much they can help one another.
A powerful and emotionally charged tale about motherhood and justice, Little Mercies is a searing portrait of the tenuous grasp we have on the things we love the most, and of the ties that unexpectedly bring us together.
I have an opportunity working with Harlequin, to offer to one commenter a chance to win a Little Mercies Bundle (*SQUUUEEEEE!*) The bundle includes: Little Mercies, The Weight Of Silence, and These Things Hidden. Leave a comment here on what you like to get out of your Summer Reading (thrillers, fantasy, beach reads, lite lit…)
Follow Heather Gudenkauf on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest
· Visit Little Mercies page on Goodreads
Well holy smokes! This is my 3,000 post. Is that not just crazy? Certainly a monumental post like this can not go by without some sort of hoopla…. you know how I like to celebrate! 🙂
This post actually falls into a spot I was planning to chat about on-line book relationships vs. face to face (ie. Book Clubs. reading groups, book studies…) and I am going to go ahead with it as I think it is a very worthy discussion for our friend, “Post 3000”.
Credit for the idea behind this post goes to Rita of My Home Of Books. She recently wrote a post about book clubs and within her post she asked the question
If you have a solid on line presence with a large network surrounding your book related topics, do you find it necessary to also be in a book club?
This is the question that started me thinking, as I love my online discussions about books but I also love love my face to face book club and I personally would not want to give either up. Them’s fightin’ words.
But… that’s me.
What started me thinking was if an online presence around books can replace that face to face feeling. I personally would hope that it would not need to, but as I have heard from many of you through the years, finding a face to face book group is not always easy to do.
If you are reading book blogs and reading books suggested, or have already read a book that is being discussed, do you then join in the discussion?
I think if you are participating in active commenting on bookish topics you are simulating a “book discussion” and if that is all that is available to you for numerous reasons –
Then certainly – get your book on that way and YAY that you do! There are a smorgasbord of book sites out there for everyone’s tastes and many times you can find your favorite publishing houses on Twitter and FACEBOOK (by all means Friend them – they have great conversations and many times they have giveaways too!)
However…. (and this is where the discussion could get interesting 😉 ) I personally feel that face to face book relationships can stimulate a deeper connection to people and to books. Let me explain:
While it can certainly be AWESOME to discuss a book on-line either gush worthy or “hated it!” It is hard to get the real emotion that went into the read to come out in an online discussion. Sure, I can say a book made me cry – but how does that replace sitting in a room together and hearing my voice crack when I say ” __________________’s break up with __________________ made my sob as though it was happening to me.”
Also, on-line it is hard to keep the conversation flowing at a rate that is satisfying to either party. Sure I (or anyone) can write a review and you can comment. Then at some point later I many read your comment and respond, and sometime later yet you may (or maybe you don’t) come back, see my response and then you comment again. It’s a bumpy conversation.
Obviously I love on-line book conversations or this post 3,000 (echo when you say it – its cool….. 3,000, 3,000, 3,000…) would not be happening. And I love visiting other blogger book sites and chatting books with them too. I also love face to face book encounters and would like to give suggestions of how you can make that happen or find a fit that works for you:
Please – I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.
Do you think that on-line book relationships can replace face to face ones?
Do you feel some can effectively do it all – discuss on-line books topics well and face to face encounters too? Should they?
Do you have other suggestions for finding face to face book discussions for people looking?
Is this just a crazy discussion and post #3,000 is a weak attempt to engage people in book chats? 😉
Please share your thoughts – I did mention a giveaway – Leave a relevant comment here on this post between now and Thursday June 26th and I will enter you into a giveaway for a $10 Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card – winners choice. One entry per comment. If you “Tweet” about this giveaway and post and put the tweet link in a comment space I will give you two additional entries.
(just click the “Tweet” button at the bottom of the post.)
I just purchased a book I was pretty excited about. So excited in fact, that as soon as I was out of the book store I took a picture of the book and put it on Twitter:
Shortly after my return home with my purchase, I was reading on line and discovered an article on The Slate Book Review called AGAINST YA,
with a tag line that reads,
Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you’re reading was written for children.
According to Ruth Graham, author of this *set my soul on fire* article, states that as adults we are better than this.
YA character’s are emotionally amplified. ~ Sheila-age 40 something 😉
Over to you. Do you read YA books? Why or why not? If you do, what do you think draws you to them? How do you think YA compares today to previous generations?
Holy smokes??? 5 Years! I never thought that when I started this “on-line book journal” (that’s what I thought I was doing in the beginning), that it would take me on this AMAZING adventure ride! This year I would like to list a few things that have changed in my life in the past 5 years mainly due to this little project website I call Book Journey:
Non of this would have happened without Book Journey. Sure, pre-Book Journey I was a reader, but nowhere near to this extent or involvement. I think those of you who have book blogged for a while can relate to what I mean. 🙂 For this… all of the above… I am so grateful.
Enough about me. This blogiversary is really my celebration of YOU! The readers! Because seriously… as much as I enjoy talking books… I LOVE LOVE LOVE talking about them with you. I love your comments, your questions, your occasional emails, and honestly… I love it when I see Book Journey on your sidebars (if you blog) – to this day it gives me a little “SQQQUUEEEE” inside that you enjoy reading my crazy ramblings here enough to add me so others may come visit too. You are what makes Book Journey a well…. Book Journey. You are why I get up in the morning with COFFEE CUP and turn on my laptop and share with you the inner workings of my day, life, work, wins and fails, and the books I am reading.
For today only, as in past years… I offer up a set of giveaways. A few of these books are duplicates from the expo, many are from my personal stash. I will add what is in each group shortly here – right now I just want to get this post up (I meant to write this last night but instead went with a friend to the movie Fault In Our Stars, then out for appetizers and to chat and got home after midnight. *oops* 😉 Winners will be announced tomorrow morning – Sunday June 8th.
As per tradition,
For those of you who have come to my party the last few years, the basics are pretty much the same… to be entered for the great giveaways (pictured above), simply leave me a comment here telling me how you traveled to the party, and what virtual gift or food item you brought with you: For example, you may have come by freight train to the party and brought with you Twinkies … (really be as crazy as you want… I love the fun imaginative comments!) For a little bonus if you would like to share how long we have known each other (blog or otherwise) and if you are brand new to the house of Book Journey – feel free to share that too! I love new friends!
