Bookie Mee » banned

ALA Banned Books Week 2009

mee — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:37:35 +0000

I should mention it. September 26 to October 3, 2009 is ALA Banned Books week. I soo soo love the poster above. I tried to order the shirt, but they only do US shipping :(

Freedom to read is something that I surely take for granted for time to time, since I am now living in a country where it’s so much freer than where my family lived before. To think that my own father at one time had to burn all his Chinese books because Indonesian government forbade everything Chinese — no Chinese school, no Chinese characters, and definitely no Chinese books. Whoever caught for possessing them was going to be in big trouble. He still talks about it sometimes, how he had to run home one day, gather all his books, and burn them down. He always loves books. I can’t imagine how heartbroken he must’ve been. I can’t imagine if I’m ever forced to burn my books!

It’s good to step back to think, how lucky I am now to live in such a free country when there are so many places in this world where freedom to read is not appreciated, or non-existent in extreme cases. How lucky I am to have such abundant resources of books. I can go to the nearest library whenever I want and choose any books out of thousands. To think that I have lived in a country where reading resources was so limited that at one time I thought I had finished reading the whole library, therefore stopped going — and in effect, stopped reading.

I just rekindled my love of reading a few years ago, after a long journey of adapting and searching (Can you believe the average number of books I read between 2003 and 2006 was 6 per year? Before that, for many years, something close to zero). That explains my insatiable hunger to read now. Books after books, world after world. Oh, the possibilities! The knowledge! I can’t believe there’s so much I’d been missing!

ps: As a bonus, I just found out that I am currently reading a book that has been banned/challenged in 2008-2009 (pdf file). It’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire — apparently banned for sexual content.

I also joined Banned Book Challenge 2009 earlier this year (March-June). I read four books: The Color Purple, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For last year Banned Books Week I read Forever by Judy Blume. Loved them all, of course :).

Are you reading any banned books in celebration?

End of Banned Book Challenge 2009

mee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:06:25 +0000

I joined Banned Book Challenge 2009 by Pelham Public Library in March and it ended on 30th June 2009.

I vowed to read 2 books and managed to read 4. So yes I’m happy with myself :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (finished 03/09, rating 5/5)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (finished 04/09, rating 4.5/5)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (finished 04/09, rating 4/5)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (finished 04/09, rating 4.5/5)

I loved all the books I read for this challenge! Surely some have better ratings than others, but really, all in all, they’re a very good bunch.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

mee — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:00:32 +0000

A Thousand Splendid Suns is Khaled Hosseini’s second novel, the first being The Kite Runner, which I did read last year. If you loved The Kite Runner, you’d love this book. I think they are about the same level. In fact, I had some dejavu while reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Both are set in Kabul around 1970s. Though this book tells more chronological events that happened in Afghanistan, the Soviet attack, the civil wars, the Taliban, US intervention, etc.

This book tells the story of two women. The first part tells the story of Mariam, a harami, illegitimate child. The second part, Laila, a child of an educated man, though defeated by the war, and a very sad mother. The book consists of 4 parts. Third part is when their paths meet.

Now I was a bit skeptical when I found out the story is told from two views. I’m not a fan of multiple perspectives in book. It makes me very aware that I’m reading fiction and makes the characters more distant too (since you have to divide your attention and care to more than one character). At the end I thought the double perspectives was okay. It’s probably necessary if you have two main characters and not one.

There are more things that made me very aware that I was reading fiction. I found some details were a bit unbelievable. Like how someone could be severely beaten and left without water or food for three days and still alive. How someone could be having a Caesarean section without anesthetic and still alive. But who knows, perhaps body of a human being could endure far worse than we imagine.

I thought the end was a bit too neat and too happy. Again, fiction. But hey, it’s informative and enjoyable (as a book). It provides some details and timeline about what happened in Afghanistan, about women’s life in that part of the world, their struggles and suffering as women. A good book for armchair traveller. I have teared up at some points in the book, though at some other points I thought it’s being overly melancholy or melodramatic. Well in many ways, A Thousand Splendid Suns invoked the same feelings I had for The Kite Runner. Some good, some bad, but the final tally is still pretty good.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Pages: 372
Publication year: 2007

Award
2008 Richard&Judy Best Read of the Year [source: Galaxy British Book Awards]

First line
Mariam was five years old the first time she heard the word harami.

Last line
Because, if it’s a girl, Laila has already named her.

Also reviewed by

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

mee — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:09:48 +0000

The story in The Color Purple is told through a series of diary entries and letters. Somehow this worked well for me, since I could have short attention span sometimes, and reading diary entry or letter means it’s hardly longer than 2-3 pages at a time. The narrator, Celie, is a black woman who lives in 1930s in Southern United States. Since the diary entries are all Celie’s, the book is practically told in dialect, something that resembles “broken English”. It took some pages getting used to, but I got it pretty soon.

Celie is a poor uneducated woman who, at fourteen, repeatedly raped by a man she calls Pa and impregnated twice. The children were taken away from her and she was forced into marriage with a man who’s equally abusive. The only person she loves, her sister names Nettie, was separated from her. Later on the letters in the books are recorded from both Celie and Nettie, even though each doesn’t know if the other would read it.

The Color Purple discusses issues of degradation, poverty, sexism, racism, abuse, lesbianism (things in book that usually get banned..) But also about friendship, God, hope, and empowerment. I’m most interested in the relationships of the women in the book. From wife, mistress, ex-wife, girlfriend, step mom/daughter, sister, to nanny. The men are mostly portrayed as abusive, and therefore these women have at least something in common so they stick together and watch each other, even though it sometimes doesn’t start very smooth at the beginning.

I like the narration, how it feels so honest and down-to-earth, because the narrator, well, is a simple person. I get to like the simplicity of Celie’s observation of the world, her opinions and views about things, how she just hopes for the best and does everything she can to survive. The book is not at all heavy, but it’s touching and heartbreaking. I teared up at the end.

I think The Color Purple is a very important book. It touches on important issues without being preachy. It opens your eyes to ways of people’s lives that you may not be familiar about. At the end of the book, you’d feel that you are privileged to be allowed a glimpse into these amazing people’s lives. That they’re really alive somewhere, flesh and blood, and not just characters in a fiction book, which brings me to share the interesting dedication from Alice Walker at the beginning of the book:

To the Spirit:
Without whose assistance
Neither this book
Nor I
Would have been
Written

and at the end:

I thank everybody in this book for coming.
A. W., author and medium

She’s a medium, really? I would have believed her. The characters were so real, it is as if they were coming as spirits to her.

The Color Purple is one of the most frequently challenged book according to ALA because of its explicit content. It’s no. 6 in the top 10 of most challenged book of 2007 with reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language. I’m reading this for Banned Book challenge 2009 (and other challenges). Just a note from me, I don’t think the book is over-the-top sexually explicit apart from the very first page. It’s sort of started like an explosion, but calmed down more after that. And now that I think about it, there wasn’t any offensive language that I could remember of. It’s just that I can easily think of other books that contain more sexual content and offensive language that are not banned. I guess people are wary about the whole topic more than anything else.

Memorable Quotes

“But it ain’t easy, trying to do without God. Even if you know he ain’t there, trying to do without him is a strain.” ~ Celie, p174

“… have you ever found God in a church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in a church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.” ~ Shug, p174

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” ~ Shug, p177

“People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back. … It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.” ~ Shug, p177

“Not if it make us crazy. It hard enough to git by without being a fool.” ~ Sofia, on Reefer, p198

“Now. Is this life or not? I be so calm. If she come, I be happy. If she don’t, I be content. And then I figure this the lesson I was suppose to learn.” ~ Celie, p257

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Pages: 261
Publication year: 1982

Awards
1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award

First line
You better not never tell nobody but God.

Last line
Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.

Also reviewed by

Banned Book Challenge 2009

mee — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:23:53 +0000

Rules: Set a challenge for yourself to read x number of challenged or banned books

Duration: 22 February 2009 to 30 June 2009

I’m joining the Banned Book Challenge 2009, hosted by the Pelham Public Library. This is their third annual event. Banned books always intrigue me and I can set up any number of books myself. Since I vowed not to join any challenge that requires me to read more books than 2, I can be in for this one!

I just started reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 2 minutes ago, so I just need to pick another book for this challenge. I’ll take notes if I read more banned books until the end of the challenge.

1) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (finished 03/09, rating 5/5)
2) The Color Purple by Alice Walker (finished 04/09, rating 4.5/5)
3) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (finished 04/09, rating 4/5)
4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (finished 04/09, rating 4.5/5)

The suggested reading list for 2009

Forever by Judy Blume

mee — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:13:09 +0000

Like I said last week, I was going to read Forever by Judy Blume in celebration of Banned Book Week.

Forever is a teenager love story between Katherine and Michael, who grow to love each other, and once they’ve decided their love is forever, they make love. If you remember how it feels to be 17 and in love, it’s funny how various remarks sound so familiar. “It’s serious between us!” “Why do I have to think about how it would end?” “This is the real stuff!”

I can imagine how parents could get so edgy about the book, since it contains sexual discussions, issues, and scenes among teenagers. But hey, if you close your eyes, it doesn’t mean things are not happening right? As long as it’s done safely, responsibly, and with all consequences known. But who am I to say. I haven’t got any kids :)

**spoilers ahead**

I’m somehow a bit disappointed about how easy it is for Katherine to forget Michael. I guess when you’re that age, forever is really too long. It’s probably what happens to most teenagers, although it didn’t happen that way for me.

The top cover is the one I read, but I quite like this second cover on the side.

Pages: 155
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

First line
Sybil Davison has a genius I.Q. and has been laid by at least six different guys.

Last line
‘Theo called.’

Also reviewed by
Lost in a good story

ps: Okay, something weird happened. I just checked that the links to banned book week and ALA banned book site are no longer accessible. Is it from Singapore only? *puzzled* It says: You are not authorized to view this page. and Forbidden. You don’t have permission to access / on this server. What the hell?

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

mee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:57:24 +0000

This book is on International ray. I got it from taniazed, Australia, and will travel next to Wandering-B, Hong Kong. It had 8 journalers before me. I also read it for the discussion at thereadinglounge.com

I got really annoyed at the beginning of how much the main character (a 16 years old kid) use damn, goddamn, and “… and all”. Not because they’re damn swear words. It’s just that he used it too goddamn much and all. You know the voice in your head when you read and all? I needed to change it to a certain damn pitch. A 16 years old with goddamn thick old American accent. Otherwise I would get goddamn annoyed as hell. After a while his “voice” stuck in my head though and I got through the novel more easily :)

I had no idea what the book was about when I first started, so I had no expectation whatsoever. Do you see the white cover there? That’s exactly how the book is. No blurb at the back cover or anything. I kept waiting for something to happen but nothing did. After a few chapters I just enjoyed the boy’s musings and observations of everything around him and things happened in his life. They’re brutally honest and often downright funny.

My favorite part is probably when Holden (that’s the main character’s name) told a story about his roommate that had a cheap suitcase. How he said people with uglier suitcase depressed the hell out of him.

“At first he only used to be kidding when he called my stuff bourgeois, and I didn’t give a damn- it was sort of funny, in fact. Then, after a while, you could tell he wasn’t kidding any more. The thing is, it’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs- if yours are really good ones and theirs aren’t. You think if they’re intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor, that they don’t give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do. They really do. It’s one of the reasons why I roomed with a stupid bastard like Stradlater. At least his suitcases were as good as mine.” ~ chapter 15 pg109

I can’t explain why I like this part. Maybe because he’s innocently honest. Things that we don’t want to admit as adults. It’s social strata, starting right there. It’s there and even if you pretend it’s not.

I also found it interesting that the whole book just covered about 2 days. It felt like a lot of time had passed for Holden. Or like how he’d say it, it’s like 50 million years had passed lol.

Ratings: 3.5 out of 5
As good as the book is, Holden’s experience is not something I can relate to. I wasn’t born in New York 1950s. I was born in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. If I had decided to run away from home as a teenager and roam around in streets and cheap hotel, somebody probably would’ve stolen my kidney and sold me to beggar pimp or something. Holden is a spoiled brat. The number of times he took cabs and referred to how he “felt like” or “didn’t feel like” to do stuff almost drove me crazy. But I guess any reader would agree that this main character is not exactly likeable :)

More Quotes

“The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they’ll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don’t like him, no matter how nice a guy he is, or how big an inferiority complex he has, they’ll say he’s conceited. Even smart girls do it.” ~ Holden, pg136

“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” ~ pg188

Bookie Mee » banned

ALA Banned Books Week 2009

End of Banned Book Challenge 2009

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

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Suggested Further Reading by Bloomsbury

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Memorable Quotes

Also reviewed by

Banned Book Challenge 2009

Forever by Judy Blume

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

More Quotes