Yup. You betcha. I love banned books. Some of my personal favorites include Lolita, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Lysistrata, Fahrenheit 451, Silas Marner and The Grapes of Wrath. Why am I bringing these up now with Banned Books Week not starting until Saturday, September 29? Because our new content doesn’t go up until the evening of the day after it begins and I don’t want BiblioBuffet’s readers to miss even one day of it.

So this week go pick up a book that has been banned at least once and read it. I don’t care if it’s a children’s book or an adult one, if it’s two hundred years old or two days, if it’s long or short, if it’s fiction or nonfiction. Read it, and while you are reading it ask yourself some questions that begin with why. Ascertain the answers through the pages. Determine your feelings about the book, and explore how those conflict with those who would remove that book from your life.

Is book censorship a real danger in 21st century America? Emphatically yes! It alarms me to see how listless many people seem to be about important American freedoms being slowly and silently whittled away by secretive “security” concerns cloaked in alleged protection armor. The freedom to read freely is one of them, and whether those who would ban or censor books by claiming they know better or more than me is outrageous. What a shame it is that this country needs a Banned Books Week to remind us of this subtle danger, but as long as it does I will be one of the voices for it. I hope you will too.

Why would we want to re-read books (banned or not) in the first place? Henry Carrigan takes a look at a new book by literary critic Sven Birkerts in Readings, in which Birkerts writes not only about the books he re-reads, but the reasons: “a re-establishing of a connection with a set of scenarios . . . prompted by some flaming up of memory, by a longing to be immersed again in a feeling that we know was important . . .” 

BiblioBuffet goes international! Our newest contributor, Amanda Joseph of Perth, Australia, begins by introducing herself in her column, Rants and Raves From Down Under. In her essay, she notes that her library “marks my development like etchings on a wall,” and calls books her “mentors.” Welcome, Amanda.

In A Walk Through My Bookshelves, Paul Clark takes a look back in time to the era of hardboiled mysteries with Blue City, a book that today may be mostly relegated to the dusty lower shelves of used bookstores. A shame if that’s the case because as un-literary as it may be, he intrigued me enough to search out his edition with its amusing cover and spend a couple of hours buried in the simple world of might and right.

A love and genuine talent for poetry characterizes Frank Roberts who often shares his poems with BiblioBuffet’s readers in Bibliopinions. This week, he shares am intriguing form of poetry called a sestina. His comments on the poem are as interesting as the poem itself.

Anne Michael, in Seasoned Lightly, takes an involuntary week off from readings, but fortunately finds her inspiration in chocolate. Thanks to her so will BiblioBuffet’s readers. 

Laine Farley takes a look at two bookmark exhibits—one resulting from a well-known contest called Bookmark V (this being its fifth year), the other a special exhibition in Belgium. When she sent the accompanying images, I was thrilled to see I own one of them, a French train. Links are provided so feel free to indulge yourself in the world of On Marking Books.

Just in case your bookshelves are not stuffed to overflowing I wanted to share a site that offers you the opportunity to create a paper reproduction of the Globe Theatre. It is historically accurate, not an easy task since there were actually three Globe Theatre buildings. What you get here is probably what the Globe looked like around the time Shakespeare’s plays were being presented (1599-1608).

For information on what is happening at today’s Globe Theatre, see this site. It has a fascinating history—the man who started it was an American—and fantastic offerings, which make me wish I lived in London.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren