Banned Book Week 2015

| September 27, 2015

What is so important about the last week of September? No, it isn’t because National Crush a Can Day or National Chocolate Milk Day are on September 27. Though both of these days are important, the last week of September is Banned Book Week in the United States. Banned Book Week is a week-long celebration of the book community’s freedom to read. During this week libraries, authors, publishers, bibliophiles, and booksellers join together to push people to read books that have either been banned or challenged throughout the US.

Who challenges books and on what grounds?

Books are challenged by people or groups based on the opinions of the people or the group. Their objections consist of sexual content, explicit language, and/or violence (to name a few). To challenge a book means a person or group tries to restrict access to the book.

A banned book is a book that has been removed from the shelves of the library or bookstores because the challenges against the content of the book are numerous.

Thankfully, most challenges do not get reported because librarians, students, parents, and other bibliophiles fight the challenge because restricting access to books goes against our First Amendment rights. For more information on Banned Book Week, please visit the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association.

What I’m reading for Banned Book Week

For 2015, I am reading The Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It has been one of the most censored books because of vulgar language, blasphemy, sexual interactions, underage drinking and smoking. I am also reading it again because I quit reading it in high school when it was assigned to me to read. Please see my book review in which I compare my feelings of the book when I read it, or what little of it I read, in high school to how I feel now when reading it as an adult nearly 20 years after my high school teacher assigned it to read.

What banned or challenged book do you plan to read for Banned Book Week, and why do you want to read it? Please tell me in the comments below.

Book Review: The Last Bookaneer

| April 15, 2015

The Last Bookaneer

Title: The Last Bookaneer
Author: Matthew Pearl
Publication: New York: Penguin Press, 2015.
Description: 400 pages
Price: U.S. $27.95 / Canada $32.95
ISBN: 978-1-59420-492-0

In the late 1890s, governments around the world began to tighten their copyright laws. The Last Bookaneer is a fictional tale about the fight between two bookaneers struggling to obtain the last manuscript written by Robert Louis Stevenson in order to publish it before a new copyright law goes into affect in the U.S. The story begins when Clover and Fergins meet on a train in which Clover is a waiter in the dining car of the train and Fergins is a mobile bookseller. During a train delay, Fergins begins telling Clover a tale of bookaneers, or literacy pirates, and their last attempt to pirate works of authors before international copyright laws were enacted.

Clover is my favorite character because I visualized the scenes as an outsider looking into Clover’s interpretation of the scene. Clover also has a thirst for knowledge, which drives him to search for the ending of Fergins’ story. Though I felt like an outsider, I felt as if I knew them because each character had a depth to them that allowed me to understand each character. The Last Bookaneer had numerous twists and turns that I never guessed it would end the way it did. I don’t have any negatives to say about this book. Absolutely spectacular!

It is well written, the characters are developed, and the scenes are easily visualized. Every turn of the page brings more adventure and suspense. Matthew Pearl intricately weaves historical facts with fiction to create a wonderfully written historical fiction book based on a subject that has not received enough attention – literacy piracy and the reason for international copyright laws. With all of my extensive education in copyright law, I never touched upon this part of the history of copyright law. The Last Bookaneer has triggered my interest in copyright history, and I have begun researching the history of copyright law and literacy pirates.

Adventure, mystery, and history readers along with any one who is a book lover should read this book.