Reading is my longest-standing, and also my favorite, hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for September, 2011…

The Tiger’s Wife, by Tea Obrecht – I finally got around to reading this one and it certainly lived up to the hype in my opinion.  Beautifully written, with a gripping story and evocative language – I couldn’t put it down.  I found the plot about the tiger’s wife to be the best part of the book, but I also loved the grandfather’s stories about the deathless man.  The “modern” characters – Natalia, Zora, and the diggers – were less interesting to me, but overall it was a wonderful book and completely worth reading.

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman – I probably wouldn’t have picked this up if I hadn’t heard amazing things about the sequel, The Magician King.  And in fact, if I had read The Magicians when it first came out – before The Magician King was released to widespread acclaim – I don’t know that I would bother to continue with the series.  The Magicians was okay, humorous in parts, but not particularly creative.  I felt that it piggy-backed on other, better books in its genre.  Still, it was not a bad read and I liked the underlying thesis that you need to be whole and happy yourself, and that “magic” isn’t going to fix your problems for you.  I’m looking forward to reading The Magician King, and we’ll see if my opinion of The Magicians changes after I read the sequel.

The Soldier’s Wife, by Margaret Leroy – Lush and moving story of a Guernsey islander who falls in love with a German soldier during the Occupation from 1940-45.  I didn’t care for the protagonist at first, but she grew on me as she became stronger and more committed to her values.  The ending was a tear-jerker and beautifully written.

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy – This is an old favorite, but the first time I read the translation by Richard Pevear and Larisa Volokhonsky.  I love their work and was impressed, as always, with how readable they make the Russian classics.  The story of the forbidden love between Anna and Count Vronsky, and the counterpoint socially acceptable (but no less real) love between country squire Levin and his wife Kitty, is sweet, sad and moving.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, by Erik Larson – Profoundly disturbing account of the American Ambassador to Germany, William Dodd, and his family, and what they observed in Berlin in the early 1930s, right after Hitler’s ascension to power.  There are times when you are shocked at the Dodds’ naivete – but trying to keep in mind that the reader has the benefit of 20-20 hindsight – and times when you’re proud of them for standing up for what is right, especially when they start to realize that not only is the Germany of the 1930s a scary place, but it’s a serious threat to peace.  This account is particularly interesting in the way that it shows how it was possible for Hitler to establish his hold over Germany without anyone stepping in and intervening.  Highly recommended, especially for history buffs.

I had a little bit lighter of a September in terms of the pure number of books I read, but Anna Karenina is quite the chunkster.  I started it earlier in the summer and kept putting it down to read other books – usually library books that couldn’t be renewed, because they had a waiting list.  I finally was able to finish it (although it wasn’t my first time through), but it took a chunk out of my September reading time.  Worth it, though!  I probably spent the same amount of actual time reading – had another long train trip! – but read fewer, longer books.  It was a great month of reading – I enjoyed everything I read this month, particularly toward the end of the month.  Looking forward to plenty of reading time in October!

In this day and age, it’s pretty shocking that censorship and book banning still go on.  But they do.  With a little perserverence, people can find something to complain about in even the most innocuous book.  I mean, Harry Potter promotes devil worship?  Really?  To quote John Cage, “Say it with me, people: pleeeeeeeease.”

But the fact remains – books are challenged every day by people who don’t agree with their messages.  I sometimes wonder why people challenge books.  As a former kid, I will tell would-be censors what they should already know: there’s no more effective way to make people want something than to tell them it’s forbidden.  And by extension, there’s no better way to publicize a book than by challenging or banning it.

Many book bloggers are celebrating Banned Books Week by reading their favorite banned or challenged book.  I’m not, for the simple reason that I have a stack of library books that I have to get through – since they came from the holds shelf and can’t be renewed, I don’t have the luxury of laying them aside and reading something else first.  But I am currently reading a book that I think embraces the spirit of banned books week by calling the dangers of censorship to attention: In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, by Erik Larson.  Larson’s book is a non-fiction account of the brief time spent in Berlin by Ambassador William Dodd and his family during the early years of the Nazi regime.  Censorship isn’t the prime focus of the book – it’s about how the Dodds came to see Hitler and his fellow thugs as a threat to world peace and their attempts to communicate their observations to the State Department in the early 1930s, when most of America was turning a deaf ear to the increasingly frightening reports coming from Europe.  But censorship is present in the book, in its references to book-burnings, the exodus of artistic talent from Germany in the 1930s, and the intense government pressure on those writers who chose to stay in the country.

Censorship is so dangerous.  It’s a slippery slope when an entity decides to tell writers what they can and can’t say.  Freedom of expression, and freedom of the press, are part of what makes the United States a great country – and have been since the First Amendment was passed.  I believe that taking a stance against censorship of ideas and words is one of the most important things that Americans can do to promote our country’s values.  Reading banned books is just the beginning.  Speaking out against censorship not only protects us as readers and writers, but it protects the freedoms we value.  So that’s why, in celebration of Banned Books Week, I’m reading a book that contains vivid reminders of the damage that censorship does to a society.  And even keeping in mind the challenges that we face in the United States right now, I’m thanking my good luck that I was born in a country – and a family – that believes in books, and in reading.

I was also curious to see how my personal library stacks up against the American Library Association’s list of banned or challenged classics.  (Books I’ve read are in bold.)  Not too shabby…

 The Great Gatsby – read in high school

The Catcher in the Rye – read in high school

The Grapes of Wrath – read in high school, college, and adulthood (a personal fave)

To Kill a Mockingbird – read more times than I can count (another fave)

The Color Purple

Ulysses

Beloved

The Lord of the Flies – read in high school

1984 – read in high school

Lolita

Of Mice and Men – read in high school

Catch-22 – read in high school and adulthood

Brave New World

Animal Farm – read in high school

The Sun Also Rises

As I Lay Dying

A Farewell to Arms

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Invisible Man

Song of Solomon

Gone With the Wind – read first at age 9, and many times since

Native Son

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – read in high school

Slaughterhouse-Five – read in adulthood

For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Call of the Wild – read in childhood

Go Tell It On the Mountain

All the King’s Men – read in adulthood

The Lord of the Rings

The Jungle – read in college

Lady Chatterley’s Lover – read in high school

A Clockwork Orange

The Awakening – read in adulthood

In Cold Blood – read in high school, college, law school and adulthood

Satanic Verses

Sophie’s Choice

Sons and Lovers

Cat’s Cradle

A Separate Peace – read in high school and college

Naked Lunch

Brideshead, Revisited

The Naked and the Dead

Tropic of Cancer

An American Tragedy

Rabbit, Run

 Looking through the list, I clearly read a lot of my banned books in high school.  (Rebel, much?  Okay, not so much.)  Some were assigned and others I read on my own time – I had a lot of reading time in high school; more than college or law school, certainly.  Others on this list – Brave New World, A Clockwork Orange, and Brideshead, Revisited, particularly, are very high on my to-be-read list and I’ll probably be hitting all of those within the next few months as they’ve cycled upward.

 Resist censorship!