And more about the banned....

There is so much I could say about this week.  To put it simply, there is too much beauty in the world, in shared experiences, in small moments, in the pain and life of the everyday experience that you or the person standing next to you to ignore.  Books capture this.  Writers capture this beauty.  They inspire us, challenge us, delight us, and teach how to make it through or to be better.  And sometimes, a book simply turns a large mirror onto a truth that we do not want to face. When a book does all of or even some of this, there are those out there who fear it.  The reaction to ban it, to deny others access to it has resulted in what we now celebrate as Banned Books Week.
And I say, what these books capture, bring to light, show us time and again is beautiful.  Just like one of the picture that I came across this week made for the celebration of the freedom to read.

Check out more of these beautiful pics about Banned Books compiled by Huffington Post.

Or take a moment this week and watch a video on the ALA Virtual Read-Out channel.  I just cannot get enough of these videos.  There are so many fabulous ones.  If you like books, authors, comedy, or pretty much if you are breathing, you will enjoy these.  Scroll and find your favorites...
Some of the best that we liked:
Markus Zusak - of course!
Sherman Alexie - best job of pointing out the ridiculousness of book banning in true Alexie style
Laurie Halse Anderson - fabulous
Khaled Hosseini
Ellen Hopkins and Laini Taylor are both worth watching.
And this year would be totally incomplete without hearing Lois Lowry and Jeff Bridges.
...this list could get really quite fast. 

Or Better yet, come any night this week at 7 p.m. to the Library and listen to some live banned book reading.  I know you'll enjoy it.