BANNED BOOKS WEEK--LOOKING AHEAD TO READING DELIBERATELY

Banned Books Week always makes me contemplative about my reading.  In my thinking lately, I have decided to make some changes in my reading in 2011...to read more deliberately.  This will involve cutting back on books I accept for review, focusing on reading from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list and reading more "classics".  Some of the books I plan to read occur simultaneously on both Banned Books lists and the "1001" list.

Here are several I have picked out for next year:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Click HERE to read the reasons for challenges to these classics on the ALA site.

See you next year for the next Banned Books Week! Until then, keep this in mind...

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

— On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

Countdown Challenge 2010

UPDATE POST

Okay, I'm officially crazy....another challenge! I just couldn't resist.  I've been seeing this one around the book blogosphere and it's just so listy! It speaks to my inner organizational self (way inner...I'm talking buried deep inside the outer layers of procrastinator self!).

1.The goal of this challenge is to read the number of books first published in a given year that corresponds to the last digit of each year in the 2000s — 10 books from 2010, 9 books from 2009, 8 books from 2008, etc. The total number of books required, therefore, is 55.

2.This challenge lasts from 9/9/09 through 10/10/10.

3.Crossovers with other challenges are allowed and your lists may change at any time.

Click here to go to the site and sign up/link with Mr. Linky.


I'm not going to completely fill in the list now.  I'll have to come back to it.  And the 2010 books I know will be filled in mostly by ARCs!

MY LIST OF BOOKS--EITHER TO READ OR COMPLETED AFTER 9/9/09

2010

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???

2009

1. 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs--completed
2. Arch Enemy by Frank Beddor--completed
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???

2008

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???

2007

1. Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor--completed
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???

2006

1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer-to be read
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy-currently reading
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???

2005

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???

2004

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???

2003

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???

2002

1. ???
2. ???

2001

1. ???
   

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge

UPDATE: I am restarting this challenge this month (November) because I have not committed to it well. It is a perpetual challenge, but I still need to commit to it!

I must be on a challenge kick because earlier on Wednesday I joined my first challenge ever, the RIP Challenge. Well, I was over at the bloggers group on Library Thing and I came across this challenge being hosted by Melissa at Coffee, Books, and Laundry.

The 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list is pretty daunting, but I consider that since reading is so very important to me, then this is the challenge that should be ongoing in my life. So I accept this challenge with gusto and maybe just a little apprehension (take a look at the list here and you'll see what I mean).

The rules are relatively simple actually and are as follows:

Must read 1 book a month from the list.

Must rotate lists every month.

(For example, August I will take a book from the 2000's list, then following month choose a book from the 1800's.)

The beauty of this is that I am already reading Frankenstein for my B & N book club and for the RIP Challenge and it's number 931 on the list!

If you decide to accept the challenge, be sure to go over to Melissa's blog (link above) and leave a comment. She doesn't really have an "official" sign up, but I'm sure she will be interested in everyone else's progress. I know I will!

Happy reading!