Get Lost in Literature

From October 5th to the 11th, settle in with a banned or otherwise challenged book. It's that time of year to read something that someone else doesn't want you to read. It's time to celebrate your freedom to choose your own books and to honor those 1st Amendment Rights. Right now, in this country it isn't legal to truly ban books from public consumption, but it is possible to have them pulled from libraries, schools, and certain bookstores, making them harder to access. However there are people who are actively fighting for that to change, that is for books that they find offensive to be pulled from shelves everywhere.  Which to me is ludicrous. You can't currently and shouldn't ever be allowed to tell other people what they can and cannot do because you won't do it yourself. I, for example, don't eat onions, but I'm not refusing to let other people eat onions nor am I advocating that farmers be forbidden from growing onions. If you're wondering ...

  There will be no review today, as I spent last week reading Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer  (publication date set for January 28, 2025), and I have to be within a month of posting my review. My review is scheduled for January 6, 2025 so don't forget to stop by.

Ever heard of Jeff Kinney?  Well, Jeff Kinney bought an abandoned building last year, that was destined to be bulldozed flat, with the dream of turning it into a bookstore and Café. He made that dream a reality and just had the grand opening of  An Unlikely Story , which went from the ugliest building to the prettiest building on the street.  The only thing beautiful enough to compete with the blue and gold façade that looks similar to old encyclopedia bindings lined up, was the irresistible smell inside: new book smell and fresh coffee. Jeff Kinney is a brilliant mind, not because I read the books (I haven't), but because he's filling in a massive gap.   There was a time, when I could drive 10 minutes any direction and wind up at a Borders Bookstore... Borders who basically committed suicide, when they promoted reading tablets and e-books but failed to up the price of books, and miscalculated how much inventory they could move when digital down...