Looking back, I've noticed that the previous Special Inserts have been about comic books, so I'll start this one in the same vein. Comic books have been around since the 1940's and were an offshoot of the pulp novels that preceded them. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words this made sense. At the time, they were mostly adventure, western, horror, and true love based but the Golden Age and the birth of the super heroes came quickly.
Unfortunately, in the early 1950's, someone took exception to the graphic violence and underlying sex of this form of entertainment - specifically the horror books as published by EC Comics - and created an uproar. There were comic burnings and bannings across the country, and it caused the industry to create the Comics Code and a regulating body to oversee content in order to survive. This regulating body and its "seal of approval" lasted into the 1990's when individual publishers such as Marvel and DC decided that they would regulate on their own the images, situations, and even words that they felt were appropriate to the story.
The point of this history lesson is that when the government doesn't like something - they try to ban it.
Welcome to Banned Books Week.
Banning books - even burning them - isn't new. It's gone on for centuries. The point is that it is usually carried out by totalitarian governments that suppress their citizens and regulate every aspect of their lives. This should not be done in a democracy like the United States of America.
And yet, it has been. What follows is a brief list of books that were banned at one time or another.
"1984" - George Orwell. Banned to teenagers for political reasons.
"Animal Farm" - George Orwell. Banned to teenagers for political reasons.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" - Harper Lee. Banned due to racial inequality and rape.
Slaughterhouse-Five" -Kurt Vonnegut. Banned to adults for religious reasons.
"Brave New World" - Aldous Huxley. Banned to teens for religious reasons.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" - Mark Twain. Banned for social reasons.
"Of Mice and Men" - John Steinbeck. Banned for social reasons.
"The Grapes of Wrath" - John Steinbeck. Banned for social reasons.
"Leaves of Grass" - Walt Whitman, Banned for immorality.
"Ulysses" - James Joyce. Banned for obscenity.
You know what strikes me about this list? We now consider each and every one of these to be a CLASSIC.
Society changes. And its moral and ethical center varies from day to day. And every now and then, misogyny rears its ugly head. Salmon Rushdie wrote a book - and then had to go into hiding because his own people - his own religion - wanted him dead because of it. That is a sad fact, and a foreign country. This is America.
Not everything that is written is good. I'd guess very little of it is, percentage-wise. But what is is an expression of the writer, and here we have Freedom of Expression. Now don't get me wrong. Not everything that is written should be. There are laws against libeling someone by accusing them of things that can't be proven. And, I would like to think, a lot of a writer's output, upon second reading, gets trashed.
But what's written should stay written, and what's published should stay published. Even if no one ever reads it.
It takes an idea to write something. An idea so powerful in a writer's mind that he or she has to set it down on paper, has to try and share it. An idea - good, bad, or indifferent - makes us human. A shared idea makes us a community.
Keep reading!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Chapter Twelve
This time around, I have an interesting mix of books to tell you about. AND, another in my random sampling of DVD's.
Miscellaneous
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic - Terry Jones ($12.00/$.50, 245 pages, copyright 1997, Trade paperback)
That's right - Douglas Adams - as in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. AND that's right - Terry Jones - as in Monty Python's Flying Circus. I have to admit I was sceptical when I picked this one up. I've read other books by other "comedians" (see past Chapters) and I've always been disappointed. Not this one! Take the greatest starship ever built, and in 3 Earthlings who, typically, don't know what they're doing, and stir in complete destruction and you get a very funny book. I enjoyed it.
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle ($10.95/$.50, 282 pages, copyright 1993, Trade paperback)
What's interesting here is that there are no chapters. Just snippets of a 10-year old boy's life in the Ireland of the 1960's. These run everywhere from a half a page, to several pages, are largely Paddy's dialog - external and internal - and always come across as accurate. They the gamut from childish pranks to how a child deals with serious issues. I don't know if any of it is autobiographical but it rings true. I enjoyed it.
The Fuck-up - Arthur Nersesian ( $12.95/$1.00, 296 pages, copyright 1991, Trade paperback)
Another "slice of life" story, this time set in New York City in the 1980's. The protagonist here is an early-20 something. A slacker with no ambition and the people who come in and out of his life. Unfortunately, to me, he has no redeeming qualities and his friends aren't any better. I couldn't finish it.
Series
The Neon Rain - James Lee Burke ($4.99/$.50, 281 pages, copyright 281 pages, paperback)
I think this is the first of Burke's novels dealing with Dave Robicheaux. Set in and around New Orleans, Burke paints a wonderful picture of the cities, towns, and bayous that surround the area. Robicheaux, at least in this one, is a police lieutenant dealing with a murder that grows into a drug case, government intervention, and family problems - and the personal demons faced by all alcoholics. I enjoyed it.
Some Danger Involved - Will Thomas ($15.00/$.50, 290 pages, copyright 2004, Trade paperback)
This is the first in a proposed series of mysteries set in London in the late 1880's. The main character is down on his luck, and gets taken on as an assistant by a private detective. This one leans more toward the seamy side of London, and involves the murder of a Jewish immigrant and the possibility of religious persecution in the crowded streets of back-alley London. I enjoyed it.
DVD
Highlander
"In the end, there can be only one." Well, in the beginning, there was. This movie, in my mind, was a one-shot. Then something interesting happened, it became popular. So a sequel was made (not as good), and others, and a TV series. It became a sci-fi phenomenon. But in the beginning there was only one. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is the Highlander and Ramirez (Sean Connery) teaches how to be an immortal and how - for some reason - they fight with swords and behead each other until the end. A self-contained movie, and it was perfect - from the sword fights to the special effects, to the soundtrack by Queen. I enjoyed it.
That's it for now. I have more books to read and more DVD's to watch.
Keep reading!
Miscellaneous
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic - Terry Jones ($12.00/$.50, 245 pages, copyright 1997, Trade paperback)
That's right - Douglas Adams - as in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. AND that's right - Terry Jones - as in Monty Python's Flying Circus. I have to admit I was sceptical when I picked this one up. I've read other books by other "comedians" (see past Chapters) and I've always been disappointed. Not this one! Take the greatest starship ever built, and in 3 Earthlings who, typically, don't know what they're doing, and stir in complete destruction and you get a very funny book. I enjoyed it.
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle ($10.95/$.50, 282 pages, copyright 1993, Trade paperback)
What's interesting here is that there are no chapters. Just snippets of a 10-year old boy's life in the Ireland of the 1960's. These run everywhere from a half a page, to several pages, are largely Paddy's dialog - external and internal - and always come across as accurate. They the gamut from childish pranks to how a child deals with serious issues. I don't know if any of it is autobiographical but it rings true. I enjoyed it.
The Fuck-up - Arthur Nersesian ( $12.95/$1.00, 296 pages, copyright 1991, Trade paperback)
Another "slice of life" story, this time set in New York City in the 1980's. The protagonist here is an early-20 something. A slacker with no ambition and the people who come in and out of his life. Unfortunately, to me, he has no redeeming qualities and his friends aren't any better. I couldn't finish it.
Series
The Neon Rain - James Lee Burke ($4.99/$.50, 281 pages, copyright 281 pages, paperback)
I think this is the first of Burke's novels dealing with Dave Robicheaux. Set in and around New Orleans, Burke paints a wonderful picture of the cities, towns, and bayous that surround the area. Robicheaux, at least in this one, is a police lieutenant dealing with a murder that grows into a drug case, government intervention, and family problems - and the personal demons faced by all alcoholics. I enjoyed it.
Some Danger Involved - Will Thomas ($15.00/$.50, 290 pages, copyright 2004, Trade paperback)
This is the first in a proposed series of mysteries set in London in the late 1880's. The main character is down on his luck, and gets taken on as an assistant by a private detective. This one leans more toward the seamy side of London, and involves the murder of a Jewish immigrant and the possibility of religious persecution in the crowded streets of back-alley London. I enjoyed it.
DVD
Highlander
"In the end, there can be only one." Well, in the beginning, there was. This movie, in my mind, was a one-shot. Then something interesting happened, it became popular. So a sequel was made (not as good), and others, and a TV series. It became a sci-fi phenomenon. But in the beginning there was only one. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is the Highlander and Ramirez (Sean Connery) teaches how to be an immortal and how - for some reason - they fight with swords and behead each other until the end. A self-contained movie, and it was perfect - from the sword fights to the special effects, to the soundtrack by Queen. I enjoyed it.
That's it for now. I have more books to read and more DVD's to watch.
Keep reading!
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