Enjoy Banned Books!

Since it is Banned Book Week, I started my morning with an out-loud recitation of Ginsberg's Howl, one of my favorite poems of all time - banned or not banned, controversial or not, modern or ancient - and then settled in to another read of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.  It's time for a reading break, so I decided I best jump online and update the blog as to what I'm doing.  [Yes, once again, I have dedicated myself to updating this site to make it a habit!  We'll see how long it lasts this time...]

I took a look through my bookshelves yesterday and started a stack of banned and challenged books that I own.  It was an impressive stack.  Then, I started to peruse the list posted by the ALA on their site and noted that there were some I had read in the past, but did not own.  So acting as if I do not own enough books already, I'm taking my break to get outside and make a trip to Half Price Books and see what I can find on the list that I don't already own.  They're having a half price sale on their smaller paperbacks, so I'll be glad to drop a bit of change in their coffers for the cause today.  My goal is to read as many banned books as I can this week.  Of course, I will throw in a bunch of poets; it's just may nature!

Before I get off here and out to the newly fall air, I'll just mention that today, on YouTube, I first came across footage from the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 11 June 1965 and I am enamored of the event.  It is my new research project and I will definitely write more about it [and it's influence on me] over the next few weeks.  But for this week, I promise to keep you posted on my banned books progress...for today, mark down Howl & Other Poems and As I Lay Dying.  Stay tuned!