Faking Sanity

Freedom to Read Week

Posted by mtlaise - 23/02/11 at 03:02:49 pm

February 20-26 is Freedom to Read Week here in Canada. As long as books have been written, there have been people who objected to some of them. Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reafform their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Have you read any of the books that have been challenged over the years? You might be surprised. Of Mice and Men, which was required school reading for me, was challenged for blasphemy and profanity. Anne Boleyn, a history book about Anne Boleyn’s life, was contested for immorality. Call me crazy (many people do), but contesting a history book because the person it is about was immoral is ridiculous. How can we learn about and from the past if half of it has been censored out? Many books that I read as a child, or as part of my schooling have been challenged. Looking back, I can understand why some people are offended by the content of some of these books, but we each have a choice to read them or not. I don’t think banning Little House on the Prairie or the Tintin comics and preventing me from reading them as a child would have made me a better person in any way.

I found a couple of quotes related to this topic, recently, that I found very à propos:

“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.”  Dwight Eisenhower

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”  Oscar Wilde

I think my favourite, though, is this quote from Ray Bradbury:

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them”.

The fast track to moving up in the world…

Posted by mtlaise - 20/07/10 at 11:07:04 pm

Well, not quite, but we’re definitely on the fast track to moving up north! Like my partner, I’m finding it hard to focus, or shut off my brain to get to sleep right now (hence this midnight post). Even trying to give away stuff in order to downsize for the move is challenging when you only have a couple of evenings free when people can pick up their freebies, and coordinating times is becoming a chore despite the fact that it’s supposed to make the move easier. On the upside though, I’m nearly done packing my room. I should finish tonight or first thing tomorrow. I’m constantly reviewing what I’ve laid out because I’m worried I’ll pack something that I need to take up with me right away. Is it bizarre that I’m taking on this huge undertaking in buying a business, and yet it is the move that is stressful? Moving has always been a little stressful for me, to be honest, but doing it this quickly is… crazy. That being said, ready or not, I’m moving up north this Saturday, and after that I know my nerves will settle down a great deal. Which is pretty incredible really, considering it was only a week ago that we decided to buy the place!

And on a bookish note, I started to read Michael J. Fox’s Always Looking Up today. I don’t think I’ve read or knit a stitch in weeks because my mind has been racing too fast, but I’m actually really enjoying this one right now. He’s a great writer, and to see someone come through what he has and not get mired down by it all, but rather become an even stronger person, and take on new challenges, as well as keep such an amazing attitute is… mind boggling and inspiring.

Books!

Posted by perian - 20/07/10 at 11:07:45 am

I didn’t plan for this entire blog to be taken over by the business (unlike my life, which totally has!)  I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on reading lately, which is unlike me. I get about a chapter into a book and just drift off into la la land — worrying about everything I need to get done in the next 5 1/2 weeks, mainly.  I have approximately 17 books on the go right now (no exaggeration needed) but I do have a couple to talk about.

First off, one of my re-reads. Last night I needed something that would really catch my attention, so I went for an old reliable… Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold is one of my favourite authors ever, and I’ve been listening to her Vorkosigan audiobooks in the car constantly for the past month, but last night I decided that I wanted to read about a “hero” that was just a normal guy (Miles Vorkosigan could not be labelled normal by anyone’s standards) so I picked up Falling Free.  I adore Leo Graf and the quaddies.  They’re just normal people, doing the extraordinary because it needs to be done.

I’m also reading Sunshine by Robin McKinley.  I’ve been putting this one off for ages because… well… vampires. I am so sick of the vampire craze.  But this was written long before Twilight and is amazingly good.  I’m only about a third into it, but I’m really enjoying her characters and world-building.  Possibly after I’m done this one, I’ll re-read a McKinley favourite – The Blue Sword.

Okay, off to deal with more business/moving stuff. Must go give our notice for the apartment!  Cross your fingers for me while I break a lease…

I looked at him, shocked. He’d… used grammar.*

Posted by perian - 06/04/10 at 08:04:11 pm

Started and finished Changes, the new Dresden Files book today. I was kind of meh about it before I started because I knew that Susan returned in it, and she’s never been my favourite character in the series. But the first page had the best hook ever and I just couldn’t put it down.

Whenever I read a new Dresden book I wonder how Butcher is going to top himself this time. How in the world is Harry’s life going to get more screwed up than it already is, how are the bad guys going to get worse than they were in the previous book?  But he always does it, and Changes didn’t let me down in that regard. But the one thing that Butcher has never quite mastered is the whole moral-of-the-story bit, which he tends to knock you over the head with (and he’s basically thrown out the idea of “show, don’t tell” there as well.) But, hey, for those of us just reading them a) for a light, quick, fun read and b) to see if Harry and Murphy ever actually hook up, it hits the spot every time.

Also, Murphy still rocks. Murphy will always rock. I want an entire Murphy book.

_{* Harry Dresden, referring to MacAnally. Changes, Jim Butcher}

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body*

Posted by perian - 29/03/10 at 10:03:55 am

Whoops. I wrote this yesterday but forgot to post it. So, two posts from me today.

I read. A lot. I mean, you’d probably guess that, since I run a bookstore, but it’s not necessarily a requirement. I’ll read pretty much anything, though the quirkier the better. The bad thing is that I’m completely unable to review them coherently.  I either like a book or I don’t.  I read a few books on my holidays, but these are the two that really stuck out for me:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley completely lived up to all the great things customers have been telling me about it. A 70 year old man writes from the point of view of an 11 year old girl and makes her one of the most interesting characters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in quite a while. I’m so glad this is the first in a series, because I didn’t want this book to end.

“…it occured to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”
- Flavia deLuce

Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit by Matt McCarthy was one of those impulse buys — I was in Florida to watch baseball spring training, so I figured I should read something baseball related. A really fun read, with the added bonus of teaching me lots about the whole draft thing.

_{* Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710}

If music be the food of love, would you like fries with that?

Posted by perian - 27/03/10 at 07:03:17 pm

The obsession with Spicks and Specks which has taken over my life for the past few months has been having a massive effect on my music library as well. I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about music, having pretty much missed the 80s and 90s entirely.  And it’s not like I’ve really been listening to mainstream music in the 2000s either.

A quick snapshot of my music growing up: my parents listened to the Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Anne Murray, and ABBA. My eldest sister listened to Glass Tiger and Bon Jovi (my other sister listened to a lot more, but since I avoided her most of the time I wasn’t exactly exposed to it.) I had the MiniPops. The only radio station in town played country music.

In grade 4 my best friend got me hooked on Kiss for a little while, then I went back to being music-less. And then in middle school a friend gave me Anonymous Confessions of a Lunatic Friend by Brian Duncan (he thought the title sounded appropriate for me) and introduced me to  Christian rock, which is pretty much all I listened to until I graduated.

Since then, I’ve slowly started picking up music here and there, mainly Canadian. I’ve had an excellent introduction to contemporary folk music through the Calgary International Folk Festival and friends and family. But mainstream rock still eludes me.

So what do I do if I want to learn about something? I find a book, of course!

Yesterday I picked up 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and my goal is to listen to as many of them as I’m able to get my hands on. Not the full thousand, obviously, but at least 10 from each decade. I may even write about them on this here blog…

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