…My reading has dropped of a tad. 

Blogging, working full time, life, it gets in the way.

There was a time that nothing got in the way fo my reading and I would read many, many books each year. 

But lately, with the bad eyes, the $800 glasses I still can’t see out of, and life…not so much.

I was travelling this week and spent a few days with my brother and his wife in Virginia. 

No I did not travel blog, I just relaxed.  And I read.

I finished Ford County byJohn Grisham.

I’m a big Grisham fan; not all of his stuff has been stellar, and a couple could have been a whole lot better. 

But Ford County is really good.

It’s a collection of short stories.

He referred to them that novels that didn’t become novels. 

The topics are varied, the writing his best in a long time.  He covers topics - very well - that show us how things have changed in the last 20 or so years.

Check it out.

It’s a good read.

It has the UP seal of approval!

To Kill A Mockingbird turns 50 today!

I’ve been rather bookish this week, and it’s only right that today, July 11 is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Excepting the Bible of course, I can think of no other book that has had a greater impact on my life.

Nelle Harper Lee wrote the book in two years, thought it would die a “merciful quick death” and be forgotten.

Boy was she wrong!

TKAM tells the stories of an Alabama family, their neighbors, friends, enemies, and servants.  It tells a story of racial injustice, ignorance, and bias.

Lauded by many and abhored by others, TKAM has been banned, ballyhooed, and beloved. 

It’s the perfect novel to teach in school.  It has all the literary elements writers use from allusions to foreshadowing and beyond.   It’s a great book to teach kids about literature. 

The story line is what gets people, and what shook UP a nation back in 1960.  Banned in some school districts then, it still remains the 21st most objectionable book according to the American Library Association!  It uses racial slurs (get over it, people talked like that in the time it was set), profanity (see previous note), rape, and the attraction of a white woman to a black man – which then and now, is one of it’s biggest complaints.  There are many who think the book’s treatment of racism does not condemn the small Alabama town enough, and it’s use of the “N” word (48 times) demeans readers. 

Again, it’s set in the 1930s, things were different, they may not have been right, but they were what they were.  Facts are Facts!

The only book that rated higher on the “hate list” in 1968 was Little Black Sambo.

Harper Lee wrote a book so good that she never had to write another one. 

Truman Capote, a childhood friend of Harper Lee, on whom the book’s character Dill is base, one of my favorite writers,  and a literary genius said, “Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable.”

He was exactly right, if you haven’t read it, do!

…Ok, I may have to rethink my drug policy.   Cheech Marin (Cheech and Chong) beat Aisha Tyler and Anderson Cooper on Jeopardy! 

What drugs did they do?

Really, UP is tres anti-drug.  Yet it worries me that Cheech Marin was able to trump one of the biggest names in News Broadcasting and one of the Funniest Comic Ladies around. 

Sadly, none of them got the Final Jeopardy question.

The Question in Question:  “In 1890, he witnessed a mild cyclone in Aberdeen, S. Dakota, and it became fodder for his novel.”

Well, I guess Jeopardy Questions aren’t really questions, but statements begging a question.

The Answer, er, Question:  Who was L. Frank Baum?

The book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Ok, how could Anderson Cooper not know that?  I’m sure thousands of his fans were sorely dissappointed.

As to Aisha and Cheech, no surprise.

But, alas Cheech won.

Hmmm.

Poses yet another question, Did Cheech really do all those drugs?

And what was Anderson smokin’ back at Yale.  Yes, he’s an Eli!  Just like GW, Hillary, and Bill.

And what was Aisha doing at Dartmouth and the San Francisco School of the Arts?

But the real story here isn’t what they did in college nor what they didn’t know.

The real story is what inspires someone to write a story, novel, blog, letter.

A cyclone!

Something that simple, severe, enormous inspired L. Frank Baum to write one of the most beloved books and one of the greatest movies of all time.

So, dear readers, if you wonder, and I’ll not begin to compare myself to Mr. Baum, what it takes to inspire me. 

Well, not much.

It’s the little things that matter.

…Isn’t the Library supposed to be a happy place?

It was for me.  Germantown Public Library held wonderful treasures when I was a kid.  And I read as many of them as Mrs. Kindig would allow.

But for one Colorado man, the local Library may just remain a nightmare.

Aaron Henson sat handcuffed in the back of a Littleton, Colorado police car desperatly trying to figure out what freakish thing could have gotten him arrested on a snowy Interstate 70.  He was speeding, but really, arrested?

Seems Mr. Henson had committed the crime of not returning a library DVD back in 2004.

Dang!  That is one serious librarian.

He spent eight hours in jail until his Dad came and bailed him out.

When he called his Mother, she didn’t believe him, since “there is no book police”.

Well Mom, you’re wrong…and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that Mother’s Day Card this year.

Littleton’s Library lost $7,800. in library materials in 2009, and apparently they’re pissed about it.

The outstanding warrant was technically for “failure to appear”.   For the non-misdemeanorous of you, that’s  not showing up for a court date.

Aaron wasn’t aware he was a wanted man, didn’t know about the court date, and therefore – didn’t appear.

Oops!

While in police custody, the generally law-abiding gentleman was fingerprinted, photographed, and booked.  His car was towed, impounded, and marked with a driver arrested note.

The library doesn’t buy his story that he moved, never got the notices, and never got the court date information.

Henson claims he left the DVD with a friend and forgot about it.

Henson said, “I understand the city was following its procedure … but when somebody’s not informed of a court date and then they’re getting arrested on the side of the road, getting embarrassed, having fear (and I’m guessing craping himself the entire time.) and all that, it just doesn’t sit well with me.” 

I’m sure that’s an understatement.

The city has refunded the $460 the arrest cost Mr. Henson and promised to wipe the incident off his record.

“In the meantime the court and the police department have been directed not to issue any further summons for failure to return library materials,” stated city spokesperson Kelli Narde.

Probably a good idea.

But remember, keeping a library book is stealing a library book.  Don’t do it.

The local library had 81 instances last year that went as far as sending a summons to return the library book.

The local librarian said “80 of them were resolved without any problem.”

Well, that’s a pretty good percentage, unless you’re Mr. Henson.