This post starts with a confession: Middlemarch, by George Eliot (pen name of Mary Anne Evans), is widely considered one of the greatest novels ever written––certainly the odds-on favorite for greatest English novel. It is my fiancée’s favorite novel and she has written about it extensively. She’s not alone––many of the greatest literary critics of … Read More
Books have been banned, challenged, censored, or even burned by organizations, schools, and parent organizations for a of reasons. What defines a banned or a challenged book? A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves completely. Books that have been challenged are an attempt by a person or group to remove or … Read More
A children’s book shredded in public by a member of the parliament. A poster outside a bookstore warning customers of books with “homosexual propaganda dangerous to children.” A mayor demanding that a book should be removed from a library display, upon (alleged) complaints from the public. Finally, a newsletter polling librarians whether professional organizations should raise … Read More
I have always enjoyed children’s and young adult (YA) books and continue to read them even as an adult. When I became a parent, I loved reading books to my kids, sharing my favorites with them and finding new ones we could appreciate together. Once they started reading on their own, I started screening many … Read More
If you’re appalled by violence and graphic details in a book or movie but––pun intended––you’d kill for a good mystery, cozy mysteries are for you. Rest assured, you are not alone. Cozy mysteries became one of the most popular escapist genres during the pandemic. What the heck is a cozy mystery anyway? Sounds like an … Read More
Banned and challenged books receive a great deal of attention from librarians, the champions of freedom of speech. Books We Read partnered with several other groups for Banned Books Week in 2020. In an introduction to banned books, we were tempted to sort them into categories based on the grounds for the ban or challenge: … Read More
I selected Charles C. Mann‘s (Twitter linked because no website is available) 1493: Uncovering the World New World Columbus Created as an audiobook commuting read. A patron recommended the book to me at my last library job. We would often swap non-fiction recommendations because few others at the library read the genre. Even fewer read it … Read More
Content warning: this post mentions sex, sexual assault, and suicide. I read my first soft-core romance novel at nine years old. It was called The Undomestic Goddess and was written by one of my favorite authors, Sophie Kinsella. The book featured a high-strung attorney who ends up in the middle of nowhere working as a … Read More
For this summer’s Summer Tales Creative Contest I submitted a 3D rendering of a “knitted” wren in a nest inspired by Li-Young Lee’s “Persimmons,” one of the poems selected for Summer Tales. “Persimmons” discusses language construction and living between intersectional identities. Lee’s speaker discusses getting into trouble at school with a teacher by confusing similar … Read More
Hello, my name is Alissa Renales. My pronouns are they/them theirs. I am a Graduate Student in the School of Communications and Information and I will be graduating in December. My concentration is in Archives and Preservation. This summer I was lucky enough to be involved with the Summer Tales Book Club, the Rutgers University … Read More