Goodbye 2014. Hello, 2015!

Technically, I read 106, but I read The
Perks of Being a Wallflower twice, so it
only counted it once on the Goodreads
Challenge.

Well, it looks like another year is over and a new one is finally here. 2014 was a pretty good year for me: I moved across the country, starting going back to school, and even started writing a book that might actually go somewhere.
I also hit a goal that I've been working toward for the past four years. In 2010, I decided that it was a goal of mine to read 100 books in one year. I did that. In fact, I read 106!

I read some pretty awesome books this year and reread some favorites. Unfortunately, I didn't review many of them here, because I took a hiatus from Novel Attraction while I was still trying to get used to life up here in Seattle. Now I'm pretty settled in an I think I can commit to at least a few reviews each month, so you ought to be hearing from me a little more often in the new year.

If you want to see the books I read this year, here's a link to the list on Goodreads. Feel free to add me as a friend. I love to see what everyone else is reading and sometimes post smaller reviews for books that I, for one reason or another, don't review here.

Now that 2014 is over, it is time to create our goals for 2015. In addition to my other New Years Resolutions (which is posted over on my personal blog, Her Fingertips Whisper), I have set a new reading challenge for this year. In 2015, my goal is to read 120 books!

2015 Reading Challenge

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I'm a little nervous about such a high goal, especially because I foresee 2015 being a lot busier for me than last year, but it's not called a challenge for nothing. I'll do my best and that's all I can hope for.

What are your reading goals for the new year? Let me know in the comments!

Banned Books Week

An excerpt from Americus, a wonderful graphic novel about banned books

There's a difference between banning books and parenting.

As a child, I was not allowed to read Harry Potter. This was because my parents didn't believe it was proper reading material for me("witchcraft" and all that). Admittedly, they were operating out of ignorance, but they were operating with my best interest at heart and that is their job as parents. (Since then, each of my siblings and I have become steadily addicted to everything Harry Potter and my dad has finally started reading the books as well. He loves them.)

The censorship we are talking about when we discuss banned book week is the kind where a person (almost always someone who hasn't actually read the book in question) tries to get a particular book banned from schools and/or libraries because they happen to find that particular book objectionable and carry a twisted belief that it is their job to keep every other person from reading it as well.

For example, Rainbow Rowell (author of Fangirl and Eleanor & Park) was slated to speak in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota. Though the speaking engagement had been planned months in advance (to take place this week-during banned book week), as the event drew closer, the author began getting the silent treatment from everyone in that area. It wasn't until the National Coalition Against Censorship became involved that she found out a ruckus had been made about the fact that she was invited and a parent had become upset over the profanity in Eleanor & Park, even going so far as to demand that the librarians who set up the original speaking engagement be disciplined.

You can read more about this very interesting (read: appalling) ordeal here: "Talks Cancelled for YA Authors Meg Medina and Rainbow Rowell." You can also check out this lovely interview with Rainbow Rowell herself, in which she discusses her books as well as censorship and gives a bit more detail concerning this ordeal in Minnesota. The interview can be found here: "Talking With Rainbow Rowell About Love and Censorship."

 When we ban books, we band knowledge and ideas. That's not fair to the person who is banned from reading it, to the people who ban it, or to society in general. So much can be found through access to good books, whether they are controversial or not.

I'd rather my daughter approach a tough topic for the 1st time in a book, than in the MS cafeteria. #NCTEchat
— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) September 23, 2013

For me, personally, books have always been my lifeline. They are how I thrive and grow, how I find inspiration to create and understand the people around me. Books are everything to me. So when you censor my favorite book, "Perks of Being a Wallflower" because of its drugs, sex, and violence, are you guarding me from harmful material or leaving me defenseless in a world where those very themes run rampant? Are you cutting me off from the things that will harm me or from ideas that scare you? And what if those very ideas are the ones that help me make it through this unforgiving world we live in? What if those themes that run along the border of obscene or offensive tell me exactly the things I need to hear to get me through from one day to the next?

Everyone deserves access to the knowledge and information hidden within the pages of our favorite books. That's what libraries and schools are designed to do: introduce us to new ideas and information we never would have accessed otherwise. If we are constantly knocking those books out of the hands of students, what can we expect but that they'll eventually stop picking books up altogether? And if they stop picking up books, they will forever doom themselves to ignorance.

I could go on and on about this, but I won't. Instead, I'll leave you with a few lovely resources I've managed to come across in the last couple of days. I won't leave you with a list of banned books you ought to read, because you can find that with a quick Google Search. (Though I do hope that you'll pick up a banned book this week in honor of the occasion, which is exactly what I intend to do as soon as I finish reading American Gangster by Mark Jacobson. If you need help finding one for yourself, I do have a "Banned Books" tag on my book reviews that you can search.) Instead I'll leave you with some other lovely pages about censorship that you can check out for yourself:

• 11 Quotes from Authors on Censorship & Banned Books
• A Word on Censorship
• NCTE Banned Books Week Twitter Chat 2013
• Ten Books About Censorship for Kids & Teens

If you're reading a banned book this week, I'd love to hear about it. I think I'll be picking up I Know Why the Caged Bird sings by Maya Angelou. What about you?

Supporting Your Local Library

Most public libraries in the U.S. aren't nearly this huge.
Many are under-funded and in danger of being forgotten.

Those of you who aren't aware of the greatness that is Maureen Johnson's twitter account probably missed the great conversations she had with her followers yesterday. Basically, Maureen asked her followers (specifically the ones who are librarians) to give some advice on how the average person can support their local library.

I found each of the suggestions quite helpful and I wanted to share them with others who might need some new ideas on how to help a library near you. Let's do our best to show our support for libraries everywhere!

Here are the tweets that started off the conversation:

Maureen Johnson (MJ): I LOVE it when people take my book from the library. Money should never be a barrier to reading. There is a net gain when libraries are used.

MJ: I have a question for librarians: what are the best ways the AVERAGE PERSON can support the library? #longlivethelibrary

And the awesome responses:

Marie R.: @maureenjohnson 1)USE the library! 2) tell local politicians how important you think your library is 3) USE THE LIBRARY SOME MORE.

Jake Rideout: @maureenjohnson Aside from money? Check out books you want to keep on shelves. Attend events to keep programs going. Donate books to sales.

Sara Roberts: @maureenjohnson Use the library! Numbers matter. Check out books, movies, etc. Come to programs.

Jennifer Anne: @maureenjohnson But be nice to your librarian. Often staff, Salary, and benefits are cut before cuts are made to things public

MJ: All librarians saying USE the library. Good numbers matter to keeping the doors open! GO IN! CHECK OUT BOOKS! #longlivethelibrary

ClaraCharlotte: @maureenjohnson I personally financed the new wing of the Hamburg library by consistently paying late-fees ;) #longlivethelibrary

MRHS Library: @maureenjohnson Don't go around proliferating the stereotype of dust-ladened shelves and grey-bun shshhhing...today's library is keeping up!

Angie Manfredi: and talk about the library not only to politicians but to everyone - be "did you know/isn't this cool" for your library.

Lisa Bunker: One thing we need is a Dumbledore's Army of citizenry who understand what a #library offers in TODAY's world. Not the nostalgia.

I love hearing ideas on how to support libraries. I am a firm believer in the immense benefit they have on our communities and our society as a whole. Personally, books and school libraries are what helped me survive my elementary through high school years (ESPECIALLY my middle school years *cringe*). I want to do whatever I can to extend the wonderful benefits of a good library to whomever I can.

Maureen Johnson: author, adventurer, and all-around
awesome person.

And if you're not already following her on Twitter, Maureen Johnson show's she's not just a great novel writer -- she's also a lot of fun and very entertaining. Her handle is @maureenjohnson. Go check her out immediately . . . and don't forget to visit your library when you're done.

#longlivethelibrary

Stop What You're Doing and Read This!

"And imaginary though it was -- a world invented by poets and novelists -- it was as real to her as the world from which she was escaping. In fact, the books were less a wall than a ladder. By reading them, and learning from them, and then flourishing academically at school, she climbed up and away to freedom." -Blake Morrison

Stop What You're Doing and Read This! is an wonderfully composed collection of essays on the importance of reading. Ten intriguing literary minds each hash out what exactly is so great about reading, why we need stories, and why literature is such a great foundation for a healthy society.

Crafting their ideas with a literary expertise I found both stunning and intellectually stimulating, each of these writers gives explicit reasoning on why reading is such a great opportunity and why, in a world rife with technology, it's sometimes better to just sit down and read a book for a few hours.

As an avid reader and aspiring author, I found each new essay truly inspiring. Never have I been so excited not only to read, but to write as well. I've known, for as long as I can remember, that reading was important. It's always been a huge part of my life and the way I live it, but I have never heard it explained quite so eloquently as each of these essays did.

I would recommend it to anyone who values reading or wants to realize its full value. You should absolutely Stop What You're Doing and Read This!

Rating: ★★★☆☆

"Reading is primarily a symptom. Of a healthy imagination, of our interest in this and other worlds, of our ability to be still and quiet, of our ability to dream during daylight." -Mark Haddon