Hey there Indigo Bridge Bookers!You've heard a lot about how we have book clubs and now its time to hear about what we are doing in one.Young Adult (YA) book club has read from a variety of genres: from classics to fantasy.YA book club is always open for anyone to drop in.We have a whole group of people who can come this day but not that.We love keeping it loose and fun!We had a great summer and are excited to be moving into fall. In preparation for Halloween, our October 29th meeting will be on the manga version of The Nightmare Before Christmas(link: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780786838493).
Book club will be watching the movie(link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrB9I3DM80) from 6:00-7:15pm.This is open to the public for anyone who wants to have an evening movie with fun snacks.Following the movie, you are invited to stay and hear about the art of adaptation.We'll be discussing the manga format of the book, the move from stop-animation film into 2-D line drawing, and the difference in plot.We'll be wrapping up this discussion around 8 pm when Graphic Novel Book Club(link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=107784963380&ref=ts) starts their discussion of Batman: The Long Halloween(link: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781563894695).
In celebration of another book, Indigo Bridge Books will be having a Where the Wild Things Are This Halloween party.Indigo Bridge Books presents a safe alternative to traditional trick-or-treating. In celebration of Where the Wild Things Are we are having our own wild rumpus! From 7-8 pm we will have a costume contest, face painting, crafts, snacks, and some hot apple cider. Trick-or-treat here at the Creamery Building for a safe, fun, WILD Halloween.
Last week was Banned Books Week, in
which libraries, bookstores, and other organizations celebrated our
constitutionally-protected right to read. Though fairly uneventful here at
Indigo (save a well-stocked display of surprisingly-challenged books and handy
information), it has left me with an amplified sense of the duty that a
distributor of books has to the community.
I was
in contact with Pat Leach, director of Lincoln City Libraries, trying to come
up with slightly more grandiose activities to put on in the store. Although I
completely abdicated any attempt to do something creative with her information,
I did ponder on her suggestion that "Banned Books" week be changed to "Freedom
to Read "week. She mentioned that many people are confused and ask things like
"You guys ban books here?" At first I
laughed, but then got to more pondering; wouldn't we really be banning books by
not carrying influential books just because of their content? Where should we
draw the line on vulgarity vs. art, or banning a book of "dangerous" opinion,
for that matter?
Indigo
Bridge may be especially susceptible to this, because unlike many other
retailers, our stock is largely directed by the staff, meaning that personal
taste inevitably has sway on our selection. I think we have a pretty good mind
for fairness nonetheless. Although crazy lefties abound in our personnel, the
politics section contains plenty of titles by conservatives like Gingrich and
Mark Levin.We've got Naked Lunch and Clockwork Orange to mention only a couple of our classic titles
rife with vulgarity. Alright, so maybe our selections on the environment are
almost all about combating global warming and preserving the eco-system, but
after all, the amount of "global-warming-is-a-hoax" books we carry about
corresponds to the percentage of scientist who think that.
Why not
just only carry books that fit with our collective visions? If most of us here
really believe in deep societal change, why keep titles like Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative
Manifesto in stock? The value of freedom is something everyone agrees on,
although different conceptions of freedom can be night and day. Allowing someone to read whatever they want
and decide their opinion for themselves is fundamental to a democracy.
Obama-bots are as without foundation as Glen-Beck-a-trons; that is to say, no
opinion can be valid unless you understand your opinions in the context of
every piece of information at your disposal. So, for us to limit the
information we distribute based on what we believe is as detrimental to us as
it is to those who disagree with us.
Certainly
the same freedom must apply to fiction as well. Literature is "the lie through
which we tell the truth".Sexuality,
violence, vulgarity, etc., are all a part of our world just as are love and
decency. I recall reading Shiloh in
elementary school where the main "bad" character uses swear words. Our teacher
posed the fact that in real life, mean people don't usually say "darn it!" or
"shucks!". Even a works like The 120 Days
of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, easily the most gut-wrenching work of
literature I've ever read, are valuable not because they reflect real-life
(Sade has been sighted as the father of surrealism in fact), but because they present
a brilliantly conceived work of art and a masterful exposition of a philosophy.
I'm not saying you should let your young
adolescent read something like this, I'm saying that the greatest art isn't
always, if even usually, pristine and romantic.
Having
said all that, it seems apparent that fear of something beyond just obscenity
and various "isms" is at play. Looking at the statements of many community
members who want to take certain books off of the shelf, it's the fear that
their children will succumb to ideas that aren't theirs that is the real reason
behind censorship. No matter how much parents want to believe it, their children
are not perfectly programmable computers, nor are they completely corruptible
vessels of the unholy spirit. They are capable of making their own decisions
about morality, as we all have. The broader the scope of ideas we allow kids to
grapple with, the less the danger of them choosing a narrow mind, the kind of
mind that breeds prejudice and hatred.To
many parents, a broad mind in their kids may be a scary thing. To me, however,
there's nothing more comforting than to meet someone with an open mind.
