Banned Books Week wants you to think about the future

October is about to begin and along with the traditional spooky season festivities, something even scarier approaches; Banned Books Week,which runs from Oct.5-11 this year.

The annual celebration of our freedom to read has grown to frighteningly factional levels these days with the urgent need to protect books and ideas now more than ever in danger. Fortunately, many folks are fighting the good fight on this front such as George Takei, famed Star Trek actor as well as an author, playwright and activist who is this year’s honorary chair of Banned Books Week this time around.

 To salute this iconic superstar, I decided to focus on banned titles that deal with the consequences of future times, books that are still under fire today and beginning to seem too close to an actual tomorrow:

Since the tagline for BBW in 2025 happens to be “Censorship is so 1984”, it only makes sense to start with the George Orwell classic.

The novel has been challenged in many countries for it’s depiction of authoritarian rule and most recently in the US was on a banned book list in Iowa(citing it for sexual content) which was thankfully struck down by the courts.

Orwell’s living nightmare of a world where even your imagination was under the control of a tyrannical government still holds a strong influence today as terms such as “Big Brother” and “Thought Police” are part of our quick reference guide to political overreach. It’s the kind of story that you would seriously prefer to stay on the page rather than leak out into our shared reality indeed:

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins might seem like too recent an entry here but trust me, these books are being targeted by those who fear their influence.

In February of 2025, a school board in South Carolina held a vote to decide whether or not to ban the first book from a class discussing dystopian fiction (the end result was for keeping the book and offering an alternative choice for any student whose family had objections to that title). 

While most of the complaints about all of the books in this saga of children being forced to entertain the masses via a televised death match revolve around the violence and sexual content (of which there isn’t that much of), the one that stands out the most is anti-authoritarianism.

How interesting that the concept of young people questioning the rules of their society and banding together to rebel against oppression is very objectionable to many folks out there, even when no one side is exempt from criticism. It’s as if they’re afraid of being on the reckoning half of such an equation….:

Given the numerous legal challenges surrounding women’s reproductive rights of late, it’s not surprising that Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has become both pop culturally relevant and a recent subject of censorship at school board meetings.

While it has had international challenges as well, states in our own country such as Florida, Texas and Oregon have been putting this harrowing narrative of a woman trapped by a viciously patriarchal society to become a baby breeder for the oppressive elites on lists of books to be kept away from students. 

Never mind the fact that this book not only has been adapted for a movie readily available for viewing but was turned into an award winning TV series that even the least tech savvy person can find and watch to learn what all the fuss it is about. Why fear something that is “only a novel” unless it has plenty to say regarding our current state of alarming affairs..:

The ultimate novel on this topic is ,of course, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 

This portrayal of a world where a firefighter’s main duty is to burn books by order of the state has been challenged as recently as this year in Colorado where it was among other titles removed from school library shelves.

Thankfully it, along with the other disputed books, was restored by court order. The most particular objections to this science fiction classic focus on the language (the mildest of profanities are included) and violence yet what I truly suspect bothers certain parties quite a lot are the anti-intellectual goals of the authorities depicted here.

Suppression of deeper thought and shouting down rational discussions based upon true knowledge seems to be the 

dominant tactic of those who hate books for providing the basis for just such pushback against such self serving small mindedness. Bradbury adored libraries and if he was still with us, would first in line to protect them from being destroyed both from without and within our communities:

Banned Books Week starts this upcoming weekend and if you’d like to learn more about it, I have placed links in the second paragraph of this post to the official website for BBW there.

I know that there is so much to deal with right now when it comes to the state of the world right now yet all of that makes the fight to preserve our freedom to read freely more important these days. Do what you are able to do to encourage folks to protect our reading rights or at the very least, think about the future of reading and how it should be cherished for the readers both here and now as well as those awaiting their turn in the years to come.

Also, much thanks to George Takei for speaking out and standing up for the rights of others on his various social media platforms. His support for free expression is a beacon of hope to many of us worrying about the dark days ahead of us and taking some solace in the fact that we are not alone in wanting a better world for all:

Having a FrightFall film festival of fearful reading

Well, fall has officially arrived and I’m very enraptured by this season, especially since it heralds the beginning of FrightFall, the perfect excuse to indulge in scary books , courtesy of Seasons of Reading and Michelle Miller!

While you are only required to read just one sinister story ( in the genre of your choice, horror, mystery,etc), some of us do tend to dive into the deep end of the page turning pool and go for as many as we can cram into our trick or treat TBR piles. I keep my reading list at a minimum of three-with the option to switch out a book, if need be-and my theme was Horror Movie Adjacent, as my first pick will show:

Marked by Moonlight is the first entry in a paranormal romance series  by Sophie Morgan  that has a reluctant leading lady in Claire, a mild mannered schoolteacher who suddenly feels renewed upon a strange encounter with a stray dog one night.

Turns out that dog was actually a werewolf and, according to her new associate Gideon, if she can’t break the curse before the next new moon, Claire will become a lycan and it’s Gideon’s duty to take her down.

However, the two of them start to fall in love and the closer it gets to the new moon, the more intense the odds become for them both. Even if the curse isn’t undone in time, can their relationship survive beyond the night?

This does sound enchantingly fun and it would be great to get a werewolf romance made into a movie someday; as much as I adore vampires, it’s only fair to let the werewolves have their turn here:

Next up is one of my recent BOTM selections from Rachel Harrison, Play Nice.

When social media influencer Clio inherits the haunted family house from her recently deceased mother (who wrote a book about those harrowing days), she sees this as a prime opportunity for the ultimate in home makeovers.

However, perhaps her mom wasn’t exaggerating about the demon lurking in the walls there. After several strange occurrences, Clio finally reads the infamous book her mother wrote and begins to believe that this was more than just a suburban scary story. The evil within this dwelling may be truly terrifying in a very personal way.

I am planning to read this one first(in spite of the order of this listing) as Harrison is a new-to-me author that I have heard excellent word of mouth praise about and this premise brings back fun pop culture memories of The Amityville Horror (yes, I am old enough to remember when that franchise started!), quite the homeowner nightmare indeed:

For my finale, Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Woman seems to fit the bookish bill.

This twist on true crime has two women, Pamela(who survived an attack on her college dormitory) and Ruth(whose best friend was an early victim of the same man suspected in that later incident) teaming up to get justice for their mutual losses at the hands of a celebrated spree killer.

This novel was quite the sensation a couple of years ago, praised for keeping the fictional focus on the women rather than the man who gained notoriety for his brutal deeds. Personally, I do appreciate a solid story where women can get the upper hand on the slasher stalking them on and off screen and this book promises to deliver on that fearsome front nicely:

The FrightFall readathon starts on October 1st and lasts through out the month-more details can be found via the link in the top section of this post-and there’s plenty of time to sign up and join in the spooky seasonal fun!

While our daily headlines are certainly just as frightening as any horror movie, just remember that a good way to channel that anxiety is through a good book. At least with a book, you can always stop and mark your spot when you need a break from the terror within. Not to mention that it’s good to know that some nightmares can end with a turn of the last page.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of entertainment in all sorts of flavors, from ghoulishly sweet to darkly delicious and yes, Halloween is the best holiday for sugary indulgences of all sorts so do enjoy!:

 

Having a book haul to get ready for fall!

While the official start of autumn is next week, I have already begun to gather up a few books to settle into the season just right.

Even though Aardvark is no longer an option for me at this time, Better World Books(which donates a portion of every book sale made to literary programs) was ready with a back to school special that I happily took part in!

My first selection was The Davenports by Krystal Marquis, a YA historical fiction set in Chicago in 1910. The family of the title have a pair of daughters who are about to make their marks on society in very different ways.

 Olivia, the older sister, is set to marry an approved choice yet her heart and mind seems to changed once she meets  Washington, a charming lawyer and civil rights leader. Meanwhile, her sister Helen is more interested in becoming a mechanic yet has caught the eye of Jacob, the man Olivia is expected to wed.

Their brother John is not exempt from  such romantic struggles as two contemporaries vie for his attention; Amy-Rose,who is following in her mother’s footsteps as a maid while planning to own her own hair salon, and Ruby, a longtime friend of his older sister . Can these siblings find the best love for themselves without tearing their family apart?

The word of mouth from critics and readers on this book has been excellent and there is a sequel already out, plus plans to adapt this novel for streaming platforms. The praise I heard from BookTube already had me eager to check it out there.

Marquis has based this story upon a real life family from this time period (the Pattersons who started an automobile empire) and with shows like The Gilded Age bringing fresh interest to the history of the Black Elite, this promises to be a dazzling delight to read:

 I paired that with the fourth book in Evie Dunmore’s League of Extraordinary Women series, The Gentleman’s Gambit.

Our leading lady is Catriona, who prefers to focus on her writing and working for the cause of suffrage in England rather than indulge in romantic pursuits that often lead nowhere for her.

However, when her father receives a visit from Elías, a prominent new colleague in his academic circle, she finds herself having to play hostess, a distraction that Catriona doesn’t need or want, no matter how charming he seems to be.

Elías, on the other hand, is being strategic in his attentions to her as his true goal is not to study a particular set of artifacts that her father has access to but to reclaim them for his home country, where they rightfully belong. 

However, the mutual attraction between them slowly but surely conflicts with their mutual mistrust and perhaps more than one set of goals might be achieved together in an alliance of sorts. Can this be accomplished without too much risk to their futures, romantic and otherwise?

I do enjoy this series (reading the third book, Portrait of a Scotsman, as we speak) and find it a shame that is the final entry as these stories blend period romance and historical fiction as nicely as a warming cup of tea. Yet I am sure that Dunmore will have new fictional paths to lead us on and that this tale of an unexpected love match should be good until the last drop:

On the same day those books arrived, I happened to take an impromptu trip to the movies(saw Fantastic Four: First Steps and it was amazingly good!) and while at the mall-yes, those still exist-I picked up a paperback mystery that has great potential for a fun read.

Everytime I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies is quite the eye catching title and this is the first in a new series by Catherine Mack, featuring a writer of mystery novels who finds herself in hot water while on her latest book tour.

Eleanor Dash has become a very successful author of the Vacation Mysteries but not without the help of detective Connor Smith, who insists upon his share of the royalties from the books despite his lack of input beyond being named as the main character.

This tour in Italy is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first entry in the series and Eleanor is planning to rid herself of the fictional Connor by killing him off in the next book. Only thing is, someone is trying to do away with the real world Connor and possibly even Eleanor as well , with a variety pack of suspects all around them to choose from!

Could it be Eleanor’s sister Harper, who put her own literary dreams aside to be her more popular sibling’s personal assistant? Or is it Alison, Connor’s ex-wife and author of a very personal account of their less than idyllic relationship? Perhaps a diehard fan who finds the whole notion of ending the series worth killing for? 

Regardless of who, the ultimate question is how to find the killer before their actions close this chapter of Eleanor and Connor’s lives for good.

This book does sound like fun in a Knives Out sort of way and I am ready to do some serious page turning with it this season for sure:

So, between these new additions to my TBR, along with a few library loans and BOTM selections, my reading for fall is pretty well set. Still making plans for the FrightFall readathon next month, plus a personal challenge of cozy reading in November (we shall see) but all in all, a rather respectable lineup.

Yes, it may seem trivial in light of ongoing events but you know what? I refuse to put my creative life on hold while all of this seemingly endless awfulness is dominating the headlines and affecting our lives for the worst. While I am able to do what I can for the greater good within my own small set of circumstances, enriching my imagination is a right that I will not surrender.

With the world upping its chaos levels to eleven right now, taking a break from all of that is essential to keep our collective spirits up as well. Reading can be escapist but it’s also a good way to renew our weary hearts and minds. A good book, movie, TV show or song, can do wonders in this department and while they’re not the complete solution, these pastimes are helpful to maintain our purpose as we go forward towards better days.

Speaking of TV, I have two cable channels showcasing Gilmore Girls on slightly different seasonal tracks now and that alone is beneficial to my emotional health.

 I would much rather debate who was the better boyfriend for Rory (Team Jess all the way here and yes, he does have plenty of flaws but Logan is much worse, in my opinion!)than get into other online arguments these days. Plus, more excuse for book talk with this show and a perfect way to anticipate autumn as it drops those gorgeous leaves and gives us sweater weather:

Stocking up for Spooky Season w/ my September BOTM box

Finally,after taking a book buying break this August, I was able to fulfill a promise to myself by shopping in September, beginning with Book of the Month Club.

Given that most people are eager for October (aka spooky season)to begin already,much like the stores putting out candy corn by the first day of school, BOTM had a few fearsome  offerings this month that I snapped up quick. 

For my Main Selection, it was Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. Our leading lady is Clio, an influencer who has just inherited the house that her mother Alex has claimed for years to be haunted by a demonic presence. Alex even took that belief far enough to publish a book about what she experienced.

Upon her mother’s sudden death, Clio sees this as an opportunity to do the ultimate house flip , a notion that neither of her sisters is at all interested in. She’s willing to go this route alone yet along the way, starts to learn a few family secrets that not only could validate her mother’s claims but change her own life for the worse in more ways than one.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Rachel Harrison’s work and very thrilled to check her newest book(an early release from BOTM) for a specially themed readathon this fall. This novel does feel rather timely as the saying goes, home is where the horror is….:

When it came to picking add ons, my first choice was the latest by T. Kingfisher,Hemlock & Silver, a sinister sorcery take on the classic Snow White story.

Anja has made the study of poisons her specialty as a healer and her knowledge of them, along with their antidotes, brings royal trouble right to her door.

Requested by the king himself to discover what is ailing his daughter Snow, Anja reluctantly journeys to the isolated estate where the regal family lives and while Snow is quite ill( and a bit ill tempered as well), the cause is not easily known.

Nevertheless, Anja is determined to find out what is causing the princess to be as physically sick as she is, with the assistance of Javier, a royal bodyguard. The two of them find Snow eating a rather odd looking apple one day, a clue that leads to a darkly dangerous discovery of a mirror world that reveals less than it reflects…

I do love a twisted take on fairy tales and my favorite Disney villain happens to be the Evil Queen from Snow White(yes, she was wicked but she had style!), so this book sounds like my cup of poisonous tea indeed:

To round this terrifying trio out, I went with The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas.

Set in Mexico during the 1800s, our title heroine has fled with her family to a small mining town to escape the plague ravaging their city.

Her fiancé Carlos is happy to have Alba and her family stay with him but all is not calm and peaceful as it should be. For one, his cousin Elías has newly arrived from Spain, planning to chime in on the silvery wealth of his relatives and who has an instant attraction to Alba.

While Alba feels the same, she’s more concerned about her strange new habits of sleepwalking and bizarre visions that have developed since she got to town. All too soon, it appears that an unholy force has taken hold of her and the only real help that she can get is from Elías. Can Alba save her soul and her heart from what is determined to claim both?

Canas has a relatable nuance to her terror tales, focusing strongly on the emotional elements that dominate her characters just as equally as the otherworldly threats that are facing them. 

Possession stories are more than just scary faces and shocking moments; they’re metaphors for internal conflict that forces one person to be the catalyst for others to reveal their true nature. Having read and enjoyed her prior novels (Hacienda, The Vampires of El Norte), I have no doubt that Isabel Canas will deliver the gruesome yet glorious goods here:

As happy as I am to be getting some Book of the Month Club reads, sadly, my time with Aardvark has come to an end. It’s just not in my budget right now but I did get some wonderful books from them(a few that I still need to catch up with) and would gladly recommend Aardvark to anyone preferring a more offbeat selection of new reads.

In the meanwhile, I do have plans for one or perhaps two of these books to be on my FrightFall TBR later this season-stay tuned for that announcement!

 The way things are going these days, looking forward to some serious trick or treat time that involves a good scary read and perhaps a snappy spooky song to hum along as I turn the pages with fearsome delight:

 

My High Summer of Reading was quite the playlist of love

 

Happy September, folks and I hope you all enjoyed a good Labor Day weekend. Mine was spent finishing up one  last book for Seasons of Reading‘a High Summer Readathon (hosted by Michelle Miller) it was time well worth it, indeed.

Before I talk about that book, let’s start at the beginning with Last Night Was Fun by Holly Michelle (who has written YA novels under the name Holly James). The title refers to a strange text message received by Emmy , whose sole purpose in life is to get a major league promotion at work, which happens to be a statistical analyst for a baseball team. She has no social life beyond helping her younger sister plan her big destination wedding so this text is a real puzzler.

As it turns out, the guy sending this message thought he was talking to the woman that he had just been on a date with and despite what he assumed, that feeling about their evening wasn’t shared. The fake phone number he got happens to Emmy’s and once that mystery is cleared up, the two of them form a text-only relationship that slowly yet surely becomes more than just idle chatter.

All too soon, Emmy is in need of a plus-one for her sister’s wedding and takes a chance by asking her new texting partner to go with her. However, that partner is revealed as Gabe, her coworker and rival for the big promotion! Can the two of them put their professional issues aside to pursue a more personal connection together?

While this does sound very romcom, Holly Michelle brings a solid dose of character development and sly wit to this story, making her supporting players just as engaging as the leads are there. The genre tropes are well woven into the plot but they don’t run roughshod over the initial story at all.

Plus, it was nice to see Emmy and Gabe have one big thing in common and that is their mutual love of baseball which makes their statistical work more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s the fine touches like that which makes this book a home run read:

Next up was Danica Nava’s debut novel, The Truth According to Ember, which also had a workplace theme. Ember has been trying to get the accounting job of her dreams but thirty seven rejections have a way of making her feel  permanently stuck at the bottom of the career ladder.

After tweaking her resume, she does an interview at a tech company, which starts off as a great opportunity for steady and stable work. Before she knows it, Ember winds up as a temporary executive assistant to the big boss, a position that she’s determined to do well in despite being overwhelmed by the sudden shift in gears.

It does help to have a new work friend, Danuwoa, the kind hearted IT guy who is happy to lend a hand when needed. However, Ember is worried about the no dating coworkers rule at work causing both of them to lose their jobs. Regardless of that, they do develop feelings for each other but many of Ember’s falsehoods begin to stand in the way of their potential romantic future together. Can she tell the truth without too many painful consequences?

Nava blends romcom energy with realistic elements to make her first romance novel stand out in the best sense of the term. Her characters are well rounded and fully nuanced, not to mention that the class and race struggles that her leading lady deals with enhance the complexities that she finds herself in.

It’s a riveting page turner that reminds me greatly of the classic workplace romcom Working Girl, with it’s moments of wit, social satire and vested interest in seeing Ember achieve her dreams, professional as well as personal:

And now for the book I spent my Labor Day with; instead of pursuing Passion Project, I wanted to keep on going with workplace centered romance and went with The Build-a-Boyfriend Project by Mason Deaver.

Eli is stuck in a rut at his job with the online magazine Vent, tired of being just an assistant and not getting to write the meaningful stories that Vent used to be known for. Plus, he has to work with Keith, a former boyfriend who seems to be advancing much more in his job than Eli is.

At the suggestion of his roommate, Eli goes on a blind date with Peter, who doesn’t have a lot of friends in town. The date is quite the train wreck as Peter shows up over a hour late, constantly answers his phone for work calls and spills more than one food or drink on Eli.

However, Eli may be disappointed but finds it hard to get mad at Peter, who truly has no dating experience as an adult coming from a remote part of the South with no real interaction with his peers in the community.

This leads Eli into getting an assignment from his boss to write about his bad first date as the snarky title social experiment. Eli prefers to write a more positive article about Peter’s emotional experiences and while hoping to convince his boss to publish the latter, Eli also works on the former and gets Peter to take dating lessons from him.

As time goes by, Eli and Peter learn a lot from each other, finding out  that they have  much more in common than they realized. While neither of them intend to get too connected emotionally by mutual agreement, that bond eventually happens and when push comes to shove, Eli has to take real risks with his life and work. Will Peter have to suffer for Eli’s mistakes or is that a lesson they need to learn apart from each other?

Much like the first book I read for this readathon, Deaver is well known for their YA novels and that experience with character growth is brilliantly displayed here with heartfelt emotions, good humor and well earned moments of personal truth. Despite his mistakes, Eli is a lead that you continue to root for and Peter with his gentle soul is such a sweetheart to behold.

I do love a slow burn setup and this one delivers, with a wonderful cast of supporting characters and enough charm for a dozen romcom movies there. One of the novel’s themes is dealing with being unable to connect with your adult peers romantically when you didn’t have any opportunities in your younger years(especially as part of an oppressed social group in a remote section of the country) and it’s such a touchstone element among others in this book that makes it one of the best things that I’ve read this year:

Well, that was certainly a great way to end the summer and much thanks to Michelle Miller for giving us a good reason to enjoy this sweaty season with a stack of books under the nearest AC unit!

Hope everyone else who joined had a great reading time as well and will be ready for like Freddy(Krueger, that is) for the FrightFall readathon this October. As for me, my pile of spooky season reads are growing in a scary fashion indeed , almost with demonic flair, you could say….: