Books and Banned Books Week

Fall gives me this weird academic feeling no matter what year it is or how old I am. I always get the feeling like I should be studying for some sort of test or working on some sort of bullshit busy-work project, even if I don't have either to do... or even if I'm not in college like today (it's 6am, raining and I have nothing better to do right now, really).

But naturally with fall bringing scholarly tidings and joy (it's Christmas of Academia, you see) it also brings the best week of books - Banned Book week! This year the ALA has posted a lovingly rendered .pdf displaying the most challenged books of the last decade (2000-2009) and unsurprisingly the Harry Potter series is rocking it at number 1 for being a book about witches and shit. Still, it surprises me that people out there think that Harry Potter somehow espouses the idea of witchcraft, specifically Wicca. Having actually read shit about Wicca, I can tell you Harry Potter has nothing to do with that shit. No one's casting circles, calling down the goddess, or running through the woods naked on the equinox. I've never known anybody who got into witchcraft through Harry Potter at that - although I still have that childish dream that one day I should become a wizard, I just settled for the real-life equivalent of one, that being getting a PhD and a set of stylin' robes.

Of course I haven't been reading much of anything on the banned books list this year... mostly considering everything I've ever read on the list I've done for school. I would start reading more from the banned books list but I've already got a huge plate of things to be reading right now. Just from glancing at my "to-read" shelf above my desk, I will read:

-Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
-The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
-Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat
-Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- To Green Angel Tower part 2 by Tad Williams (woo, 700 pages long!!)
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien
-The Hobbit by Tolkien
- The Silmarillion by Tolkien
-Tsumetai yoru ni by Ekuni Kaori
-Tokage (Lizard) by Yoshimoto Banana
-The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
-Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith (saving this for Halloween)
-The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2nd attempt to get into this)
-The Belgariad by David Eddings

And I am currently reading Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic and just got done with Jim Butcher's Storm Front. I won't be writing any sort of review on Storm Front for now - there was way too many things that annoyed me in that book for me to remember at this point so a review on my end is a bit pointless. I will probably write something up about The Light Fantastic, however. Pratchett's work tends to get me in a writing mood.

Here's to fall.

Edit: I'm a dumbass and actually have more books listed on my Goodreads profile in my to-read shelf.