Review: THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Book Beginnings quote: 

November 28, 1905. Princeton, New Jersey.                                                                     The Old North bell tolls the hour, and I realize that I'll be late.

Friday56 quote:

May 28, 1906. New York, New York.                                                                                      As I step into the vestibule of the Vanderbilt mansion, I am surrounded by women in extraordinary gowns with bodices gleaming with crystals and pearls, and men in white-tie formal wear, and I must force myself not to gape.

Summary: In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J.P. Morgan to curate his collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built J. Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York society and one of the most powerful women in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating skills, helping Morgan build a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. If anyone finds out she is "colored" her whole world would come crashing down. She must protect her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives. This is her story.

Review: I am a reader of two minds about this book. First, this is a captivating story about a real Black woman who successfully passed as white for nearly fifty years. I am admire all that Belle da Costa Greene was able to accomplish just as a woman in the days when men dominated all aspects of business and society. Her confidence and skills at organizing the library and then negotiating sales of new acquisitions were admirable. I also recognize how much she gave up to pull off this feat every single day, including losing her relationship with her father and most of her extended family. She must have felt very alone a good deal of the time, living on the knife's edge, where she could be found out at any minute instantly destroying not only her reputation and everything she had done for the library, but also the lives of her whole family.

On the other hand, the story read a little like a soap opera. I couldn't figure out if it was just the tone of the writing -- let's make this sound more exciting than it probably was -- or was Belle da Costa Greene's actual life a little like a real soap opera? When everyone at book club expressed these same feelings I realized it wasn't just me. Sometimes I have to chide myself for how snobby I can be about books I don't think are particularly well written. To their credit, however, both authors left notes at the end of the book explaining how they were able to use information from primary documents and how they had to guess at details that weren't fully fleshed out. For example, it is known that Greene's father lived in Chicago. It is also known that Greene took a non-business oriented trip to Chicago. The authors guessed Greene was visiting her father. Finding out these types of details helped me feel better about the book in general.

Interestingly after I got home from book club, I thought of a question no one thought to ask -- When did it become known that Belle da Costa Greene, who worked at the JP Morgan library from 1905-1947 before retiring, was a Black woman passing as white? I looked it up. The answer is 1999. Someone found her birth certificate which had the names of her parents and her race marked as "colored." I'd say she did a good job keeping her secret if it took folks nearly 100 years before they discovered the truth about her race and her real identity.

My rating: 4 stars.

Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

-Anne

TTT: Matching Yankee Candle Scents to Books

Top Ten Tuesday: 

Matching Yankee Candle Scents to Books

Today's prompt asks us to name a candle scent that comes to mind when thinking of a particular book. I extended the prompt to a specific candle company, Yankee Candle Co., and I did the opposite. When I looked at the names of their candles I chose books that came to mind. 

Please note, I have no idea what these candles actually smell like, I've sniffed none of them. Some of my choices are based solely on titles. For example, Cider House Rules by Irving and the Yankee Candle name "Ciderhouse" were an obvious pairing. Others were selected based on what I know of the plot. For example, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban the characters visit an apothecary in Diagon Alley. For more Yankee Candle ideas, check out their website: Yankee Candle Co. They have such creative names for their candles.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling -- Yankee Candle scent: "Apothecary Potions."

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon -- Yankee Candle scent: "Phantom Bookshop."

Isola by Allegra Goodman -- Yankee Candle scent: "Ocean Air."

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare -- Yankee Candle scent: "Midsummer's Night."

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter -- Yankee Candle scent: "Sicilian Lemon."

House Lessons: Renovating a Life by Erica Bauermeister -- Yankee Candle scent: "Home Sweet Home."

Cider House Rules by John Irving -- Yankee Candle scent: "Ciderhouse."

North Woods by Daniel Mason -- Yankee Candle scent: "Mountain Lodge."

The Wedding People by Alison Espach -- Yankee Candle scent: "Warm Luxe Cashmere."

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett -- Yankee candle scent: "Witches' Brew."

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This was fun. How did I do? Can you think of any books to match these Yankee Candle scents?

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- Church Family Camp

First annual SOTH Church Family Camp at Millersylvania State Park Retreat Center

Weather: Weather this weekend was lovely (see photo collage) with clear blue skies in the day and starry nights. Today, however, is another story -- grey, cloudy with light rain.

Church Family Camp, a personal history -- I cut my eye-teeth on church family camp. My dad, a campus pastor, would often take groups of students to church camp during the summer. My mom, a nurse, would come along to serve as camp nurse and so us four kids would tag along and join in the fun. I have very clear memories of my parents dressing up in costumes for some evening program at Camp Lagawa in Southern Oregon and helping my dad and a student crew open up Camp Loon Lake for the season by clearing brush and setting up teepees. For many of my teen years our whole church would gather at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast every Labor Day Weekend, where we not only ate and worshipped together but also played together. It was at one of these family camps where I took my first (and only) ride on a donkey and it didn't end well for me. I loved family camp because I, a kid, not only had a group of friends to pal around with all weekend but I also got to know many of the adults in my church as people. I also discovered a truth often spoken about in the Bible -- God often feels closer to us in nature. This led me to to seek out other camping opportunities often at church camps for teens and pre-teens. Read about those experiences in my blog post here: Wonderful Remembrances and a Blessing.

Church Family Camp, cont. -- After Don and I got married and started attending our current church, Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church (SOTH), we started attending the yearly church camping trip to Grayland State Park on the Washington Coast. Unlike the previous church family camp experiences of my youth, we actually camped -- tents, sleeping bags, cooking on camp stoves, etc. -- but our neighbors on either side of us and in many of the campsites at the state park were from our church. When the kids were little they would run from campsite to campsite, playing with other children with adults, who knew and loved them, keeping an eye on them at every spot. We had sand castle competitions, volleyball games, and worship services -- all on the beach. These are some of our happiest church-y memories.We camped this way for years but then the reservation system for Washington State Parks changed and we could not get campsites next to each other any longer and, as happens, our children grew up. Eventually our congregation abandoned our annual church family camping trips.

Church Family Camp, this year -- This year a team of interested persons from our church decided to resurrect the family camp. A site was selected which is another state park but with a retreat center. Like the Camp Magruder experiences of my youth, we stayed in cabins, had a lodge to gather in, ate food cooked in a kitchen which we all shared. The days were filled with recreation opportunities, nature walks, volleyball games, and small group bible  studies and prayer sessions. You see from the collage there was boating and campfires. My grandson was an instant pro on the paddleboard. He started on his knees but was soon up on his feet with no lessons. Other than sleeping on bunk beds in musty sleeping bags I didn't remember we had, the weekend was so fun. My favorite part was the discussions we had with different individuals and groups. At one point Don and I took our folding chairs down to the lake, found a spot in the shade, and had long, meaningful conversations with whomever walked by or sat with us for a while. Our youngest grandson, Jamie, exclaimed, within an hour of arriving at camp, he wants to come again next year. That's the spirit!

Gary, Linda, Don, and I at a Mariners Game this past week.

50th Reunion fun extended -- This was the summer of both of our 50th high school class reunions. In preparation for and during the event I reunited with a special high school (and junior high) friend, Gary and met his wonderful wife, Linda. As we were chatting about our lives we discovered we were both Seattle Mariners baseball fans. When we discovered that Gary and Linda had never been to a home game at T-Mobile Stadium we extended an invitation for them to come up and join us for a game, spending the night at our house. They accepted the invitation and this past week came up for a memorable experience. The game turned into a defensive battle which went into extra innings as the score was tied at the end of regulation play. The game was finally won by a pinch-hitter who came into the game and hit a home run on the first pitch to him in the 13th inning! We had so much fun! Even though Gary and I have known each other since 7th grade, we've now extended our friendship to include our spouses.

Books and blogging:  I'm still working on the same books as last week with the exception of the two books I finished this week: How to Solve Your Own Murder by Perrin which I rated with 3.5 stars and Isola by Goodman which earned a 4 star rating from me,. The other books I'm still working on:

• There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib -- A memoir of sorts. I identified this as one of 2024 best books. The writing is spectacular. Audiobook with Don. 74% complete.
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. My 12-page-a-day classic book also part of Austen 250 Challenge. Print. 30% complete.
• The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict. A selection for tomorrow's book club. About the personal secretary of JP Morgan who, in 1910s, was a black woman passing for a white person. Audio and print, I am devoting today to finishing this book. 74% complete.
• Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town Who Looked Away by Candy Cooper. A nonfiction YA books about judges who send children to prison for money in a Kids for Cash scheme. Terrible! Print. 26% complete.

Blog posts this past week you may have missed:

• Short reviews: The Serviceberry; The Vegetarian; Death in the Jungle (about Jonestown and Jim Jones)
• TTT: Literary Villains
• Review: The Names

8 and 5. Pokemon and Hot Wheels.

Today, Monday, we celebrate the birthdays of our two grandsons: Ian turned 8 on Saturday and his brother, Jamie is 5 tomorrow. I'll circle back and include a cake photo if it turns out any good later this evening. Jamie started school, pre-K, this past week. This photo, taken by his dad shows him walking down the hall with his special friend, Bruce, in his backpack. 

Late: I had intended to post this entry yesterday, Sunday, after we got home from camp but I was too pooped-out and I gave up halfway through the journaling and went to bed.

Have a good week!

-Anne

Review: THE NAMES

Title: The Names by Florence Knapp

Book Beginnings quote:

Cora's mother always used to say children were whipped up by the wind, that even the quiet ones would come in after playtime made wild by it. Cora feels it in herself now, that restlessness. Outside, gusts lever at the fir trees behind the house and burst down the side passage to hurl themselves at the gate. Inside, too, worries skitter and eddy. Because tomorrow -- if the morning comes, if the storm stops raging -- Cora will register the name of her son. Or perhaps, and this is her real concern, she'll formalize who he will become.

Friday56 quote:

Sometimes he is benign, sometimes stern, always maleficent. A word so close to magnificent, she thinks, a word sent off-course by maleness.

Summary: The year is 1987. A son has been born to Cora and Gordon, a doctor by profession -- kind to his patients by day but a monster to his wife/family by night. The day after the storm (see the opening quote) Cora has been tasked with registering the boy's name after his father, Gordon, but Cora is afraid that name will make him into another monster like his father. As Cora and her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, walk to the registrar's office they talk about names. Cora dislikes the name Gordon, "the way it starts with a splintering wound that makes her think of cracked boiled sweets, then ends with a downward thud like someone slamming down a sports bag." Cora wants to name the boy Julian, which she learned from the baby book means "sky father," a meaning which might placate her husband. Maia, on the other hand, likes the name Bear. She thinks it sounds "all soft and cuddly and kind...also brave and strong."

In a sliding door tale, each of the three names are selected. Three names, three futures, three consequences, all laid out in a pattern of seven year intervals for the next 35 years. The reader meets Gordon/Julian/Bear and sees how each life path is altered by the difference of a name.

Review: The Names is a well-crafted story which may feel a little formulaic with the seven-year intervals. Because of the jumps the details of Gordon/Julian/Bear's life (lives?) seemed disjointed and left me wondering at what happened next. Aside from the obviously awful and possibly triggering details of the spousal abuse, the story unfolded in surprising ways and I thought the writing was beautiful. Reread the Friday56 quote (which isn't from page 56 but I don't have a physical copy of the book so who knows which page it's from?) and you will see what I mean. In the bad times, the word-smithery made the story soar. The patchwork quilt of stories were cleverly sewn together. Minor characters in one thread, were major characters in another. Sometimes I would get confused whose story was being told, especially since I was listening to the audiobook and didn't have the option of looking back for clues, but I could usually figure things out. Despite the interesting premise, the book left me with the understanding that it is not so much our names as it is the decisions we make which shift the balance and may lead to futures which are unpredicted. 

At the conclusion of the story, Knapp spends a few pages on the definitions of all the names of characters in the book and I could see how carefully she selected each name.

This is a book club selection for an upcoming meeting. These questions all seem to get to points I'd like to discuss so I won't add any questions of my own this month: Reading Guides/The Names.

My rating: 4.25 stars.

-Anne

TTT: Literary Villains

Top Ten Villains in Literature

1. Bob Ewell (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)-the evil racist who who attacks Scout and who wrongly accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter
2. Humbert Humbert (Lolita by Nabokov)- is the ultimate creepy, creepy guy.
3. Inspector Javert (Les Miserables by Hugo)- he pursues Jean Valjean for 19 years.
4. Miss Trunchbull (Matilda by Dahl)- She is mean, mean, mean to little kids.
5. Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca by du Maurier)- She is so devoted to the first wife, she tries to lure the second wife to commit suicide.
6. Cathy Ames (East of Eden by Steinbeck) - She is so cold, cold, cold. A sociopath to the -nth degree.
7. Dr. Frankenstein (Frankenstein by Shelley) - the monster wasn't the villain. The doctor who created him was. He was playing God.
8. Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey) - Her rules were more important than truly caring for her patients' mental health.
9. Ridgeway (The Underground Railroad by Whitehead) - The slave-hunter is relentless in his pursuit of runaway slaves.
10. Voldemort (The Harry Potter series by Rawling) - He who should not-be-named is the biggest villain of them all!
11. Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Pride and Prejudice by Austen) - She is a snob and thinks she can boss everyone around because she thinks she is better than them.

-Anne

Short Reviews: THE SERVICEBERRY; THE VEGETARIAN; DEATH IN THE JUNGLE

Eek! I was a reading fiend this summer and not a reviewing fiend. Today I looked through the list of all the books I haven't reviewed. I apologized to some of them which I won't review, and determined I did have at least a few words I'd like to say about these books.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Scribner, 2024. 120 pages.

I enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass by Wall Kimmerer when I read it two years ago. I saw The Serviceberry on the shelves of my local bookstore but I assumed, without picking it up, it was just an illustrated gift book version of the first, so I didn't need to read it. I was wrong. I was looking for a book about economics for a reading challenge and this was on the list of suggested titles.

In The Serviceberry, Wall Kimmerer, an indigenous biologist, considers the ethics of reciprocity in a gift economy as she harvest berries next to the birds who are eating them (and spreading the seeds for future plants.) A gift economy is one where everyone has enough and doesn't take more than they need. Sharing out of abundance (think about your zucchinis and tomatoes this time of year) rather than hoarding what you have while others have to struggle to get by. This is what happens in the capitalistic form of economics which is based on scarcity and each man for himself.  “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

Both my husband and I were very touched by this short book. It's descriptions of ways we can move to a more gift or spirit-filled economy brought us hope for our future. 

Here is the first serviceberry plant I saw on our hike in Montana. Since the fruit wasn't ripe in June I had to identify the plant by its leaves.

On a related but a side note, this summer I saw my first serviceberry plant, with its unripe fruit, in the mountains of Montana, where huckleberries are king. I was standing over the plant trying to figure out if what I was seeing was a huckleberry plant and my son-in-law pointed out the leaves were all wrong. That led me to do some investigation when we returned from our hike, and I discovered I had been hovering over a serviceberry bush. This realization made me think of the book I'd neglected to pick up at the bookstore, The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Everything in my brain always seems to circle back to books. Ha!

My rating: 5 stars.

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The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from Korean by Deborah Smith

Hogarth, 2007. 188 pages.

Yeong-hye lives with her husband and has a typical marriage. Waking from a nightmare one morning she renounces eating meat as a way to purge the blood and brutality in her mind. First her husband and then her sister, and eventually her whole family gets involved, trying to force her to stop the nonsense and return to eating meat. This has disastrous effects, not only for Yeong-hye but also for her marriage, and for her relationships within her family. "Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her."

As you can see from the cover, Han Kang won the Nobel Prize for her writings, including The Vegetarian. I, unbelievably, had never even heard of the book or the author until last November during the Novellas in November challenge when it was brought to my attention by another participant. I didn't care for the book at all, though I admit the writing was gripping. The story was so bleak and all the characters so awful. But the description of it being Kafkaesque are so true. The story was so surreal and disorienting. For this reason, I am glad I read it, but it is unlikely I will ever tell anyone else to read it.

My rating: 3 stars.

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Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming

Anne Schwartz Books, 2025. 346 pages.

It has almost been 50 years since the notorious Jim Jones persuaded 900 of his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch and commit "revolutionary suicide" in the jungle of Guyana. But how did he do it?

Using first-person accounts, author Candace Fleming reveals many details of Jim Jones' upbringing during the Depression, his founding of a church, The Peoples Temple, based on the promises of equality and justice in first Indianapolis, then California, and finally in the jungles of South America.Also detailed were all the mind-control techniques he used to attract and keep devoted followers, even willing to kill themselves to show their ultimate devotion to him. Among the survivors of that tragic massacre was Steven Jones, Jim Jones son, who stood up to his father over and over again, but was unable to stop the tragedy from happening in the end.

The other day I told my sister some of the details I learned from the book and described how this was not just an indictment of dumb people who followed a nefarious cult leader. But how this is a story of good-hearted people who were attracted to the ideals and then drawn in by the community, and eventually ended up unable to leave it, even though many tried. As I was describing all this to my sister, my husband, who was listening in, chirped up and said. "We're all suckers for books and shows about cults." Yes. But this booked helped me see beyond the cult. It also spoke to me of human needs and how government/churches/society often treat people very unjustly and how people crave to be part of something bigger than themselves. Think about Trump and his MAGA hordes. He does awful things, like Jones who used drugs and had sex with many women, and his followers lower their own standards to still be in agreement with him. It is frightening to think about. People are so easily led astray.

As a YA nonfiction title I did spend a bit of time thinking about Death in the Jungle in teenager hands. I worry it is a bit long for that population at 346 pages. Would teenagers have the patience to digest so much information on one topic, unless, like my husband, they are fascinated by cults? I'm just not sure. I had the hardest time getting teens to read any nonfiction in my library but I think if a librarian really sold it, they would find it as interesting and revealing as I did.

My rating; 4.25 stars.

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- celebrating the last days of summer

Rainier National Park: Reflection Lake, View of the Cascades with Mt. Adams in the far background, Box Canyon, and Eastside Trail alongside Ohanapecosh River

Weather: (A few hours before game time in Eugene) Overcast. (Praying) It won't be booger hot during the game.

Summer season 2025 officially over: Here are some silly final updates:

• Yearly licence plate game -- We look for and record all 50 states' licence plates + Washington, DC between Memorial Day and Labor Day-- How'd we do? We saw 47 states. States not seen: Rhode Island, Delaware, Mississippi, and Washington, DC.
• Number of National Parks visited -- Two: Glacier and Mt. Rainier (See photo above of our day after the last day of summer trip to Mt. Rainier.)
• Book Challenges:
• 20 books of Summer Challenge: I read 47 books. (I was a reading monster this summer!)
• Big Book 2025 Summer Challenge: Nine of the above mentioned books were over 400 pages long.
• Goodreads Summer Challenge: Another nine books on the list qualified for the Goodread challenges, which I completed.
• Paris in July Challenge: I had a lot of fun doing French-related things all July which included reading two books set in Paris, making three french recipes, watching the Tour du France, and attempting to read a middle grade book in French.
• See my blog post summary of these challenges here.

Grand Adventure 2.0: Boys playing in surf and sand; a tailgate picnic; GPS thinks we are in the middle of the Pacific when we drive onto the beach (allowed in Washington State) and everyone thought this was hilarious; boys on the tsunami tower in Westport; the book I was reading while wrapped up in a coat and beach towel; the fog is so thick I can't see the ocean and the boys are just dark smudges; we did get one kite up but this one vexed us. 

Update on the Grand Adventure 2.0 (Grandparents + grandsons): We really had a lot of fun but the weather was a challenge. A weird phenomenon occurs at the coast sometimes when it is really hot inland. We experienced cold and foggy weather at the beach, especially in the morning. If you look at the grey photo in the collage it is a photo of my husband and the boys down at the surf. I am standing at the high tide line and can't even see the ocean from where I am standing. We listened to audiobook version of How to Train Your Dragon. It was a perfect choice for us. As my husband said, "It is a boy book."

"Puff the Magic Dragon": Wednesday was the last day babysitting a grandson during the school day. For the past seven years, since his older brother, Ian, was an infant, we've watched a grandson at least one day a week during the school year. Jamie starts Pre-K next week so this precious time with our grandsons has come to an end. As Don was driving Jamie home, "Puff the Magic Dragon" came up on the playlist of kid songs. One verse begins with the line: "A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys." Don says he quietly choked up while he and Jamie were singing along to Peter, Paul & Mary. So sweet.

Don and his brother meet up for a quick chat before the game starts. The skies were overcast until the 3rd quarter and then it started to get hot but booger hot.

Football Season has begun: We are in Eugene for our first football game of the year this weekend. You'll get sick of hearing about this since we have season tickets and go to every home game. One bonus to all the driving we'll be doing is lots of extra audiobooks completed. I'm already creating a list in my head of all the books I want us to listen to together.

Books and blogging:

• Currently reading
• Tiny Habits: Small Changes that Change Everything by Fogg. I am practicing some of suggestions for making new habits. Print, 52% complete.
• How to Solve Your Own Murder by Perrin. A mystery. Audiobook, 11% complete.
• Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict. A book club selection about an actual person. Print. 5% complete.
• Isola by Goodman. A historical novel based on a real event from the 1500s. Audiobook. 73% complete.
• Completed since last update:
• Candide by Voltaire. Don and I listened to this together. Thank goodness, too. I needed him to explain its significance to me.
• How to Train Your Dragon by Cowell. Audiobook we listened to on our Grand Adventure with the boys. Good choice. 
• Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights edited by Perez. An excellent resource on the perils of book banning and censorship. Pint.
• The Final Solution by Chabon. An unfortunate choice for the audiobook selected for a car trip with our daughters. None of us liked it. Carly rated it highest at 2.75 and Rita with a 1 star rating was the lowest. Don and I rated between those numbers, which makes our average around 2 stars. Ugh.
• The Names by  Knapp. A book club selection for this month. Audiobook.
• Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of  Jonestown by Candace Fleming. A YA book about in the infamous Jonestown massacre. Print.
• Blog posts you might have missed:
• TTT: Favorite National Park Memories
• YA Review: Song of the Blackbird
• How I Did on My Summer Reading Challenges
• TTT: Book Titles Related to Occupations

Feeling discouraged by the news? Don't get discouraged. Stay engaged. Do the work.

-Anne

Review: BANNED TOGETHER: OUR FIGHT FOR READER'S RIGHTS

Banned Together:Our Fight For Reader's Rights is a collection of essays, short stories, memoirs, graphic novels/biographies, poems, and lists of books and resources by YA authors who have recently found themselves in the same club -- authors with at least one banned book.

The editor, Ashley Hope Pérez, the the author of a 2016 Printz Honor book, Out of Darkness. Her book has become one of the most banned or challenged books since 2021. She and sixteen authors and illustrators share their personal narratives to clever comebacks aimed at censorship, all "confronting the high-stakes question of what is lost when books are taken away from young readers."

When I was a teen librarian I would always make a big deal of the perils of censorship during the ALA Banned Books Week -- this year's dates are Oct. 5-11, 2025. I would place posters around the school and do all kinds of provocative announcements to encourage students to come to library to learn more. Some kids would arrive ready to do battle with me, thinking I was the one doing the censoring. Those were fun, teachable moments. Ultimately students understood that I was a firm believer in reading choices and that we needed a variety of books in the library which would speak to all members of our student body. If they were offended by a book or by its subject matter they didn't have to read it, but that didn't mean others wouldn't appreciate its message and it should be available for them. 

I wish I'd had Banned Together as a resource for me, something I could get into the hands of students so they would start to fully understand that detrimental effects that banning books has on all children, our future leaders and decision-makers.

Ashley Hope Pérez says in welcome letter at the beginning of the book,

I am so excited you are holding this book! I have been dreaming of an anthology like this since 2021, whyn my novel Out of Darkness became one of the most banned books in the US. It has been removed again and again from school libraries like yours, targeted by misguided adults who rarely bother to read the books they criticize. Book banners went hard for Out of Darkness, but they have also targets many others. Thousands of books. Books carefully selected by trained librarians. Books that readers have a right to access.

Book banning increased more than 1,500 present between 2021 and 2023. "From July 2021 to June 2023 PEN America documented a total of 5,894 books banned across 4 states and 247 public school districts. These bans restricted access to the work of 2,598 authors, illustrators, and translator" (10). And things are getting worse. Several states are making more and more restrictive laws. For example Utah now requires all school districts in the state to remove a book once it has been banned in three districts. If the topic has something to do with people of color, or has LGBTQ+ characters, it is more likely to be banned. It an author is female, a person of color, or an LGBTQ+ individual, the books are more likely to be banned than those written by straight, white men. Kelly Jensen, writing for Book Riot, gives some tips for things a teen can do to fight book bans on page 15. This is one of my favorite parts of this anthology -- there are so many helpful lists of tips and resource.

It just so happens that on page 56 it is Ashley Hope Pérez speaking again. Here she explains why she wrote the poem "Dancing with Haters":

Whether I'm, dealing with book bans or writing novels, I use words to transform pain, to dance away hate and injustice. My books address the harsh realities that many teens face. Once I put those hardships on the page, I have the chance to transform them. It's difficult, and often uncomfortable, but I know that it matters. Sure, the haters will be back, but I will free myself from their words as many times as I need to.

In this anthology several of the authors wrote essays about events which happened at some point in their life. Events that impacted their self-esteem or their health. For example, Bill Konigsberg, in his essay entitled "Groomer," talks about his first sexual encounter with an older man who was his teacher. A super uncomfortable topic, but one that needs to have the light shined upon it. Elana K Arnold wrote about when she was sexually assaulted in college in her essay "The Things, the Things that Happened, The Things that Happened to Me." You can bet readers of this essay would squirm, but imagine you are a girl and something like this happened to you, wouldn't you want to find yourself in the pages of a book rather than be made to feel, for the rest of your life, that you are alone?

Others wrote short stories or graphic stories which carried a one-two punch. One of my favorites is "Mature Themes" by Marina Omi. In it Omi illustrates an event that changed her life. She was a lonely, immature eleven-year-old when she happened upon a teacher who was cleaning out some old books from his classroom. He told her she could have any of them, but some might have mature themes. She selected Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut. Yes, it had mature themes but it showed her a way to brace herself against the bad stuff by reframing it as ridiculous. From this book she found other books which helped her. "By trusting me with a book with mature themes, my teacher changed, and perhaps saved, my life" (125). She became a reader of banned books and then an author, just like her hero Kurt Vonnegut, and yes one of her books has been banned.

I guess none of us really know what kind of impact our actions have on others. If a book we review or tell someone about will make a difference for that person in a positive way. Or what will happen if we do not speak up. If we hear about book banners in our community and we don't do anything, don't say anything, isn't that the same as saying we agree with their actions?

Book banners love to call books that contain some sexual content as pornographic or obscene. But just because there is sex doesn't make it porn. There is a legal definition of obscenity which can be determined by applying the Miller Test to it.  Here is the part of the Miller Test that applies to books: "The work, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" (235). think about that: Serious literary, artistic, political, or scientistic value (SLAPS, so you can remember it) and TAKEN AS A WHOLE. No, book banners, reading one passage out of context does not count!

I love this book and it's message. Every library should have a copy. Check to see if your high school and/or public library has one. If they don't, encourage them to buy it. Read it yourself. Be armed for battle...a battle for all of our rights to read whatever books we choose...a battle for the minds of children today!

Start planning ahead. What banned book are you going to read and review during Banned Books Week this coming October 5-11th? (Check out the PEN America Top Ten Banned Books list here.

My rating 5 stars.

Pérez, Ashley Hope, editor. Debbie Fong, illustrator. Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers' Rights. Holiday House, New York, 2025.

-Anne

TTT: Titles Related to Jobs/Occupations

TTT: Book Titles Related to Jobs/Occupations

Okay folks. I don't know about you, but I couldn't find books with occupations in the titles. I looked through a list of one whole year of books I've read and didn't find one single mention of a career or occupation. My tweek this week, therefore, is to list titles which could relate to occupations or at least pay the participants.

Example:

Book -- Occupation: The Hearing Test by Liza Barry Callahan --- Audiologist

Used in a sentence: The audiologist gave the woman a hearing test after the rock concert.

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A Death in the Family by James Agee --- Mortician

The mortician was called because there was a death in the family.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters --- Picking berries for money

The family of berry pickers moved from Canada to Maine each year to make extra money picking berries.

Plague Busters! by Lindsey Fitzharris --- Epidemiologist

Epidemiologists worked really hard to bust a modern plague: COVID-19.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles --- Journalist

The young journalist was assigned to the Middle East to report back the news of the world and the region.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi --- Barista

The patron asked the barista to make her drink extra hot so the coffee would not get cold by the time she got to work.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner --- Hospice Care Nurse

As I lay dying the family called the hospice care nurse for assistance.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus --- Chemistry Professor

The chemistry professor liked to teach lessons in chemistry to young children who were still excited by the wonder of science.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy --- Civil Engineer

My grandfather, a civil engineer, built many roads with his crews.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich --- Night Watchman

The night watchman walked the perimeter of the factory several times a night, watching to make sure there were no intruders.

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler --- Pulmonologist 

After serious smoke inhalation the pulmonologist gave the victims breathing lessons.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefti --- Beekeeper

The beekeeper didn't want to abandon his bees when civil war broke out in Aleppo, Syria.

Note: Most sentences do not actually relate to the identified book plots.

-Anne

End of Summer -- How I Did on Reading Challenges

I participated in four reading challenges this summer:

20 Books of Summer

Big Book Summer Challenge

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenges

Paris in July

Here is how I did on each of them:

20 Books of Summer

I was an overachiever, far exceeding my goal.

My list of books read (✔ were the books on my initial list which I read) :

Legend: A=Audiobook; C=Classic; P=Poetry; NF=Nonfiction; GN=Graphic Novel/Comic; MG-Middle Grades; CL=Children's Lit; YA=Young Adult; M=Memoir; E=Essays; SS=Short Stories; BC=Book Club; N=Novella

1. Abscond by Abraham Verghese  -- SS
2. The Antidote by Karen Russell ✔ A
3. Banned Together edited by Ashley Hope Perez -- M; E; SS; GN; NF
4. Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten ✔ M; NF
5. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel ✔ BC
6. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn -- BC
7. Bring the Magic Home by Sunny Chanel -- NF
8. Candide by Voltaire -- C; A
9. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller ✔ C; A
10. The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Osterman --GN
11. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami ✔ A
12. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong -- BC; A
13. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison -- A
14. Final Solution by Michael Chabon --   N
15. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson -- NF
16. Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin ✔ C
17. Grimm's Fairy Tales -- C
18. The Hearing Test by Eliza B. Callahan
19. How to Read a Book by Monica Wood ✔ BC; A
20. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell --MG; A
21. The Imitation Game by Jim Ottaviani -- GN; NF
22. The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill
23. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson -- NF
24. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico 
25. The Names by Florence Knapp -- BC; A
26. North American Maps for Curious Minds by Matthew Bucklan -- NF
27. Now in November by Josephine W. Johnson -- C
28. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout ✔ A
29. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley -- A
30. Poems for Tortured Souls by Liz Ison ✔ P
31. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton -- M
32. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean -- A; N
33. Road Home by Rex Ogle -- M; A
34. Say Nothing: Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe -- NF
35. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer -- NF; A
36. So Long, and Thanks for the Fish by Douglas Adams -- A
37. Someone Builds a Dream by Lisa Wheeler -- CL
38. Song of the Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout -- GN
39. Teaching with Fire by Sam Intrator -- P; NF
40. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy -- C
41. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler ✔ BC; A
42. The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf
43. The Vegetarian by Han Kang -- N
44. Watchmen by Alan Moore ✔ GN
45. Water, Water by Billy Collins ✔ P
46. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson -- N; A
47. What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley N. Arimah -- SS
48. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

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Big Book Summer Challenge

Books over 400 pages

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -- 453 pages

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn -- 432 pages

The Antidote by Karen Russell --432 pages

Watchmen by Alan Moore -- 416 pages

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison -- 468 pages

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Osterman -- 480 pages

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong -- 416 pages

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy -- 508 pages

Say Nothing: Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe -- 560 pages

Whew!

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Goodreads hosted a summer challenge to read books nine categories. They didn't open up each challenge at the beginning of the summer, maybe two at a time, and then would close categories through the summer. I finished my last book today! Colorful bookmarks means I completed that category.

I kind of lost track of which books went with what challenges but these are what I think I read for each:

1. Page Turner: Collected 7/4/25 How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

2. Speed Reader: Collected 7/4/25 A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

3. Book Boss: Collected 7/11/25 Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

4. Challenges Favs: Collected 7/23/25 The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

5. Poolside Puzzler: Collected 7/9/25 The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

6. Chart Toppers: Collected 8/13/25 The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

7. Acclaimed Toppers: Collected 8/3/25 What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky by L. Arimah

8. Debut Darlings: The Names by Florence Knapp, collected on 8/31/25

9. Lightning Round: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, collected on 8/16/25

A new set of challenges will open up in mid September, I think, if you want to join for the end of the year challenges.

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Paris in July
French-related activities

My first year with this challenge and I found lots of fun activities, including attempting to read a book in French. I baked, I listened to French music and made playlists, I watched the Tour du France.

Read about all my activities:

Paris in July --Books, Food , Music and More

and

Paris in July - Part Two

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Adult Summer Reading -- Book Bingo
King County Library System

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Goodbye Summer! I had a great time.

-Anne