September 8th's Friday Post

It's Friday, so it's time for a Friday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

This week, the teaser for the first three will be coming from Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry. 

This is the third book in the By the Book Mysteries.  They are delightfully wacky, and this was no exception.  You can get a sense of the humor from the snippets I'm going to share.

Okay, so I'm sharing more than a snippet from the opening.  But, really, with this beginning, I can't just share any less.

Gertrude's corpse lay at an unnatural angle on the floor of the Paper Trail bookstore.  Her pale skin glowed eerily under the lights, her deathly pallor made starker by the winged liner that circled her eyelids like a burlesque raccoon.  No one in the store could discern the cause of her death, but it was obvious to any trained eye that-
"Ouch.  I think there's a rock under my hip.  Wait a sec."

Yes, that is Gertrude talking there.  If you want to find out more, you'll have to get the book.

But I'm not done teasing yet.  There's also this from page 56:

Tess wasn't the only person to feel slighted by the sheriff's inclusion of Neptune Jones in what was likely to prove the most thrilling murder this town had seen since, well, the last murder.

I finished the book earlier this week, and I enjoyed it.  Look for my review next Thursday.

This week, the Book Blogger Hop is wading into some controversial waters with the question:

 Do you agree that libraries should ban books?

And I realize my answer is not going to be very popular, but here goes.

First of all, if a library doesn't have a book on its shelves, the book is not banned.  As long as you can buy it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or any other book seller, the book is not banned.  Period.  Let's stop using this term to mean something it doesn't mean.

Second, libraries make choices every single day about what books they are going to include in their collections.  They have to because, like us, they have budgets to consider and space limitations.  Obviously, they are looking at what they think people will check out.

Right now, the controversial books are pornography.  If you think I'm exaggerating, look at the books in question.  I have.  And then think about the age of the kids served by school libraries where the controversaries are swirling.  Yes, libraries should take into consideration the appropriateness of the content for the ages of their customers.  And we should be able to discuss what ages a book is appropriate for without any name calling.

So yes, I do think libraries should take the content of books into consideration when they consider purchasing books for their collections.  It should be one of many factors that they consider.

But it is not banning books.  As long as you can purchase the book for yourself, it is not banned.  Period.

Keep in mind that if you look at the stories of "banned books," you'll see books on the lists were the parents objected to their child and their child only reading a book in class.  In those cases, the parents said nothing about any other kids reading the book.  Yes, I know this is far afield from the question of the week, but it is important to include that context when looking at the topic of banned books.

The choice of using the term banned books when this conversation comes up is on purpose.  (And I'm talking about the general conversation, not this week's question.)  Instinctively, who is in favor of banning books.  Knee jerk reaction, we all say "No, I'm not in favor of banning books."  And they lead with the most ludicrous examples they can find to make it seem laughable.  But when you really look into it, you'll see that there are some serious issues that need to be discussed in a calm, rational manner.  And we need to search for compromise.  Much of this is designed to be a smoke screen for some real issues that should be addressed.  And that's why this subject clearly riles me up.

Okay, deep breath.

I hope you have a great weekend!