The closest I’ve ever come to getting political on The Juggling Writer was last year, during banned books week.

It’s banned books week, but this time, I’ll be more personal than political.

Why I Am

I grew up with a library of science and geography books at my disposal. Because those books were available in our home, I learned about the world and how it worked before most of my friends.

I looked up to my big sister, a voracious reader. My mom read a lot, too. When the people you look up to read, you not only want to read — you want to read what they’re reading!

What they were reading was well ahead of me at the time, but it didn’t stop me from always trying to get through the things they read. Somewhere in 7th grade, I was ready. I read Stephen King’s Different Seasons and John Irving’s The World According to Garp.

They were the books that made me want to write serious stories.

King’s “The Body” (one of the four stories in Different Seasons) made me realize the kinds of stories forming in my head could find an audience. And The World According to Garp…well, I was blown away.

Challenged Writers

King and Irving have had their books challenged and banned.

When John Irving’s Hotel New Hampshire was taken off the shelves in a high school (and reinstated), Irving wrote to the school librarian, thanking her for being part of the group against the removal of his book. You can read the letter here.

The part that stands out in Irving’s letter is what always stands out when I hear a book, movie, or song is being challenged or banned: those calling for the removal rarely actually read, see, or listen to what they’re fighting to have pulled from the public.

It’s a terrifying thought that somebody without knowledge of why something may be in a story can call for it being banned. (That said, it’s just as terrifying to me if they know the context and still call for something being banned.)

There are a lot of things in the world that offend me, but I would never think that just because I find something repulsive or wrong that my feelings about something should keep others from experiencing it. For some, the language and situations in King’s books and Irving’s books bother them; there are many others, though, who take something away from the stories when they’re done reading.

A Life Without [Certain] Books

I can’t imagine my life without Different Seasons or the World According to Garp.

Later, Kurt Vonnegut came along and made me think in even more ways. Each contemporary writer that followed — even those I wasn’t necessarily fond of, but read and respected (i.e., Updike) — they made me not only want to write, but they made me want to write well!

They presented things that made me think when I was young. Since the books were a little ahead of me, there was an excitement to being exposed to adult situations, but that excitement quickly waned when I realized there was really nothing shocking about those situations. And when I experienced similar situations later in life, I already knew where I stood because it was something I thought about for quite some time. So I didn’t get high like other friends because I’d read about what drugs can do to a body. Sex wasn’t something to fear, but I knew from the stories that I read that it came with certain consequences for many of the characters in books. So I waited until I was ready for what could happen.

Because I wanted to write and quickly learned that writing takes discipline, that discipline carried over to all I do. I took time to listen to people, I worked harder than most (even at jobs I didn’t like), and I did all I could to always push myself to do my best.

I learned a lot from the stories some would have forbidden me to read; in so many ways, books helped me become who I am!

That’s why it’s a terrifying thought to wonder who I’d be without certain books…

While I’m very opinionated, I rarely espouse my beliefs on The Juggling Writer.

Not today…

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“Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.”
- Heinrich Heine

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It’s banned books week, a week when all those evil, foul, and corruptible texts about gay penguins and other things get the attention of more than just the log-dumb individuals who work all year to ban them.

It’s a week when sane people are reminded we walk among neo-conservative Christian zealots who want to tell us all about the evils of witchcraft and atheism in our school system.

It’s an election year, and this loud minority has further splintered the Republican party and moved it another step closer to a party synonymous with theocracy.

I’m not a Republican, but have friends who are. I feel bad that their party catered to the fear and ignorance of individuals who have hijacked a party and faith much in the way Islamists have hijacked Islam.

You may think I’m not being fair, but one of the darlings of the Tea Party–a group that claims to be about freedom–is Sarah Palin.

How soon many forget that Palin, on at least two occasions, approached the librarian in Wasilla, AK to ask about banning books. Palin asked the librarian at a meeting “if she would object to censorship even if people were circling the library in protest about a book.” (More here.)

Palin wasn’t talking about a “concerned citizen” asking to have a book removed–she was talking about a mob!

When the librarian said she’d defend books from being banned, Palin fired her! (It was only due to public outcry that she got her job back.)

Some may say this is old news, but it shows there are still politicians out there–politicians who are receiving the attention of the media and radical voters–who have a history of trying to censor things.

It hasn’t been all that long since Palin quit her job as governor for piles of money and fame.

While I don’t think she stands a chance of being elected to the highest office in the country, the Senate or House may not be out of reach. The rise of politicians of this ilk should be seen as an affront to anybody who cherishes the freedom to read what they want.

As long as people like this run for office, we need more than just one week each year to spotlight banned and challenged books.

Take a look at this list–I’m guessing many books you cherish are there.

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Fortunately, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a book banned by the United States government. Even with radical politicians on the right calling for a return to the “Good Ol’ Days” when the government did ban books, I don’t think it could ever happen again. Still, the mentality is there, and books are being challenged and still banned at the municipal level.

I used to work in a library. The few requests for books being pulled were handled with stern tact by a very calm, but strong woman. Most librarians, as quiet as they may seem–as politically conservative as they may be–are staunch defenders of the right for people to read what they want.

Even children.

What I saw every week working the desk at a fairly large library were families of all sorts sharing in a love of reading.

There were many regulars, including a conservative mother who loved talking politics with me. (Notice I said talking — not spewing; fortunately, the radicals are still a minority.) There was one family who had a son who insisted others go before them in line so I could check them out (I let the kid sit on the front desk and mark all his books with the return dates, instead of doing it myself). There was a very poor couple who read more books than any other patrons; when they brought their granddaughter into the library, she was as excited as a kid at a carnival.

My favorite thing about working at the library: when kids came to the desk to reserve books. (Many of the books they reserved are still on the banned and challenged list.) It wasn’t just that the kids were reserving a book they couldn’t wait to read–it was the whole interaction and transaction. They were learning how to deal with others, and there was a sense of responsibility and ownership in possessing a library card all their own. (I still remember how special I felt when I got my first library card.)

I worked in the library right around the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I can’t even begin telling you how excited kids got when I handed them the very book many would love to see banned.

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When it comes to banning books, the rallying cry is usually “Think about the children!” as though a book is going to corrupt them.

Here’s a brief history of the kinds of books that had an effect on me growing up:

I had access to a series of books about nature, history, and societies. I was exposed to science, learned how good I had it, and I even saw tribal boobies. Effect: I knew there was a great big world out there and had a vague grasp of how it got there and how it worked.

I read many books on the banned/challenged list while in elementary school. Effect: A life-long love of reading and a better understanding of the world around me and how humans interact with each other (the good, bad, and everything in between).

I played Dungeons and Dragons. Effect: I had an outlet for my creativity and I learned how to use my imagination to make up stories (I was–of course–a dungeon master more than a player).

I read adult fiction full of broken relationships and other stuff some would say I needed to not read. Effect: I didn’t want to be the characters in those books; I wanted one, strong relationship (and I’ve had it for over 18 years).

Books made me a better person!

I’m sure there are some who would say I’m an exception, but I’m not.

The vast majority of my friends, for close to a couple decades, have been in healthy, long-term relationships. They have healthy, stable children. And just like the houses where they grew up, their bookcases are filled with many of the books others would have banned.

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I think the greatest travesty when something is called to be banned is the torches and pitchforks mob at the gate (or circling the library) usually hasn’t even read the books they are demanding be taken away from the rest of us!

This is the kind of zealotry that gives rise to organizations like the Taliban.

The Nazis burned books…and then they burned people.

Whether you like a book or not, to call for its banning is one of the most un-American things you can do.

Just because you think a book contains acts of violence, sex, or stories that ruin the very foundation of family doesn’t mean others see in that book something else.

An example:

There’s a very popular book out there containing 1199 acts of violence and cruelty, 218 references to sex, and 389 references to some pretty twisted family values.  It’s also very misogynistic!

Yet billions of people not only love the book–they say it’s given them a reason to live!

The book doesn’t do anything for me, but you know what? I’d go down fighting to keep it–or any other book–from being banned!

Things change.

I grew up with three major networks on television and PBS. UHF channels were like cable…that is, until cable came around.

I grew up reading books — I love books! Lately, though, most fiction and non-fiction I’ve purchased has been electronic, read on my iPhone with the Kindle app and Stanza.

Later today, Apple will announce a tablet that many say will revolutionize e-books. I think that’s a bit much (it sounds like it will still be backlit, not electronic ink, which is easier on the eyes while reading), but it’s become clear with the Kindle, the Nook, and Apple’s new device: people are at least willing to consider e-books.

Digital Book World is happening as you read this. (Follow the #dbw hashtag on Twitter for a barrage of updates from the conference.) It’s not a little gathering in Sioux Falls — it’s an impressive gathering in New York City.

Electronic books aren’t just for novels and business books, either. Terry McGraw, of McGraw-Hill let it slip that textbooks will soon be available on iPhones and the Apple tablet.

With all the e-book hype, there are those who aren’t fans.

Many readers still insist that books are the only way to read.

Some publishers and agents wonder, “Where do we fit into all this?”

Many writers wonder that, too.

For decades (and perhaps longer), publishing has been able to get by on, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” While slow, publishing always basked in the time it took to get things on the shelves. A fan of slow things, myself, there are even reasons to like slow in publishing: you rarely see typos in novels.

But even that’s changed. Many publishers sound more like enthusiastic MBAs instead of people who love books. Publishing houses don’t support writers like they once did. Editors frequently change in the middle of the time it takes to get a book on the shelves, leaving the author with somebody not as enthusiastic about their story.

At the 2009 South by Southwest Festival’s “New Think for Old Publishers” panel, publishers out to show they were with the times proved they weren’t, and ended up asking the audience what they should do.

Change can be hard to deal with; fortunately, many publishers are finally adapting.

Realizing that many people who read want e-books, they’re going to where the money is moving. Don’t believe me?

Amazon.com CEO, Jeff Bezos, said that where Amazon offers a physical book and a Kindle version, the Kindle [electronic] version accounts for 48% of sales (December, 2009).

That’s up from 35% in May of 2009.

Granted, you won’t see buildings like this constructed to house e-books, but it’s clear they are finally becoming a viable way to publish.

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I really do love books. One of my favorite things I own is a signed copy of Carl Sandburg’s The Sandburg Range. (I grew up in northern Illinois and went to Carl Sandburg Jr, High…Sandburg was kind of force fed, even if you weren’t a fan. Growing up with my mother reading Rootabaga Stories to me, I was always a fan.)

We are obviously inspired by books. I think a society that builds magnificent buildings to honor books is a society filled with hope. When I look at beautiful libraries, I appreciate them for the craft and hard work that went into writing and publishing every book contained within. I love the architecture. But what I love most is what’s inside the buildings and between the covers: information!

I don’t care how I get information, although I’ll admit that an evening reading physical books in the living room with my wife is one of my favorite things in life.

I’ve found I can still have a small glass of wine or scotch, still have the ambiance of the evening, and still enjoy quiet time reading with my wife even when I’m reading an e-book in the living room. (And I love being able to read with the lights out in bed while my wife falls asleep so she doesn’t have to deal with the light from my bedside lamp.)

When I look at the bookcase in our living room, I see the future of publishing. (And it’s a future where books still exist; it’s a future where books are, perhaps, even more cherished than in recent decades.)

The bookcase in our living room is where we keep the special books: my wife’s Sherlock Holmes books and her Peanuts comic strips reprints. It’s where my two favorite signed books sit: the signed Sandburg Range and The Sport of Falconry. My favorite novel is on that shelf (scroll down if you click the link), and I never grow tired of reading the travel descriptions in The Gentleman’s Companion. There’s also an electric outlet in the built-in shelf. It’s where we charge the iPhones that hold even more books than the shelves. Granted, those books are e-books, but physical or electronic, information is information.

I don’t think books are going anywhere. Publishers like Subterranean Press have been publishing limited edition runs of books people reach deep into their wallets for.

I don’t think anybody is going to pay hundreds for an e-book (and you can’t autograph an e-book), but some publishers are already dealing in collectible books.

I  think the future of publishing is a place where hardcore readers will devour content on e-book readers and hardcore fans will still buy special-edition novels and put them on shelves. People will consume digital content, and people will still frequent old bookstores, garage sales, and antique shops, looking for out-of-print books. Authors will be able to keep their out-of-print books in circulation as e-books, and agents and publishers will still serve an important purpose, even though some people will have great success doing it all on their own with independent editors and cover artists.

The future of publishing is going to look different, but I think it will also look very familiar.

Call me an optimist, but sometimes the more that things change, the more they stay the same…

I recently posted about the Free Library of Philadelphia having to close many branches and end most of its programs.

Good news!

The Free Library of Philadelphia received a flood of support. Here’s a thank you from library president and director, Siobhan Reardon.

There has been a lot of talk about electronic media taking over print. I think it’s great that a library (print) with such history was saved, in large part, by the efforts of the online community (electronic).

The first library I remember was the library inside Washington Elementary School in Mundelein, Illinois. Each week, I looked forward to walking down the hall and to the library, where I could check out anything I wanted.

Some of my favorites:

• A series about different animals. It was fiction about wild animals (I can’t remember what they were called). The books were short, there were a lot of them, and I couldn’t read enough of them.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, by Roald Dahl.
• Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls.
• Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury.
• The Call of the Wild, by Jack London.

When I got my own library card for the city library, I felt like I had joined an exclusive club. I still remember the first book I checked out: Sam, Bangs & Moonshine.

In the mid 90s, I worked in a library. Each week, children and adults waited in line, holding handfuls of books they couldn’t wait to get home and read.

Too bad people in parts of Philadelphia may not have that opportunity come October 2.

If a city as important to America’s history as Philadelphia loses many of their libraries and ends many of its programs, we lose a little something as a nation, don’t you think?