Reading is Fundamental

At least that’s what I was told when I was young. In celebration of Banned Books Week, I turn my attention to literature. I recently made the necessary trip to the Miami-Dade Public Library to get my card. Up until this point, I had borrowed books from friends. Reading like movies has always been an escape for me. As a child, I’d languish in my basement reading. I’d spend my allowance on those cheesy teen romance novels. You know, cute boys and cute girls with cute problems.

As I got older, the level of cheesiness rose in my reading choices. I graduated to Danielle Steele, Judith Krantz and Sidney Sheldon in high school. That was the 80s when we watched those great three-day mini-series like I’ll Take Manhattan, Princess Daisy and Lace. “Which one of you bitches is my mother?” Remember that classic line. Good times. My favorites were The Thorn Birds and Scruples. They don’t make mini-series like that anymore.

My foray into the romance world was interrupted when my father decided I needed to read African-American literature. I got into The Invisible Man and Native Son. My dad actually did me a favor by opening my mind to another experience. Thanks Dad! College was a void when it came to pleasure reading because required course work made reading impossible. But I did manage to fit in The Autobiography of Malcom X (very insightful, not what I expected) and most of the Terry McMillan books (she definitely gets smart, educated black woman).

My reading in the last decade have been a mix of classics and bestsellers. I just finished The Bell Jar and I’m at the end of … But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl’s Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous by Rolling Stone reporter/editor Jancee Dunn. Next up is the Dave Navarro’ Don’t Try This At Home, a Robert Mapplethorpe biography and Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathon Lethem. Carson McCullers and David Sedaris are also on my to do list. I’m like #20 in line for Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. I want to read it before the movie comes out. I’m trying to find the balls to read Atlas Shrugged but I keep losing my nerve.

In honor of Banned Books Week, I urge everyone to pick a book off this list and read with glee. Turn off the boob tube and read a challenged book. You can always TiVo. Consider it your act of anarchy for the week. If you can’t get that Mohawk you’ve always wanted, read one of these books. I’ve read several of the books on this list and am perplexed by their placement. A lot of Judy Blume titles are on this list, which is outlandish. Are You There God It’s Me Margaret? was a staple of my elementary school.

So, stick it to the Man and the other evil intolerant forces that want to determine what we read. Open your mind and read a book.