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Music plays a role in almost everyone’s life, and most of us enjoy music of one style or the other. Maybe lots of different styles are to your liking. Here is a selection of nonfiction books that tell the story of various musicians, music styles, and/or the culture that has grown up around it all. Wild, Wild West Step into the old west with this month's feature on Western fiction. Cowboys and cowgirls, saloons, gunfights, John Wayne: all of these images come to mind, often fuelled by the many Western films that are still loved today. Authors like Larry McMurtry and Louis L'Amour immediately come to mind, even to readers who haven't read many westerns. This month, we feature some of the lesser-known books available for adults and young adults. So, pull up a chair, kick off your boots, and enjoy the wild, wild west. Banned in the USA The following list of books have been banned at various libraries throughout the United States. Take a moment to examine these books and the issues they explore. The freedom to read should not be taken for granted.   Here is an excerpt from
author and Novello Festival Press Founding Editor Amy Rogers' review of A Wrinkle in Time by
Madeleine L’Engle:
Since 1973, I've kept the same yellowed paperback copy of A Wrinkle in Time that I bought for $1.25 when I was a student. Back then, I knew nothing about Madeleine L'Engle's recurrent themes of faith and redemption. I only knew that I loved her heroine, Meg Murry, a smart but unpopular girl who is pulled into a terrifying other-worldly struggle to save her lost father. Unlike Nancy Drew and those do-gooder girls with cute personalities and wardrobes to match, Meg was different. She was moody and wore glasses. She got into scrapes at school. Her refreshingly believable behavior resonated with me, and with millions of other readers too. Since its publication in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time has never been out of print, although it landed on several "Banned Books" lists over the years. Although my shelves are full of books - many are beloved classics - A Wrinkle in Time is the book I read, every year or so, when I want to remember how it feels to be young and full of doubt and fear, and how ordinary people can find within themselves the strength to do something extraordinary. Read more Celebrity Reviews
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Satirical and “hysterically funny” are only a few buzz words to describe author Christopher Buckley’s writing style. A former reporter, and presently the editor of Forbes FYI, Mr. Buckley is also a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. His novels fearlessly take on industry and business, Washington DC politics and religion, and his novel,Florence of Arabia dexterously skewers the plight and suppression of Arab women. To do both obviously requires an ability to take on controversial issues with aplomb, but always with humor.
Mr. Buckley grew up in New York City, the son of the celebrated columnist and founder of National Review, William F. Buckley, and Patricia Buckley, a prominent New York socialite. Mr. Buckley has two children, Caitlin and Conor. When asked if he should be following the conservative critiques like his famous father, Christopher says, “He has graciously never said so…My goal is more modest, to make the world laugh at its conceits. And, so far, it’s working.” Buckley will speak on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at ImaginOn as part of the library’s Novello Festival of Reading. If you would like to learn more about Novello or volunteer, visit www.plcmc.org/novello.
Read our Christopher Buckley Interview “My parents are both librarians, so I pretty much grew up in a library surrounded by books. I’ve always been a reader. As a girl, I had a favorite spot in the dining room where I’d lie on the floor with my feet in the air, reading my newest Nancy Drew. I read pretty widely, genre wise, but these days it’s rare for me to read books with an intended audience over the age of 18. I like a little bit of everything but I have two favorites: contemporary realistic fiction and fantasy. I like to write reviews because I hope to expose other people to the worlds I get lost in, and to introduce readers to the characters that have become my friends. I like my fantasy worlds to be easily imagined by an outsider, and some of my favorites are Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart trilogy, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and, of course, Harry Potter. I also really enjoy fantasy that could almost be reality, like Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls books, set at a super-secret exclusive all-girls boarding school for teenage spies.” Read Book Reviews by our Featured Reviewer
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Reader’s Club honors Emily, a Children’s Librarian at University City Regional Library. She is a voracious reader and frequent reviewer of teen fiction. Here are her thoughts on reading and writing reviews:
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