Ive been reading a lot this summer...ahhh, the bliss of reading something that I want to read! It's one of the reasons I'm in a doctoral program in English literature, and yet the irony is that I have so little time to read what I want to by the time I read all the things I have to read! But it's been a nice mix so far.

In fiction, I read A Door into Ocean which was first recommended to me by a friend who could not remember either the title or the author. After having run around to a number of people and places trying to find it, she managed to find the biblio on it and so I bought it to read. When I had first heard about it (back in the mid-nineties) it was out of print, so I was happy to find that it had been reissued. If you're a fan of LeGuin, this is a good one to read. I also read The Eye in the Door, which is the second in a series by Pat Barker. I read the first one last fall for a class, and I think the second one is even better. I know I'm going to keep my eyes open for the third and read it as soon as possible (which unfortunately probably won't happen till Christmas). I also read Timothy Findley's short story collection Dust to Dust; I need not say more, it is Findley in excellent form, as usual.

In non-fiction, after the Sagan, I read King's On Writing, which was interesting in that it was very clear to see how his writing and his philosophy of writing merge. It got me interested in reading other writer's writing about what they've done [maybe I should read Findley's too], to see how that matches their particular style. Dwayne had picked up the audio copy of it from the library for me, and I had tried to get through it and found it boring, but then my friend threw it at my during a visit and said, 'read this' and I'm glad I did give it a try again, 'cause I found it interesting AND useful. I guess I need to stick with print since that's the second time I've had problems getting into an audio book.

We toured the middle school at the beginning of the month, and one thing that struck me about the library was what seemed to be a disproportion between the number of televisions and the number of books on the bookshelves. The library was mid-sized, and there were plenty of shelves, but most of them were very bare. After reading this list of the most frequently challenged books (a.k.a. censored books), I wasn't surprised that there were so few books on the shelves! There are many books on this list that I know I read and enjoyed, many more that, having read them, I cannot imagine why someone might object to them [if they are so subversive, then wouldn't I remember the subversion, or is it supposed to be that subtle?], and many that were on reading lists when I was in elementary/junior high/high school.

There is one on the list, Flowers for Algernon, that I remember was pulled from our reading list by a Jehovah's Witness mother...but it was pulled after they had already been distributed to us, so of course I was doubly determined to read this book to find out what the fuss is about. In fact, after reading this list, I'm thinking I might be missing something by not having read some of those books!