A Month of Giving Thanks: Day One

Berl at Fantasy Is More Fun and Michelle at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life are hosting a month long blog event for giving thanks. The idea is to blog about people, things, or events that we are thankful for. I probably won't post every day; I'm aiming instead for a few times a week. 

“A Month of Giving Thanks with Berls & Michelle” will be a month-long challenge to post every day from November 1st to November 30th about something we’re thankful for. This is about sharing the love and being thankful, so there really aren’t going to be any rules or anything. We just thought it would be nice to invite everyone to join, so that we can all share the love! - See more at: http://www.becausereading.com/givingthanks/#sthash.TKptdpkq.dpufv

“A Month of Giving Thanks with Berls & Michelle” will be a month-long challenge to post every day from November 1st to November 30th about something we’re thankful for. This is about sharing the love and being thankful, so there really aren’t going to be any rules or anything. We just thought it would be nice to invite everyone to join, so that we can all share the love! - See more at: http://www.becausereading.com/givingthanks/#sthash.TKptdpkq.dpuf

“A Month of Giving Thanks with Berls & Michelle” will be a month-long challenge to post every day from November 1st to November 30th about something we’re thankful for. This is about sharing the love and being thankful, so there really aren’t going to be any rules or anything. We just thought it would be nice to invite everyone to join, so that we can all share the love! - See more at: http://www.becausereading.com/givingthanks/#sthash.TKptdpkq.dpuf

If you want to participate, you still can; just click on one of the links above. You can post every day, once a week, several times a week, whatever schedule works for you. There will be a linky post every day at the to host blogs so you can link up your post.

Guest Post by Blogger Drosdelnoch: Should We Change Books to Fit Modern Attitudes?

Today's guest, Drosdelnoch, has been here before. When I started planning my events for this week, I couldn't resist asking him for his thoughts on banning books. Dros reviews books and games at his site, Falcata Times, and reviews childrens books at his other site, Tatty's Treasure Chest. Today he is talking about whether we should older or historical books to suit modern attitudes.

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People that know me are aware that I’m what you could term as a voracious reader, so when I was asked to write a piece for Bea about Banned Books I was pretty much lost for what I could say.  Yes you can talk about the unfairness of what is seen by some to be prejudices against classics (such as the recent cases against Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Study in Scarlet as it was unfair to Mormons) or test cases in legal history (such as the DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover 1959 Obscene Publication Act legal battle)  or even about the reworking of some due to unfavourable use words that are seen as against modern sensibilities such as Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where people have wanted parts changed to remove racist slurs (although Twain was a friend of Booker T Washington.)

Yet for all this and the arguments should we change books to fit modern attitudes when the title has already been in print for a large number of years?  Surely by doing so we’re acknowledging that there is something wrong with it and in Twain’s case it was an accurate depiction of the area and time to which it was written.  Yes it can scandalise or offend a minority of people but the point is if we start doing this to books are we going to end up having to nit-pick everything out there.  Would people have felt that Mississippi Burning would be stronger for heavy editing of the script or should we rewrite history so that it’s politically correct?  And if we do that are we opening the doors for fringe minorities to take a firmer grip on society in order to further their own goals?

Personally I think the literature that we have defines the culture to which it pertains, it allows readers to make up their own minds, to follow their own beliefs and thoughts and to change a piece because it doesn’t fit in with modern interpretation destroys a part of ourselves as well as dishonouring what people have fought and died for, our freedoms, and to not learn from it or to accept the historical documents would mean that as George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfil it.”

drosdelnoch from The Falcata Times talks about why we love a mystery

Today we have droselnoch from The Falcata Times visiting and giving us his take on why we love to read mysteries. dros reads (Oh man, does he read! I swear the man never sleeps. He reads a couple books day, I think.) and reviews at two blogs that he owns and runs - The Falcata Times, which reviews mysteries & thrillers, fantasy in all incarnations, science fiction and art books plus graphic novels; over at Tatty's Treasure Chest he reviews childrens books and young adult books. I've been acquainted with dros for several years, we met at Kelley Armstrong's discussion board. My first book review for a blog was for dros at The Falcata Times.  When I decided to focus on mysteries this month, I immediately thought of dros as I know he reads a lot of them. I hope you enjoy his post and stop by his blog some time to check it out.

BBAW: First Treasure

     So, if you haven't noticed yet, this week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  It's a chance to celebrate the various book blogs and to discover new ones. So far, I've added about 4 or 5 new ones to my reading list (thank heavens for Google reader! :D)

      Anyway, as part of the celebration, there's a theme and a suggested blog topic for each day of the week. This year's theme is "For those you new to BBAW, what was the first book blog you discovered?" Since I'm new to BBAW, that is my topic today.

     The first book blog I read was the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books site. OMG. If you haven't read it yet, you really need to. It's written by two women, Sarah and Candy, who are sharp, smart, and funny as hell. They review romances of all types and subgenres, conduct interviews, have giveaways, and are current on all the book world news and gossip, regardless of whether it's romance related. They are pretty much one stop shopping for readers. You can even ask for their help in tracking down books that you read a long time ago and now want to read but you can't remember the title or author's name. Recently, over the summer, they started a monthly live book club chat. Awesome blog, awesome ladies, even if their spam filter traps me every darn time I try to reply.

     Now, I didn't discover the Bitches all by my lonesome. Oh my no. My friendly, online bookpusher introduced me to them and to Dear Author also. The pusher in question, Has, went on to form a book news and review blog, The Bookpushers,  along with several other bookpushing ladies. They review romances, fantasies and sci-fi's and also keep up on book news.

     It was actually Has of the Bookpushers who encouraged my interest in reviewing, offered support and practical advice, and helped me hook up with The Book Lovers Inc. blog, where I am now a review intern. 

     Also helpful to me and an awesome, wonderfully eclectic blog, is The Falcata Times. My first online book review was written for there and I've since done several more. I've also discovered new authors (thanks dros!)

     So, what was YOUR first book blog?