Now that it’s well into September and school is in full swing, I wanted to do a post on controversial books. I’ve just begun reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, and I still recall the uproar it caused when it was first published in 1988.

Last year I read Native Son by Richard Wright, which has been ‘challenged’ repeatedly since it was published. The challengers are right – it does have very explicit sexual scenes and violence, but it is an incredible book. I still can’t believe it was written in 1940, with a searing social commentary on race relations in the United States that is still relevant today.

I’m looking forward to the epic read that Satanic Verses promises to be, and I wonder what controversial books all of you have read. Did you enjoy it (or them)? Did you wish you hadn’t read it, or agree with those who challenged it – that it should not have been published? Or did you like it so much you wish it were required reading for everyone?

The Claws of the Cat

As you know, I don’t do book reviews (there are plenty of other sites out there that do that), but here’s a quick synopsis: It’s 16th-century Japan, and a violent murder must be solved within two days, or innocent people will die. A samurai and Portuguese priest team up to solve the crime, with lots of insight into samurai culture and historic Japan. I highly recommend it. And guess what? There are two more books that follow!

Blade of the Samurai and Flask of the Drunken Master:

   
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and can’t wait to start the second one. I know you’ll like them too!

So Many Books – the agony and ecstasy of a reading life, by Stefanie Hollmichel.

I enjoy reading this blog, and I really like the Bookish Quotes page – I think that’s a unique, personal touch that helps to set this blog apart from the rest. Stefanie has lists of all the books she has read over the years with active links to their reviews, as well as an alphabetical list of all the blog entries down the left-hand side of the page, so you can easily get to the post you’re looking for.

Words Read and Written – the ramblings of an Aussie Book Blogger by Jodie.

This was one of the very first blog I started following. Jodie’s blog has thousands of followers (I can only dream of that!), and I find her posts engaging and easy to relate to. Along with reviews, she also often features author interviews, which are always interesting!

Dolce Bellezza – for literary and translated fiction is my newest find, and I’ve already added several books to my To Read list based on reviews from this blog.

Bellezza is refreshing because there are books mentioned and reviewed here that I would not otherwise have heard of! And who doesn’t love discovering new books?!

I hope everyone checks out these blogs and enjoys them as much as I have. And who knows? You might discover your new favorite blog, or a book you never knew you were missing.

Let me say that even though I’m not a tattoo person, I do enjoy looking at interesting body art, and what could be more interesting than art about books?

44 Adorable Tattoo Designs for Book Lovers by Sortra.com :

36 Stunning Book Tattoos That Are Surprisingly Badass at Buzzed.com:

Literary Tattoos at POPSUGAR.com:

I hope you enjoy these creative nods to literature as much as I did!

What a year! Today marks the end of the first full year of this blog. I have delighted in making posts and learning about blogging, and I hope you have enjoyed my posts too. Thank you to every single follower and supporter! I love getting your comments and feedback, and look forward to interacting with you more and more over the next year.

If you would ever like to see a post about something, please don’t hold back! Send me a comment with your idea or suggestion, and I will do some investigating, and put your topic in a post.

Here’s to another year of fun and discovery!

Here’s the first one, featuring A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows, and the coolest bookmark I’ve ever had (or seen!):

Quirk Books just posted a neat article on July 21 entitled, How to Photograph Your Books for Instagram, in which are lots of good tips for creating appealing bookstagrams to entice followers and grow your audience. Pointers like making sure there’s no messy background, and adopting a unique quirk or characteristic so people will recognize your signature style.

In my second bookstagram, featuring Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann, I replaced the latte with a book-themed candle, but kept my bookmouse companion:

Book Riot’s article, A Brief Guide to Bookstagram, gives us “the scoop on all the hottest bookish hashtags” in case you haven’t yet taken the plunge yourself. And if you have made your own bookstagram, check out the article anyway, and maybe you’ll discover some new book-delights!

The first series I really embraced as an adult was Elizabeth Peters‘ Amelia Peabody mysteries.

These books combine everything I’m interested in: Victorian England, Egyptian archaeology and murder mysteries. Who could ask for more? Even though the first book in the series was published in 1975, they are still for sale on Amazon.com and I highly recommend them for light, enjoyable reading with some ancient history as an added bonus.

I have to admit, the Birder Murders by Steve Burrows look delightful, but I have not yet read them! I just purchased A Siege of Bitterns the day before yesterday, and am wrapping up the book I’m currently reading before I start it.

Again, the books feature an English detective, and with the addition of birding! As someone who delights in nature and loves birds, I can’t wait to read these books, as they also have great reviews.

The Cat Who mysteries do not have an English detective in them, but they do take place in a very quirky fictional town and the protagonist has two wonderful cats who help him solve each book’s mystery.

These heart-warming books are wonderful for light reading that brings a smile and keeps you turning the pages. For more info on The Cat Who books, check out one of my prior posts: http://bookideas.net/2015/03/12/the-cat-who-warms-your-heart/

Alan Bradley’s youthful amateur detective Flavia de Luce is adorable and precocious, and basically defines the word quirky. Set in 1950s England with a cast of lovable characters, Falvia always finds the culprits with her usual panache.

One thing I especially enjoy about this series is that Flavia and her family don’t age – or they do very slowly. In the first six books she is eleven years old, and I find that when authors let their characters grow older, they have to discard scenarios or surroundings and events that occurred in the earlier volumes. And if those were the scenarios, surroundings and events that readers enjoyed, then it’s difficult to keep up the level of appeal. All that aside, though, I truly enjoy these books and hope you will pick one up if you haven’t already!

My newest find is Alexander McCall Smith’s amateur Scottish detective, Isabel Dalhousie. However, once I started looking into Ms. Dalhousie, I also stumbled upon the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which sounds like another gem, and yet another series I need to explore!
    
Although the settings are Edinburgh (certainly close enough to my fondness for English settings) and Botswana (not very English, but tea is mentioned in the teaser!), the protagonists sound endearing and lovable and I expect to enjoy these treasures over many cups of tea to come.

For ages 1-4: Meg & Mog series by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski
    
The vibrant colors and rhyming words are perfect for engaging and entertaining very young readers.

For ages 3-7: Richard Scarry books. One of the my earliest memories is from his book, The Great Pie Robbery – a classic caper sure to captivate every reader!
    

For readers of all ages: Bill Peet stories. My personal favorite? Big Bad Bruce. But every one of them is a delight from cover to cover, both for the heart-warming story and the illustrations.
    

I hope you enjoy these books as much as the little readers in your life do!

(image retrieved from http://www.marksdailyapple.com/bibliotherapy/#axzz3efmm29TA)

Sadie Peterson Delaney (1889-1958) single-handedly pioneered and established the concept of bibliotherapy. She was tireless in her efforts using books to help the disabled, the mentally ill and the blind. She began her library career in 1920 at the New York Public Library and was committed to community outreach. She worked with children from all backgrounds and while she was there, developed an interest in helping the blind, so she learned both Braille and Moonpoint, a simpler version of embossed reading developed by William Moon in 1847. (Gubert, 1993)

In 1824 Delaney moved to Tuskegee, Alabama and stayed there until her death in 1958. While there, she was the chief librarian of the US Veterans’ Administration Hospital. When she arrived the library had 200 volumes and within one year, they had 4,000. Interestingly, some of the books she introduced first were fairy tales. She is quoted as saying, “there seemed no books suitable for mental patients,”(Gubert, 1993 p. 125) as though fairy tales were. Ms. Peterson clearly knew what she was doing, however, as she earned numerous domestic and international citations and recognitions, including selection by the Mitre Chambers in London, England as one of America’s important women in 1934. As a direct result of her many published articles, the ALA (American Library Association) formed its first committee studying bibliotherapy in 1939. (Finding Aid for Sadie Peterson Delaney Papers 1921-1958. Retrieved from: http://www.nypl.org/ead/3605)

Her aim was to aid wounded, crippled veterans who were bed-ridden and had no way of moving past the horrors they had endured during the first World War. Delaney even had books projected onto the ceiling for those who were completely immobile (Gubert, 1993). The ALA has a definition of the word on its website followed by over a page of articles on the topic and its wide range of possible patients, from troubled children to mentally ill adults. (Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/tools/bibliotherapy)

(image retrieved from http://verve-academy.com/bibliotherapy/)

Bibliotherapy has not yet reached its full potential. It is far from mainstream, and the average person on the street has never heard of it (please correct me if I’m wrong!!). But, there have been some articles written about it, and here is one from the BBC, published on January 6, 2015: Bibliotherapy – Can you read yourself happy?

The Verve Academy: Bibliotherapy – A Novel Cure to Stress is a good article about a practicing bibliotherapist, Ella Berthoud.

Mark’s Daily Apple wrote a good article on the concept entitled, Bibliotherapy: The Power of Books in 2011.

So when you’re feeling stressed or if you think you might benefit from some therapy, don’t rule out bibliotherapy!

The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding is an interesting tale about a young NSA employee who got disgusted with the carte-blanche information gathering that was going on unimpeded. He risked it all to expose the NSA’s shocking invasion of the world’s privacy.