Banned Books!

Story of my life: Last night, I finally broke down and purchased Thriller so I could dance around in my kitchen to real music instead of me just singing the bits and pieces I remembered. (Also, that album is AWESOME. It was the best "time to mop the store" music EVER when I worked at the co-op grocery store.) Anyway, I was going back and forth because it's the end of the month and so I had already spent all of my "fun money" budget with a few too many trips to the bookstore this month. And, of course, today I get a gift certificate to Amazon. Face, meet palm.

In other news, I have AWESOME "problems." Really, life is pretty good right now. The sun's even out. Now all I have to do is decide what to eat for dinner tonight.

So, tomorrow I'm finishing up the Banned Book Challenge. Hopefully. There is some mad-dash-to-the-finish-line reading going on over here.

Anyway, in light of that, I thought I'd review some of the banned books I've read for the challenge this week. Sound good? Good.

I already reviewed Speak which is banned because apparently we can't talk about rape in books, even when it never gets described.

Also, for this challenge, I reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, because I haven't really been getting into anything I've read lately, so I thought I'd go to something I knew I'd love. Also, this time, I actually read Harry Potter in the Philosopher's Stone. Anyway, it's banned, because Harry and his friends do magic, which is considered by some to be Satanic.

I also read ttyl Lauren Myracle

This book is told entirely in Instant Message, entirely in chat speak. If you're not used to talking to teenage girls online, gird your loins.

Maddie, Angela, and Zoe are best friends as they head into their sophomore year of high school. Maddie's preoccupied with getting the popular girls to like her, Angela falls too hard and too fast for the wrong guy, and something is just not right with Zoe's relationship to her English teacher.

This one gets banned because there is talk about sex, drinking, and shaving your pubes when wearing a bathing suit. Also, I suspect there is issue with the fact that the icky teacher uses church as an excuse to get icky with Zoe. I have also seen a few complaints (mainly in online reviews) that the chat speak is destroying the English language.

Chat speak annoys the hell out of me, but it did lend authenticity to the character's voices. Although, I kinda got the feeling that Zoe was the type of girl to spell her words out and use capitalization, but she didn't.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book. The friendship of the three girls is real and zapped me right back to high school. Many of the decisions they make were STOOOOOOOPID, but guess what kids-- teens aren't know for their awesome decision making skills. It was funny and a quick read. I don't have an overwhelming desire to read the rest of the series (mainly because of the chat speak) but I can see why teens love this one. They should.

Also, at one point, Zoe (I think) mentions thumbprint cookies. I thought about those for the rest of the book (I read it in one sitting) and then had to go make some. But now they're gone.