The question for week one was:
What Book Would You Save?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Brian Herbert
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Your library will make sure you always have access to books.
Visit us in person or at the
Kitsap Regional Library website.
Visit us in person or at the
Kitsap Regional Library website.
Brian Herbert
Interview With NYT Bestselling Author, Brian Herbert, at KRL
Kitsap Regional Library is hosting an interview with New York Times bestselling author, Brian Herbert, as part of The Big Read.
Click here to listen to this very interesting interview.
Kitsap Regional Library is hosting an interview with New York Times bestselling author, Brian Herbert, as part of The Big Read.
Click here to listen to this very interesting interview.
Site Map
About The Big Read-Fahrenheit 451
Guidelines for Submitting Comments
Comments
Complete Schedule of Events
Suggestions for Additional Reading
Film Suggestions
Questions? Please contact us via email at tbrkrl@gmail.com
Stay tuned...much more to come!
Guidelines for Submitting Comments
Comments
Complete Schedule of Events
Suggestions for Additional Reading
Film Suggestions
Questions? Please contact us via email at tbrkrl@gmail.com
Stay tuned...much more to come!
Books You Would Save
Click on any of the images below to see all of the original cover art submitted by local students exclusively for The Big Read
Related Links
- 451 Movie Clip
- ACLU banned books quiz
- Bainbridge Island Friends of the Library
- City of Bainbridge Island - Office of the Mayor
- Delete Censorship
- Eagle Harbor Book Company
- EMP-Science Fiction Museum - Seattle, WA
- Kitsap Regional Library
- LA Weekly: Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted
- London Times - Why Don't We Love Science Fiction?
- Long Beach P.L. - Farhenheit 451
- NEA - The Big Read
- NEA - The Big Read/Fahrenheit 451
- NEA Study on "Reading at Risk"
- NYT - Drop in Test Scores Linked to a Decline in Reading
- Ray Bradbury's website
- SLOWRABBIT
- Talking to Our Enemies
- Terry Brooks' website
- The Big Read - Teacher's Guide
- The Dumbing of America - Wash Post
- The Forbidden Library - Banned and Challenged Books
- The Historic Lynwood Theater
- The Internet Public Library - banned books
- The New Yorker: Twilight of the Books
- The Onion - Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book
- The Online Books Page - Banned Books Online
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Eyes On Fire For Farenheit 451
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due, or, Who Did What?
This blog and the associated Facebook page were a collaborative effort on the part of the following Kitsap Regional Library staff and volunteer[s]:
Patrick Gulke, Creative Consultant
Robert Christensen, Technical Advisor
Hannah Caitlin Greer, Project Wrangler
Kate Skinner, Readalikes Advisor
Sharon Snyder Lee, Concept Director
Rebecca Judd, Project Overseer
Drew Kunz, Last Minute Consultant
Julie O'Neill, Eagle-eyed Proofer
Kathleen Thorne, Big Read Grant Consultant and Wordsmith
We would also like to acknowledge our teen volunteers and their invaluable input into the making of this blog and the KRL Facebook page.
The banner, as well as some other images on the site, are original creations by Patrick Gulke. To see more of Patrick's art, visit his website at SLOWRABBIT.
The Big Read at KRL was made possible by The National Endowment for the Arts and Cindy Harrison, Manager, Emeritus, Bainbridge Island Library. (See article "We'll Miss You Cindy", by Althea Paulson, for more on Cindy's retirement). Many, many thanks, Cindy!
This blog and the associated Facebook page were a collaborative effort on the part of the following Kitsap Regional Library staff and volunteer[s]:
Patrick Gulke, Creative Consultant
Robert Christensen, Technical Advisor
Hannah Caitlin Greer, Project Wrangler
Kate Skinner, Readalikes Advisor
Sharon Snyder Lee, Concept Director
Rebecca Judd, Project Overseer
Drew Kunz, Last Minute Consultant
Julie O'Neill, Eagle-eyed Proofer
Kathleen Thorne, Big Read Grant Consultant and Wordsmith
We would also like to acknowledge our teen volunteers and their invaluable input into the making of this blog and the KRL Facebook page.
The banner, as well as some other images on the site, are original creations by Patrick Gulke. To see more of Patrick's art, visit his website at SLOWRABBIT.
The Big Read at KRL was made possible by The National Endowment for the Arts and Cindy Harrison, Manager, Emeritus, Bainbridge Island Library. (See article "We'll Miss You Cindy", by Althea Paulson, for more on Cindy's retirement). Many, many thanks, Cindy!
For a REAL Stimulus Package, Spend Your Mind On The Big Read!
22 comments:
What book would I save? I've been thinking about this question all night long! If people were burning books and I could save only ONE, I think it would be a book of quotations like "Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts & Funny Sayings: A Stupendous Collection of Quotes, Quips, Epigrams, Witticisms, and Humorous Comments. For Personal Enjoyment and Ready Reference". There are other, more profound books worth saving, but I think I would need to be reminded of the intelligence, wit and wisdom of others, throughout history, during what would be a very dark time (book burning)? Book burning is NOT funny, so remembering "hope" through humor, wisdom, etc., would be most useful.
Great Blog! Truly a thing of beauty!
Book to save:
Collected Poems and plays of Rabindranath Tagore
Collected works of William Blake
Collected works of WB Yeats.
How could I choose? If it's come down to where I could only save one book, we are in dire straits, and I would have to save whatever I could, hoping it was something wonderful. That said, I would want to save The Epic of Gilgamesh. It is our oldest surviving work of its kind, and I would save it to remind people that the urge to write down stories has been with humankind for millenia. The Epic of Gilgamesh is over four thousand years old, and it has already survived the burning of one library in 612 BCE. Think about how amazing that is.
What book to save?? Would there be other books saved by other people, or would my book be the only one. If, like in Farenheit 451 there were other books, I would go for a childrens book, "Tootles the Taxi". Though possibly not the most intellectual book, it is important to me and I think it is important to have good children's books to encourage reading. I can still remember the rhyme for which the book was named, the one I read to my sister no more than half an hour after she was born.
I'm tootles the taxi,
I'll give you a ride,
Just put up your hand
And jump inside
Just watch the meter,
you'll see the fare.
Distance no object,
I go anywhere.
I would save Samuel Beckett's: The Unnameable. Both for its virtuostic poetry of despair and death and because we live in a society that looks askance at the suffering, absurdity, and futility of so many human lives.
I could choose any of Many of the nobel prize winning author's works, from poetry, plays, novels, or short stories.
Beckett, who had a blessed and priviledged childhood, and young~adult life, with the best schooling and athletics and a bourgoise life style, was asked why with such an apparently happy life, was his work so uncomprimisingly dark and despairing. And he replied: Just look out the window.
As Lifelong Reader,the book I would save would be ‘The secret garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The secret garden was a favorite of mine as a child and remains one to this day. I still remember the first time I read this wonderful book, I wanted more. This book was the spark that lead to my lifelong love of reading.
I wouldn't accept the premise that only one book could be saved for the simple reason I don't think I could narrow down the choice or live with it if I could. I'd try to find a way to save a library for starters.
i love the bannerhead - logo for the read red is the color of passion , paper fires like love relationships burn hot and fast the book i would save is " one fish ,two fish ,red fish blue fish" anything 'cat in the hat" love to read !!!!!!!!!! LOVE RAT IN A HAT
I'd probably try for the thickest Norton Lit. Anthology I can get my hands on, if I could only save one. But I'd be totally in for starting a conspiracy group to save a whole library.
I really like the idea of trying to save the whole library, not just one book!
I would save the book that hasn't been written yet. They can destroy the physical book, but not take sway the thoughts that are left in our hearts and minds. I believe in encouraging the story telling, to "fire the imagination". No pun intended!!
Wow! I have been really impressed with the comments and selected books. I especially like the idea[s] of saving the oldest book, a couple of classic children's books, compilations, saving the library itself, or, perhaps, very importantly saving the "thoughts/ideas" that produce books...the unwritten book. Really thought provoking responses. Keep 'em comin'!
Curious, a bit, to me, is that some of the religious texts ie. the Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita and many others have not been mentioned yet.
I need to think about the question some more, but I wanted to put in my two cents about the great comments. What about you? What book would you save?
Hannahgrams: You mention wondering about the lack of mention of the great spiritual works. I chose visionary poets because of their density. Had difficulty narrowing it down but settled in the end for the Collected works of Rabindrinath Tagore specifically because he is a mystic and visionary. This Bengali Nobel laureate's works can be read on so many levels. They inspire, they provoke the unwritten masterpiece (as KarenJ mentioned) they comfort, they are sensual pieces feeding on all levels yet they are not limited or tied to any one doctrine narrowly. I would, of course have a great deal of difficulty leaving behind William Blake, WB Yeats and TS Eliot and would probably be scorched by the flames dithering trying to bundle all four of these great visionaries in my arms. Quite likely I would be burned along with all the works I was trying to save just because the decision would be tooooo hard and i would dally too close to the flames. As usual. Is that burning hair I smell???
I really think that censorship is a ridiculous notion, first of all. What's the point of being allowed freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and yet having those very rights taken from us by an oppressing government, by people who simply don't agree with what is being written? If it's not something you approve of, then don't read it, quite simply. But don't keep knowledge and the wealth of free thought that books bring us, out of reach of others. That's oppression, plain and simple, and is not to be tolerated if we are indeed a 'free country'.
As for which book I would save.... that's an incredibly tough choice. I think that it wouldn't really matter which book we saved, because as a collective whole, everyone in the world has read every book ever written. And if we remember those books, we can pass them on the future generations. They won't be the same as before, true, but the art of oral storytelling always requires fabrications, which in turn leads to new stories being told. Stories live on inside us, not just in paper and ink.
However... if I really had to choose, I would save Neil Gaiman's 'Coraline' or 'Mirrormask'. Genius in all forms. :)
. . . as for what book i'd save, maybe don quixote, or david copperfield, or the brothers karamazov, or, or, or, or, . . . loving the big read, and lovin' this page-- very striking . . .
If I could truly only save one book I think I would find myself being selfish and save my favorite book of all time and not an anthology or philosophical work. Therefore I would save Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Wait! No, maybe it would be Austen's Persuasion! Wait! Ok, I would save a Complete Works of Jane Austen!
Tee hee!
By the way, love the look of the blog main page! It's quite powerful!
Great site.
Riffing on a previous comment, maybe I'd save John Gardener's "The Art of Fiction" on behalf of the books yet to be written. Though you couldn't go wrong with "The Collected William Shakespeare".
I've often wondered how much our world would be different today if the library of Alexandria wouldn't have burned.
but, if was one of those at the end of the 451, wandering the forest and reciting a book, the one i would become is "The Language of Life" - poetry through the eyes of poets - discussed with Bill Moyers.
bc
Interesting notion, what would our world be like now if the library at Alexandria hadn't been burned?
I think we would be more evolved beings intellectually and spiritually for sure, and most likely our technology would be well beyond our current comprehension.
Somewhat in response to MikeyBee's questions about why a government might censor, I'd like to cherrypick a passage from If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino. For context, after many adventures, the narrator ends up in a government library of controlled books where he discusses reading with the head censorer. Books are arranged by categories:
"the countries where all books are systematically confiscated; ...
the countries where the censorship is subtle, informed, sensitive to implications and illusions, managed by sly and meticulous intellectuals; ...
the countries where there is no censorship because there are no books, but there are many potential readers;
the countries where there are no books and nobody complains about their absence;
the countries, finally, in which every day books are produced for all tastes and ideas, amid general indifference.
'Nobody these days holds the written word in such high esteem as police states do,' Arkadian Porphyrich says. .... 'Where it is the object of [censorship and repression], literature gains an extraordinary authority, inconceivable in countries where it is allowed to vegetate as an innocuous pastime, without risks.'"
(It occurs to me that ellipses are somewhat ironic in a discussion of censorship ;)
It's a long quote, but I included most of it because Calvino presents a couple of interesting ideas. Namely, that censorship can backfire - prompting rebellion as in those who memorize, hide, and preserve books in 451 and among us, who want to save not one book but whole libraries and the storytelling germ of narrative - and that a more frightening (and, perhaps, successful?) form of censorship is complacency.
This book will likely be part of the discussion at the Tuesday Feb 19 Field's End Roundtable discussion headed by Paul Hanson of Eagle Harbor Books. His subject, "Speculative Fiction," should be of interest not only to writers but to readers and thinkers as well.
Fahrenheit 451 seems like the obvious choice to save, oddly. I just reread it and appreciated the way Bradbury so keenly captured not only our movement away from books and literature, but from critical thinking and freethinking as well. When I first read this book, I was in my late teens and a local activist against book burnings, so at that time, I was more focused on the physical act of censorship. But our culture does a fine job even now in self-censoring, and the pulling and banning of books from library shelves continues into the 21st century.
As a writing coach and editor, I often suggest writers read Fahrenheit 451 because it's a book about the shape of the future, if we don't do more to protect our current literary landscape AND our rights to think, speak and express ourselves freely. The book should be quite motivational for anyone who values any of these greater goods, as well as eye-opening for people who don't think free speech rights and censorship exist inside our political and cultural landscape.
Tamara Kaye Sellman
Writer's Rainbow Literary Services
www.writersrainbow.com
Bainbridge Island, WA
Post a Comment