The Chocolate War

I was talking with my friend Adam over gtalk earlier today, and the conversation turned to books - which isn't altogether unusual considering. He had emailed me over the weekend regarding A Confederacy of Dunces, which I have not yet read, so of course I added it to my book bucket; Then over our IMs he mentioned The Chocolate War - which I have not yet read either. Also added to bucket.

So while we were IMing, I was being my supernerdy self and wikiing the authors, and then somehow I came across the American Library Association's (ALA) web page on banned books...Probably because The Chocolate War is a frequently challenged book. This year banned book week is September 27 - October 4, 2008.

I think I am going to challenge myself to read 25 of the ALAs 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000 as well as the the books on the 2007 list which I haven't yet read. I've only read 39 out of the 100 challenged books from the former list, and I have not read 3 or 4 out of the 10 on the latter list, so I have a decent pool working in my favor. Goodness knows I don't read enough already. Ha ha ha ha.

I'm going to further my challenge by restricting myself to buying only half of the books, and the other half needs to be checked out of the Greater Cleveland Area Library System. Yes, I usually purchase used books at Half-Price or Amazon Used or McKay's if I'm in Knoxville, but today Adam pointed out that I should use my library more often. And I agree.

I used to spend hours upon hours in the library - whether it was in Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, or Tennessee. Why, just 7-8 months ago, the Maryville library in Knoxville was my regular after work haunt for a few hours a day. There is always something to learn and discover at the library.

And just in case you missed it, I am a supernerd.

Game on.