Take That, Book Banners!

"Books are powerful things worth fighting over."

THE HEADLINE in the New York Times caught my eye: “The Book Banners and I Have One Thing in Common.”

Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away, which means the gift-giving season is fast approaching. Soon you'll see – if you haven’t already – TV ads for luxury cars adorned with giant red bows, silky skin displaying seriously weighted, glittering bling, and an Instagram infomercial in a cashmere voice future promoting "Get away from it all weekends to a new second home."

If you have that level of disposable income, go for it. And while those types of gifts aren’t necessarily good for humanity, they’re still good for the economy.

But there is a timely alternative for the rest of us: books. It’s not new news that books – ideas, really – are under assault from this generation’s book banners. Fear and prejudice against anything different or controversial are the usual drivers. The book banners don’t trust teachers, librarians, or parents to sit down with students to carefully study the books labeled with a scarlet “B.” Instead, they’ve demanded that schools and libraries strip their shelves and lock the offending books away. Unfortunately, the critical thinking opportunities our 21st-century students need get locked away, too. And that is tragic because, as the author of the New York Times article wrote, “books matter…they have the power to change a young person’s life.”

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." – Frederick Douglass

So, this year I’m giving books. Topping my list are

The Library Book by Susan Orlean. This is a beautifully written memoir of a building – the Los Angeles Public Library – and the author’s lifelong love of books and reading. It’s a tribute to libraries and librarians everywhere. (Related, the Ezra Klein Podcast recently hosted an interview with Emily Drabinski, the President of the American Library Association, where she discussed the rise in censorship and its impact on librarians.)

Food, Hope & Resilience: Authentic Recipes and Remarkable Stories from Holocaust Survivors by June Hersh. I had the pleasure of recently interviewing June on my podcast to talk about New York bagels, and I’ll have her back shortly to discuss this book. Food, Hope & Resilience is a timely book, given what’s happening in the Middle East and our enduring ignorance about history.

Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons From a Small-Town Obituary Writer by Heather Lende, one of my favorite authors. I’ve returned to this little gem many times to challenge myself to remember that even those with whom I strongly disagree possess some element of goodness.

A book is a gift you can open again and again." – Garrison Kellor

But gifting books as presents is not our only option to honor their importance.

? If you’re unsure what book a giftee might enjoy, give them a gift card and let them choose.

? Start a one-time "lending library." Leave a book in a public place with an anonymous note like my friend Bill did in the library cubicle where he used to study at the University of Notre Dame.

???Donate books you no longer need. My bookshelves were once loaded with books I needed at one stage of my life, but now no longer do. Someone else can use them, so off they go to the library that will take them. And now I have more room for the books I want or need today.

A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation... A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." – Henry Miller

? Give yourself a gift. Read a book from one of the American Librarian Association’s lists of banned books. The May list from the Los Angeles Times is very revealing. Yes, there's a pattern. Most of the targeted books were written by or contained subject matter about people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community. I was surprised to see Tim O’Brien’s classic memoir/novel, The Things They Carried, on one list. I’m reading it now and don’t see what’s objectionable about it. Strong language? Yes. Graphic in its depiction of war? Yes. Anti-war? Yes. O'Brien was in Vietnam's quagmire, so what would you expect? But then, The Holy Bible is also on one list.

"Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled 'This could change your life.'" – Helen Exley

? And finally, start a book club or reading circle with some friends. Rotate the following selection from member to member.

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Books have always occupied a special place in my life.?My parents had a steady stream of books coming into our home via various “Book of the Month Clubs.” Ironically, I rarely saw them reading anything except the newspaper (my dad) and piano sheet music (my mom). Hmmm, for whom did they intend those books?

I read every day before school – Mutiny on the Bounty, Robinson Crusoe, The Fixer, and Hawaii, to name a few. It’s cliché that books are a passport to another time and place, but these books were exactly that for the young me living in a suburb of Chicago. After cleaning up from my morning paper route and downing a quick breakfast, I was in our rec room with a book open on my lap.

"That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet." – Jhumpa Lahiri

I worked in the school textbook publishing business for almost 40 years. We developers gave our sweat and tears to produce the best books we could. We saw them as vehicles to support teachers as they developed young lives. While the printed textbook was often maligned as too limited in what it could do for learners or leaning too far this way or that way politically, textbooks were the accepted educational currency at the time. And there wasn’t one of us developing them who didn’t see their role as vital to the students and teachers who would ultimately use them.

"The story is truly finished–and meaning is made–not when the author adds the last period, but when the reader enters." – Celeste Ng

I interview many authors on my two podcasts, and I make a point to read all or as much of each of their books as possible. As a published author, I know what goes into writing a book, so I look at reading my guests’ books as a respectful obligation, allowing me to discuss their work intelligently and reference sections that I find particularly important.

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"Books are powerful things worth fighting over," wrote the author of the New York Times article. And history shows us that those fearful of the power of books will do anything to keep them out of the public's hands and minds. Tomorrow's "Getting Unstuck–Cultivating Curiosity" podcast will replay episode 271, "The Empty Library." The Empty Library is a memorial commemorating the massive book burning on May 10, 1933, in one of Berlin's most prominent public squares, the Bebelplatz, where a Nazi-directed bonfire consumed as many as 20,000 books.

History shows that book banning is only the first step of repression.

So, buy books this holiday season.

And give books.

And read books.

And, if you're so inclined, write books.

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