Open a banned book, open your mind

I love books. This little fact about me has been no secret. In fact, I have gone out of my way to advertise my love of books. I am a bibliophile, which means, simply, “lover of books.” I’ll be starving to death and I will still find a way to purchase a book to add to my always-growing collection.

And to top it off, this week — Sept. 21 to Sept. 27 — was Banned Books Week, a celebration of those works from many authors over the years that have been subjected to censorship and pulled from bookshelves across the country. The list of books is impressive, and the reasons they made the banned list even more so. Why? Well, all I can sum that up with is with ignorance and stupidity gone nuts.

Now I admit I have gotten a somewhat late start talking about or taking action on this issue. Call it a slight case of writer’s block. That is over now. And I can talk about what I’m doing to combat the issue of banned books. The best way to do it is very simple: read a banned book.

In my case, it is a science fiction classic, “1984” by George Orwell. I picked it up for a buck from one of my favorite thrift stores. It has been some time since I read this frightening novel of a future world of suppression and paranoia that was written in 1949. Don’t let the date on the cover fool you, “1984” can still deliver a solid punch that resonates to this day.

It was banned or legally challenged as being subversive or ideologically corrupting. It has very good company: Aldous Huxley’s “ Brave New World” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, which ironically is about a society that burns books in the far-flung future. All of them are really considered to be some of the finest works of science fiction of the 20th century. Yet for some reason, they were all subjects of censorship.

There are others out there on the banned list that need to be read. From authors like H.G. Wells, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain and even Dr. Suess.

The latter is very hard to believe, in my mind. But is was due to his book “The Lorax,” which was his take on ecology. It was banned because it was deemed to be anti-logging.

Really? Yeah, that one got me scratching my head in bewilderment. It was a great children’s story and was made into two animated movies — first in 1972 and later in 2012.

Even though this week of banned books is coming to a close, stretch it out for a month or more. Heck, let’s make it a year.

May I suggest everyone out there goes out and obtains a book from that long list? Most of the libraries and some of our local bookstores have many on display right now. Then make that list shrink by doing what a few small minds have tried to stop – read the books. Then take it on up one more level and pass those books on to others. Turn them on to new ideas with the most powerful of human achievements — the printed word.

These wrongly banned books deserve as wide an audience as they can get. Time has come — put on the lights, sit back in a comfy chair, pick up that book, take in a breath and open it. Relax and read.

That is exactly what I am doing after writing this piece. Anyone care to join me?

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.