Banned Book Week!!!!

Old Firehouse Books here. Hope that all of you fellow readers are doing fantastic. Today, we'd like to bring a very important week to your attention: Banned Books Week. This fantastic event has fallen on Sept. 24-Oct. 1 this year. If you are unfamiliar with Banned Books Week, allow us to fill you in on a little bit of the history.

In 1982, the first ever Banned Books Week was launched. This was a response to the many "challenges" that have occurred on several books. It still happens to this day. To elaborate on "challenge," it is basically another way of saying forced censorship. Here at the bookstore, we support the freedom of the written word. We have just setup a display in our front window that shows several books that have been banned, censored, or even in some extreme cases, burned. Banned Books Week exists to make the public aware of these issues. Here are a few titles from challenged books that may surprise you:

The Adventures of Captain Underpants- Dav Pilkey
The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway
The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkein
Harry Potter- J.K. Rowling
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradburry
The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck

And this doesn't even skim the surface. Imagine how many classics would be lost to literature if we were to allow titles like these to be banned.

So this week, let your mind be open. Allow your thoughts to flow freely. And most importantly, respect others who do those things. Stop by the store to see our nice display, and possibly pick up a challenged book that deserves to be read. Thanks for reading the post and take care.

De España

This is Kelsey posting! Even though I'm not quite exactly an employee of OFHB at the moment... For those of you who aren't quite hip to the bookstore gossip, I've taken a leave of absence from my book-slave position in order to study abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain for a semester!

I'll be back, don't you worry! And even though I'm not getting paid to talk books right now, I've had some awesome book-related experiences I just have to share here! First and foremost, I was elated when I got to Spain and found out that my host-mother, Pepi, also loves to read! A good portion of our conversations so far have been about that. She loves romance novels by Stephanie Laurens, Nora Roberts, and Lisa Kleypas, as well as thrillers. I was excited to hear that she's also read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, but in Spain it's called Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres. (The literal translation of that is The men that didn't love women... they also don't capitalize all of a title here.)

Pepi was also kind enough to hook my up with a little just-for-fun reading of my own! So in addition to Cervantes and the text books I'm reading for class, I just picked up Un ordenador nada ordinario (or... A computer that's never ordinary.) As far as I can tell so far, it's about a little boy who builds a robot that goes haywire and leads him on all sorts of hijinks. Oh yeah, and it's for 8-year-olds. But I've got to start somewhere!

I'll post again as soon as there's more book-stories to be shared! There's a few local "liberias" (bookstores) around that I'm itchin' to check out! I'll let you know how it goes!!

Just to Say Hello

Hey there folk of the written word. Summer is now nearing its end, and we here at the bookstore are looking forward to a little of that wonderful autumn weather around the corner. The bookstore is in fine shape and has been thoroughly cleansed of old books during these past few months. The things that remain in the store are what we refer to as "literary gold." This message is simply here to say hello. We are still around (even though we haven't been posting as much lately) and we are always excited to try and meet your book needs when you stop by to see us.

On another note, there have been a few changes here at the store with the faces you all are used to seeing. Some of our favorite friends might not be around anymore, but be sure to stop by and say hello to some of our older employees that have returned.

And finally, to make this post a bit more interesting, I'll leave you all with some fun info: Happy birthday Mary Oliver. Oliver is one of the most eminent figures in contemporary American poetry. Born in 1935, she has been writing for several decades, always working to refine her already dazzling poetic skill. Many have compared her work to that of Emily Dickinson. Come on down to the store and grab one of her books such as Red Bird. Hope to see you soon and take care.