As planned, I’ve started reading Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and am enjoying it very much. I admire Morrison’s brisk and effortless depiction of the passage of time. At the beginning of the novel the main character, Milkman, is born. By chapter four he’s 31. There is so much packed into the first 100 pages of this book — about Milkman’s family, the time period, and the black American experience — yet the reading experience is effortless.

I also checked out a library copy of Morrison’s highly acclaimed work of literary criticism, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. I read this short book (its under 100 pages) in the 1990s shortly after it came out primarily because Morrison analyzes Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl, but I don’t recall much of the details. I’ve been intending to re-read Playing in the Dark since earlier in the summer when the Book Cougars did a joint readalong of Sapphira and the Slave Girl with Jenny of the Reading Envy podcast.

So, it looks like I’m having a Toni Morrison Reading Week.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is September 22-28. This annual week that celebrates the freedom to read by pointing out the threats to this freedom usually sneaks up on me. I’m happy to report I’m a head of the game this year and will be doing a buddy read of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 with my friend Alison Law.

I read F451 in middle school but, again, don’t remember much of the details other than that it blew my tween mind to read what a fireman’s job is in the novel. I would also like to note that Morrison’s Song of Solomon is on the American Library Association’s list of Frequently Challenged Books. These are books that people regularly attempt to ban.

Readers Imbibing Peril XIV

Are you happy it’s September? I am. While I enjoy all of the seasons and prefer to live in a region of the country that experiences all four distinctly, I feel much more alive in the fall and winter. Summer tends to make me feel lethargic. Spring is great, but I know summer is just around the corner. So September means on I’m on the upswing in both energy and attitude.

One of the reasons I love fall is the deliciousness of curling up in a cozy blanket with a spooky book. Readers Imbibing Peril is an annual reading event that runs from September 1st – October 31st and celebrates the joy of reading books from the following categories: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Supernatural.

I tend to start my spooky or gothic reading in October, so I’m currently thinking about what I’d like to read this fall. Last year for this challenge only book from my list turned out to be memorable. That was Jane Rawson’s From the Wreck, which I highly recommend.

Click here to learn more about and join R.I.P. and follow the hashtag #RIPXIV on social media to discover some good reads in these genres.

What are you reading this week?