Soapbox

A couple of events in the book world occurred last week. See, if I had my finger on the pulse I would have blogged about these already, I hear you say. In my defence, I can’t be arsed offering a defence. In any case you may already be aware of both of them. In which case why am I bothering to talk about them? Ok then, I’ll stop right now. But I’ve started, so I may as well finish, cos I’ve nothing else to talk about. A blogger’s biggest worry: What to Say Next.




I’m talking shite, as is my want, but now to be serious. Super Thursday kicked off on, yes you’ve guessed it, Thursday. This was the day when the UK publishing industry took a further knock to the collective noggin (following the Dan Brown Big Discount) and released 800 books on the one day, Thursday 1st October.

 
That is not a typo. There is not an extra “0” at the end of 80. The figure was 800 books. On the one day. This is me looking like an envelope waiting for an address. Blank. (anyone recognise that quote?) WTF guys? Apparently it’s all about getting into the right position for the Christmas shoppers. But what do I know about that? My favourite position as a Christmas shopper is with me on my backside, in a comfie chair with my fingers in my ears going, lalalalalalala. Think Gordon Brown dealing with the latest political stushie. Until the 24th of December that is, when the hot rush of panic sets in.




Given that we are a society with our heads up our collective arse, there is a veritable plethora, an unhealthy abundance, nay a skip’s worth of books released on Thursday that come under the heading of “Celebrity Memoir”. I can’t wait until this particular obsession fades and we can get back to admiring people who have a talent for something more challenging than being able to get noticed by a camera.

 
Anywho, there are bound to be some good books that fade without notice in this bunfight. Can you imagine, having slaved over a manuscript for a year or more and it gets released among this storm? How would you get noticed? If you come across a book that’s worth talking about let me know and we’ll use this modest forum to give them, well a forum. Every little helps, right?




The other thing wot happened is that it was Banned Books Week, which highlighted that there are a dangerous minority of fuckwits who are intent on telling the rest of us what to read. If I could remember how to do it I would position a link HERE for you to click on to take you to the website. But I’m unabashed and unapologetically rubbish at this stuff so you’ll just have to cut and paste this http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/info.html to get more info.



Sure this concerns the USA. For the moment. Stuff that happens over there, tends to make its way over here.




In this site you’ll come across a reasoned, intelligent and eloquent response to one such book fascist who was determined that a book that offended her sensibilities should be pulled off the shelf of her local library, thrown to the ground and goose-stepped all over.



My favourite part of this letter by a very wise man called Jamie La Rue follows, along with an address if you want to read the full letter. Again the ability to cut and paste is required.

 
“Your third point, about the founders' vision of America, is something that has been a matter of keen interest to me most of my adult life. In fact, I even wrote a book about it, where I went back and read the founders' early writings about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What a fascinating time to be alive! What astonishing minds! Here's what I learned: our whole system of government was based on the idea that the purpose of the state was to preserve individual liberties, not to dictate them. The founders uniformly despised many practices in England that compromised matters of individual conscience by restricting freedom of speech. Freedom of speech – the right to talk, write, publish, discuss – was so important to the founders that it was the first amendment to the Constitution – and without it, the Constitution never would have been ratified.”




For the complete letter go here...

http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html



Fantastic stuff. My only concern is that when someone has lost both their brain cells on such a viewpoint they will only dismiss such an articulate effort as the ramblings of a degenerate. So in a world where those who shout loudest get heard (and frighteningly that tends to be the closed-minded minority) it’s up to those of us with wit, intelligence and the ability to listen to the opinion of others to raise their voices.



Let me hear you, people!