What would a world without books be like? Its a hard question to answer since they have been around our entire life. I feel like it would be a world with less imagination, especially if books were replaced by movies. Movies are great, don't get me wrong, but they do not allow for the viewer to imagine what the scene, character or event looks like because its all on the screen. When you read a book, you only have the words, everything else takes place in your own imagination. That is the reason why I love books so much. Everyone reads the same words but the story is different in everyones heads.
I would honestly miss books I were no longer allowed to read them. I would miss
Bukowski's raw humor and out-take on life the most. I feel I have learned more about the world from reading about how other people view it, if that makes sense. I remember reading "Raise High the roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction" by Salinger and how it showed the importance of normal, everyday situations and how beautiful, ordinary can be. My favorite quote from the book is, "I have scars on my hands from touching certain people."
I think we metaphorically burn books everyday by simply not reading them. Ignoring them and watching the movie instead of reading the book. Although, in some cases watching the movie is less painful then reading the book, for example, the Harry Potter books. Not a fan of the books, but I like the movies.
When I read I find myself thinking more instead of just absorbing the words on the page. Culture Jam was a real eye opener for me. It was the first time I read articles really attacking our culture and it forced me to analyze parts of it that we just excepted before. I never really noticed the "noise" around me before. Now, it seems a bit annoying, I guess ignorance can be bliss.
Recently we have been discussing freedom of speech. We examined the Westboro Baptist Church in Tuesdays class. Its weird to say this, but it made me proud to be an American. Our country not only allows that behavior but protects the rights of those horrible people even though they offend 99.9999 (maybe another few 9's) percent of our countries population. After saying that, we don't allow numerous books in public schools. Censorship should not be allowed in any form, in my opinion. If you do not want your child reading a book, don't try to have the school board ban it. It angers be that so many parents get these books banned for the language, and ignore the bigger picture. Books like, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, and A Color Purple have all been banned in schools. I find that offensive.
