...and 2014 Banned Books Week comes to an end...

The last thought on banned books week is this: don't celebrate the books that are challenged. This is not about the books, the authors, those who challenge, or the issues. It's about freedom. It's about the freedom to read whatever you want to read, whenever you want to read it.

Have you heard the saying, "The more you read, the more you know"? It's true. Some banned books are not worth my time. They were published simply to be shocking, and that's not what I'm about.

However, the majority of challenged and banned books deal with difficult or taboo themes, and they need to be read to give perspective, the open eyes and to lift the veil of ignorance that we are under. Others give a raw and unflinching look at our past. That, too, is important to remember. To remember the mistakes of our past gives us a greater possibility that those mistakes won't happen again. We all need to look life square in the face.

Read. That is the most important thing. Read.