May 13, 2004
To ban or not to ban the cucumber
From the land of the free and the home of the brave, of course.
Last July, an 83-year-old grandmother called Loretta Harrison visited her local library in Marion County, Florida. A brightly covered book with a funny title caught her attention. After reading just a few pages, she filed an objection with the library that the book was "to [sic] obsene [sic] for general reading".Library politics, state politics, sex, scandal, farce. A great read!
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what were those books was she promoting again?
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So, she hasn't read any popular novels in the last fifty years? They're all filled with sex and licentiousness and filth. Eat Me is a very funny read, by the way.
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Remember folks, if something offends you then NO ONE should be allowed to see it! This message brought to you by OFSB, the Organization of Finger-Shaking Busybodies.
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Synopsis Julia is a photographer; Chantal edits a fashion magazine; Helen is an academic, and Philippa is writing a novel. The best of friends, they meet at trendy cafes and restaurants to eye the passing talent and to swap stories about their wilder sexual encounters. But what is fiction and what is fact in these wild erotic exploits? Can we believe the tales these women are telling? Sounds wildly original, I'm only surprised that its not the funniest thing since Bridget Jones.
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What I want to know is, with the stuff I read now, what on earth will offend me when I'm 83?
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Please, think of the children. They might read the book and mistake it for literature.
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Hey, the worst busybodies are reformed libertines, after all... You'll be complaining with the best of 'em at 83.
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When I'm 83 I will sit on my porch with my rifle and shoot kids that try to steal my apples while whining about the how things were better back in the Good Old Days when people were decent.
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And there's a popular openly-Christian series of cartoons for kids in which one of the main characters is a cucumber. Coincidence? I hope so.
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Fear of Flying still makes summer reading lists? YES!!!!! This means my goal of writing Fear of Flying for my generation could be a profitable venture as well as a satisfying one.
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musing... What will the fear be in your novel? I don't think that contemporary women still fear going out on their own, which was the real "flying" in Jong's book. (Though I'll always remeber it for the "zipless fuck" episode, the escape from boundries set by authority figures was the important part.)
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Eat Me is a very funny read, by the way. Less funny when you've met the author. *shudders*
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Getting called obscene is great for sales. I know it's why I read the Diviners, only to find out it was actually literature. Dang.
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Getting called obscene is great for sales. To the point where the cynical marketing types amongst us (cough) wonder idly if publishers don't secretly have a cadre of former-libertines-turned-busybodies whom they call on to revive the flagging sales of salacious tripe du jour... *raises eyebrow in spockline fashion*
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Harrison's complaint alleged "emotional shock" as a result of reading the novel from cover to cover. well, at least she gave it a fair chance before condemning it.