Fall Colors and Banned Books Oh, My

Ah, fall. For parts of the United States fall signals the end of summer and the transition from the warmer weather to the impending winter months. While no one can argue the beauty of a mountain range ablaze in the colors of fall leaves, many who love summer and everything that summer stands for do not wait with anticipation those first crisp hints that fall is coming. Of that group I could be the grand puba. I am a lover of hot, humid days filled with lazy hammock swinging while reading a good book, and drinking an ice coffee—I am a New Englander after all, did you think I was going to say lemonade?

As I write this post, we are having a magnificent day up here in northern NH. The colors are breathtaking, but there is no sign of the coming colder temps. In fact, other than the breeze it is quite warm with pillowy clouds dotting the bright blue sky. These are the days that I treasure in the fall. These are the gems that will sustain me during the long January days when there isn’t a leaf to be found leaving the trees looking like giant skeletons spread across the white/gray landscape.

So, in the spirit of finding the positive in the things around us, here are some pictures of my view from my daily walk. While I hate what fall heralds, I still can enjoy the beauty of where I live and the wonder that is New England in fall.

And, before I let you hop off to our next blog, I also wanted to mention that this week is banned book week in the United States The American Library Association has posted their list of the top 100 most banned books from the last decade. I have read many of these books; some I liked, some I didn’t, but I got to choose what I took away from the content. No one told me what to think and, in a world, as vast as ours we need to be able to look at pieces of literature that make us think or challenge us for good or bad.

If you read my bio, I state that I think a person learns something about themselves or about the world around them when they read a book, and I am passionate about not censoring literature. There is literature that I think is not worth the paper it is printed on, or is offensive to me, but it is not my place to decide that for someone else. Having to assimilate new or contradicting information is what allows us to grow as human beings. So, if you are looking for a list of books to pick your way through this fall, I give you the banned book list. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019

But, before you do that, our next blogger, Jenna Da Sie is showing your what it is like in her neck of the woods this season.