Friends of the Benicia Library

It’s Banned Books Week! This annual event was launched in the US in 1982 as a response to a surging number of challenges to books in schools, libraries and boo...kstores. Nearly 3 decades later, books are still being challenged ~ and this week is all about spotlighting censorship and celebrating the freedom to read. Check out this list of the Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade ~ compiled by the American Library Association. http://www.ala.org///frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019 Below are the first 10 on the list ~ you may be surprised by these titles! 1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 2. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey 3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher 4. Looking for Alaska by John Green 5. George by Alex Gino 6. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell 7. Drama by Raina Telgemeier 8. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James 9. Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle 10. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison #bannedbooksweek #bookshopbenicia #freedomtoread

An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars. A dangling participle walks into a b...ar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly. A bar was walked into by the passive voice. An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening. Two quotation marks walk into a bar. A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite. Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything. A question mark walks into a bar? A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly. Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type." A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud. A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves. Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart. A synonym strolls into a tavern. At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack. A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment. Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor. A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered. An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel. The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known. A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph. The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense. A dyslexic walks into a bra. A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines. A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert. A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget. A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony - Jill Thomas Doyle

There's some frustration about not being able to donate books to the Benicia Library at this time. So, here is a great alternative from Marleen Stam-Gibbs (writing on behalf of a Vallejo mental hospital) posted on Benicia Happenings. I hope you'll consider helping some of the neediest among us. Marleen writes: "In normal times, the Benicia Public Library donates several boxes of books for our patients every other month or so, but we haven't been able to get books from them ...since covid started and our shelves are very, very bare (we allow our patients to take books home if they find one that resonates with them). Now before you start piling them by my door, please know that not all books are suitable for psychiatric patients and right now I can't just donate to the library what I can't use. So please, only donate suitable books! No erotica or steamy romance (low key romance welcome) No gristly murders (not so violent mysteries are very welcome) Thrillers only if without graphic violence, rape, etc. No fiction with themes of rape, domestic violence, incest, addiction, alcoholism, the supernatural, etc. No 'hell and damnation' type Christian literature NO HARDCOVERS! (they hurt too much if thrown). Paperback only. We LOVE: Self help books (any topic except sex or the paranormal) BIPOC authors Spanish language Mandarin language Christian literature Fiction/Fantasy/SciFi Popular Science Graphic Novels (no staples) Magazines (no staples) Puzzle books, coloring books (no staples) Jig saw puzzles I can take about 6-7 boxes of books and magazines at this time, I have no space to store more. You can deliver items at any time at the hospital at 525 Oregon street (leave them at the reception, they will call me to come get them), or PM me for my address in Benicia." See more

I'm sure there are many out there who miss the book sale and the great selection of science books! Well this little video might help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnn9CfsYJqc&t=327s