What does one do about books and authors with which one disagrees? In my naivety I've always thought that the best thing to do is not buy them, and not read them. Apparently I'm wrong though, at least as far as some people are concerned.
A Twitter hoo-ha erupted over J.K.Rowling's comment that she thought there was a word for people who had a cervix. Also, "reviewers" have attacked her most recent book, Troubled Blood, on the grounds that the murderer is a transgender person -- which is a bit odd because that is not apparently the case. (I have asked people who have actually read it, which I suppose is quite radical really. I have also started reading it myself.)
So, cue outrage, nastiness, threats and our old friend book burning. Yes, people took to burning Harry Potter books.
“Wherever they burn books, in the end will also burn human beings.”
Only slightly less depressing is the news that a school district in the USA has banned several books from the curriculum on the grounds that they are racist. Meanwhile, in the UK, employees at Penguin were crying -- crying! -- over the fact that the company is going to publish 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.
Meanwhile, you can still buy Mein Kampf, by one A. Hitler -- published by, erm, Penguin!
By the way, if you like that animated picture at the top of this article, you can read how I created it here:
Experiment: Using A Gif Rather Than An Image
I wrote it in the form of an academic paper, in a bit of a tongue-in-cheek way. I hope you enjoy reading it.
This article first appeared in my free newsletter, Terry Freedman’s Books Bulletin.