Apr 26, 2011

The Scroll of Books to Save

Throughout our year of The Big Read, we asked people at each event to add a book title or author to the ever-lengthening scroll of "books to save" - that is, books that we would want to save from a fire as depicted in Fahrenheit 451.  The list, after our final event, now numbers more than 230 titles.  Many of these were written on the scroll by more than one person, and that duplication is not noted here.  It is a remarkably eclectic collection of books, reflecting the diversity of people who participated in the Big Read events during the past seven months!  Thanks to all who contributed.  If you want to add a title, feel free to comment.  Deciphering some hand-writing was difficult, so if your favorite book is not noted here, my apologies.  I tried to verify each title with the correct author using WorldCat or other sources, and could not do so for every title recorded on the scroll.




Author Title

1984 George Orwell

"anything by" Mark Twain

"anything by" Patricia Highsmith

"anything by" Wilhem Reich

"anything by" Willa Cather

Absalom, Absalom William Faulkner

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

Ahab's Wife Sena Jeter Naslund
The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell

All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren

Always Outmanned, Always Outgunned Walter Mosley

American Gods Neil Gaiman
The American Pageant David M. Kennedy

And Tango Makes Three Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

And the Band Played On Randy Shilts

Angle of Repose Wallace Stenger and Jackson J. Benson

Angry Candy Harlan Ellison
Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral Barbara Kingsolver

Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The Ants E. O. Wilson

As I Lay Dying William Faulkner

As You Like It William Shakespeare

Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison

Beloved Toni Morrison

Between Friends Debbie Macomber
The Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna

Black Beauty Anna Sewell

Black Like Me: Autobiography of Malcom X Malcom X

Blood Meridian or the evening redness in the West Cormac McCarthy

Blood Oranges John Hawkes
The Blue Sword Robin McKinley

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Eric Metaxas

Brain Sex: the real different between men and women Anne Moir

Brave New World Aldous Huxley

Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky

Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
A Canticle for Liebowitz Walter M. Miller

Captain Underpants Dav Pilkey
Carnival of Fury William Ivy Flair
The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko

Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
The Color of Water James McBride

Color Purple Alice Walker
The Columbia Encyclopedia Clarke F. Ansley, editor in chief
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson

Confederacy of Dunces Kennedy O'Toole
The Constitution of the United States of America James Madison, et al.

Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas père

Courage and Consequence Karl Rove

Crossings: a history of Vermont Bridges Robert McCullough

Cry the Beloved Country Alan Patak

David Copperfield Charles Dickens
The Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson, et al.

Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey

Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank
The Drifters James Mitchener

Dune Frank Herbert

Eazy Rollins series Walter Mosley
The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery
The End of Time Isaac Asimov

Ender's Game Orson Scott Card

Everything is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway

Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Federalist or The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

Fifth Sacred Thing Starhawk
The Fledgling Octavia Butler

Flowers for Algernon (Charly) Daniel Keyes
The Gift Hafiz

Giraffe J.M. Ledgard
The Giver Lois Lowry
The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein

God Bless You Mr. Rosewater Kurt Vonnegaut

God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman

Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck

Good Omens Neil Gaiman

Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown

Goosebumps: Say Cheese and Die R. L. Stine
The Gospel According to Biff Christopher Moore
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Habibi Naomi Shihab Nye

Hamlet William Shakespeare

Harold and the Purple Crayon Crockett Johnson

Harry Potter series J. K. Rowling
The Help Stockette
The History of Love Allison Krause
The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again J. R. R. Tolkien

Holes Lewis Sacher
The Holy Bible
The Holy Qur'an

Hope Dies Last: Autobiography Alexander Dubcek

How Did We Find Out About Electricity? Isaac Asimov

How Many Licks, or How to Estimate Damn Near Anything DeAaron Santos

How to Read the Air Dinaw Mengestu

Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

I and Thou Martin Buber

I, Robot Isaac Asimov

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler… Italo Calvino

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs

Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
The Joy of Cooking Irma von Starkloff Rombauer

Katherine Anya Seton

Klondike Fever Pierre Berton

L'Etranger Albert Camus
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles Julie Andrews

Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman

Let the Circle be Unbroken Mildred Taylor

Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke
The Life of Pi Yann Martel

Like Water for Chocolate Laura Esquivel
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis

Little Birds Erotica Anais Nin

Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Miss Sunshine Roger Hargreaves

Lolita Vladimer Nabkob

Lord Jim Joseph Conrad
Lord of the Flies William Golding
The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tokien

Love Leo Buscalgia

Love You Forever Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw

Marley and Me John Grogan

Martian Timeslip Philip K. Dick
The Marx-Engels Reader Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels; ed. by Robert C. Tucker

Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris

Middlemarch T. S. Eliot

Midwives Chris Bojalimna

Moby Dick Herman Melville

Moonspinners Mary Stewart

Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf

My Side of the Mountain Jean Craighead George

Naked David Sedaris
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri

Neverending Story Michael Ende

Night Elie Wiesel

Night Watch Terry Pratchett
The Notebook José Saramago
The Once and Future King T. H. White

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenitsyn

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Dr. Seuss

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez

Organic Chemistry, 6th ed. Francis A. Carey
The Other Wind U.K. LeGuin

Our Town Thornton Wilder

Out of Africa Isak Dinesen
The Outsiders S. E. Hinton

Parable of the Sower Octavia Butler

Perdido Street Station China Mieville
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky

Persuasion Jane Austen
Le Petite Prince Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster

Phantoms in the Brain V.S. Ramachandran
The Pigman Paul Zindel

Pilgrim's Progress Mark Twain
The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett

[Poetry] Edgar Alan Poe
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin
The Prophet Kahlil Gibran

Queen Zixi of Ix; or, the Story of the Magic Cloak Frank  L. Baum

Quiet Flows the Dawn Sholokov

Redwall Brian Jacques
The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy
The Road Less Traveled M. Scott Peck

Robin Hood [author not given]

Room [author not given]

Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughts
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd

Seeds: Time Capsules of Life Kesseler and Stuppy
A Separate Peace John Knowles

Short stories Anton Chekhov
Single Variable Calculus, 6th ed. James Stewart

Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughter House Five Kurt Vonnegaut
The Sledding Hill Chris Crutcher

Snakes: the evolution of myster in nature Harry Greene
The Soft Machine William Burroughs

Solaris Stanilaw Lem
A Song of Ice and Fire George R. R. Martin

Song of Solomon Tony Morrison

Soulstepping Elizabeth C. Fine
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
The Sparrow Mary Doria Russel
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman

Stargirl Jerry Spinelli

Stones Into Schools Greg Mortenson

Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein

Sufi poetry Rumi (Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi)

Summerhill A. S. Neill

Tales from Central Russia, Book 1 James Riordan

Tangerine Edward Bloor

Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin

Their Eyes Were Watcing God Zora Neal Hurston

There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom Louis Sachar
The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien

Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

Toby Chipmunk Margaret J. McElroy and Jessica O. Younge

Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith

Twenty Love Poems and One Song of Despair Pablo Neruda
The Twits Roald Dahl

Two Logs Crossing; John Haskell's Story Walter Dumaux Edmonds
The Velveteen Rabbit Margarey Williams

Venus In Furs Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch

Walden Henry David Thoreau

War and Peace Leo Tolstoy

Water for Elephants Sara Gruen

Watership Down Richard Adams
The Way of the Scout Tom Brown, Jr.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver

Where I'm Calling From Ray Cower

Where's Waldo? Martin Handford

Whiteman Tony D'Souza

Who Are You People? Shari Candron
The Wind-Witch Susan Dexter

Winnie the Pooh stories A.A. Milne
The Witch of Blackbird Pond Elizabeth George Speare
The Wizard of Oz Frank L. Baum
The Woman Warrior Maxine Kingston
The World According to Garp John Irving

World Without End Ken Follett
The Writing Life Annie Dillard

Zeitoun Dave Eggers

Apr 10, 2011

Secrets of the State and National Security Issues: What Your Government Isn't Telling You

April 7, 2011
First Church, UCC Fellowship Hall
Our last session of the Big Read, organized by the North Central Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and co-sponsored by Oberlin Big Read, featured Frank Kunstel, activist and director of the speakers bureau for the ACLU of Ohio. He spoke about government suppression of information and the public's right to know, focusing on the government's use of the category "classified" information, the "states secrets privilege" invoked by the Bush and Obama administrations, and the revelation of information via sources such as wikileaks.

Kunstel drew parallels between the dystopian future portrayed in Fahrenheit 451 with the current level of secrecy imposed by government agencies over a very broad range of information.  Among several references to further reading, Kunstel recommended the FAS Project on Government Secrecy (Federation of American Scientists).

Highlighted news stories on the FAS site includes this quote from the Washington Post:  Senate panel proposes that leakers of classified information lose pensions by Walter Pincus, Washington Post, April 6. "A Senate panel has proposed legislation that could strip government pensions from active and retired members of the intelligence community who knowingly avoid pre-publication review procedures when authoring works or delivering speeches."

Thank you to the North Central Chapter of ACLU Ohio for bringing Frank Kunstel to Oberlin.

Mar 8, 2011

Chris Crutcher visiting March 16th

Chris Crutcher, celebrated author of young adult novels, is visiting Oberlin on Wednesday, March 16.  Crutcher is the keynote speaker for Oberlin's Big Read.  During the day, he will be speaking to high school and middle school students in Oberlin.  Each of the high school grades read one of his books over the summer and now have a chance to meet the author and ask questions.  In the afternoon he will meet with a group of student writers on Oberlin's campus.

He will be speaking to the public at Oberlin Public Library at 7pm on 3/16, and his talk will focus on themes in Fahrenheit 451 around censorship and control of information.  Several of his books have been banned or challenged and he will speak about his experiences.   Please join us for the keynote talk! Cookies and juice will be served.  The talk will be followed by a book signing and chance to meet the author.

Feb 1, 2011

Finished reading? Pass it along!

We are very pleased that nearly every free copy of Fahrenheit 451 (200 copies total) has been given away to someone in the community.  We are even more pleased that we still have folks who would like to read the book!  If you have finished with your copy, consider bringing it back to the Oberlin Public Library or Oberlin College Library, so we may pass it along to another reader.  Thank you!

Jan 31, 2011

Oberlin College students and staff book discussion

Last week a group of Oberlin students got together to talk about Fahrenheit 451 over lunch. Discussion topics ranged from the book's Cold War context to the way some of the future technology Bradbury predicted in the 1950s has actually come into being. 

Many other discussion groups have been forming all over Oberlin.   There have been several public groups held at the Oberlin Public Library and a number of book clubs that have chosen to read and discuss the book.

OPL has book group kits that you can check out with copies of the book and reading guides, so if you'd like to host your own discussion group, pick up a kit and let us know how it goes.

Jan 25, 2011

Wag the Dog! Last film in our film series

Join us for the last showing in our F451 film series!


Wednesday, Jan 26, 2011
7 pm
Oberlin Public Library

Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to "fabricate" a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal.

Director: Barry Levinson
Writers: Larry Beinhart, Hilary Henkin
Staring: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro and Anne Heche

Jan 16, 2011

Good Night and Good Luck

Prior to the January 12 film showing at Oberlin Public Library, Alison Ricker read from the introduction to Readings on Fahrenheit 451, to provide the historical context of McCarthyism and Ray Bradbury's response to that era through his writing. Good Night and Good Luck, our second film in the F451 Film Series, explores the persecution by Senator McCarthy of suspected communists and communists sympathizers. The similar themes in the stories of the celebrated 1950s journalist Edward R. Murrow and Bradbury's futurist fiction gave the audience much to ponder.

Jan 10, 2011

Food for Thought: F451 reading groups in Oberlin restaurants

We have partnered with selected restaurants in town to sponsor Food for Thought, a program designed with small book discussion groups in mind.  Any group of three of more can be a book discussion group, and participating restaurants will offer an incentive to groups who read and discuss Fahrenheit 451 over a meal in the restaurant.  Some establishments are offering a ten-percent discount on the food portion of each meal; others are offering a free or discounted beverage or dessert when purchased with a meal.  The program extends through January.   

Take advantage of this opportunity to share a meal and discuss the book with friends or family! Just get a free copy of the book from the Oberlin Public Library and start reading.  Take the book and two or more reading pals to one of the participating restaurants, show the book to your server when ordering, and ask for the Food for Thought discount or promotion. Enjoy!

Participating restaurants include:   

Jan 7, 2011

Reading Between the Lines: Oberlin College

Take a look at the NEA Big Read blog, for an interview about the Oberlin Big Read:
Reading Between the Lines: Oberlin College

Pleasantville draws an appreciative audience

Young and old alike look forward to watching the movie.
Audience members settle in with fresh, hot buttered popcorn (courtesy of Oberlin Public Library reference librarian Marleen Watling) and listen to opening remarks from Oberlin College professor of English Nick Jones (below) before viewing Pleasantville on Wednesday, Jan. 5.  The public library was a great venue for the film - thank you to OPL library director Darren McDonough for preparing the space!

Nick Jones addresses the audience prior to the film showing.
Pleasantville resonated with themes in Fahrenheit 451 on several levels, from the disturbing book burning scene to mob mentality censoring freedom of expression.  My favorite scene has to be when Reese Witherspoon's character (Mary Sue, at that moment) chooses to put on reading glasses and focus on D. H. Lawrence, rather than head out for yet another joy ride to Lovers' Lane.  Her awakening to a deeper emotional state through reading excellent literature is not unlike Montag's development by reading forbidden texts.

We hope to see such a pleasant crowd again at the next three films during our Big Read Film Fest.  See you Wednesdays at 7pm in January - come early and enjoy the popcorn!  Oberlin Public Library community room.