Read a Banned Book!

In 1937, writer and ethnographer Zora Neale Hurston published her greatest work to little fanfare -- Their Eyes Were Watching God was largely ignored, and was even viewed as tawdry.  Decades later, scholars and readers rediscovered her classic and fell under the spell of its heroine, Janie Crawford, a strong-willed African-American woman who narrates the passionate and tragic events of her life in 1930s Florida.  It is now regarded as one of the most important works in 20th century African American literature.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is just one of many books that the American Library Association has recorded as being banned or challenged by various groups -- check out our Banned Books display in the Adult Department.  HM

Apocalypse Now

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is one of the first novels written about nuclear war, published over 50 years ago it is a timeless classic still relevant today. The novel takes place in a small Florida town where the survivors of a global nuclear holocaust are forced to come together as a community in order to survive.

Other post-apocalyptic novels include The Passage by Justin Cronin, The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye, One Second After by William Forstchen, and Earth Abides by George Stewart. SG

Funny Florida characters

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen is the latest in his list of adventures that take place in Florida. You might want to start with Nature Girl and Skinny Dip and move on through his list of novels, saving the new Star Island for last. Crazy characters get themselves into wild situations in all of Hiaasen's books. This new book involves a hostage situation in which a singer's double is kidnapped from a South Beach hotel. The problem is that the singer's fans aren't supposed to find out that she has a double.