Pardon the foul language.

Watch the charming video below, and give if you can. I did.

For those who don’t get the reference:

Unfortunately, there are those who think a public library is a waste of resources. After all, when Google brings the world to your laptop, why publicly fund a library (no joke, some actually pose the question)?

Remarkably obvious statement:  I have a thing for libraries.

I grew up in a town where the public library was housed in a home originally constructed in 1797.  The library card I had there was one of my most prized possessions—after my Legos—and I recall being fascinated and horrified by the “facts of life” book I read while hiding in the stacks.

As a teenager I often rode my bike up the hills into a neighboring town (population roughly 800), where the library was one a few small municipal buildings clustered on a wind-swept hillside.

Most recently I visited the beautifully-renovated public library in Portland, Maine, which is a model for community engagement, in my opinion.

Yes, I’ve been to big-city libraries, too:  Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles.  Let’s not forget university libraries.  And yes, I keep a list of the libraries I’ve visited.

Which leads me to the following, offered without proof:  the health of a library is a leading indicator of the health of (if not existence of) a community.  Where the public library is not a prized possession, where the library is not vibrant and engaged with the population, then the community as a whole suffers, regardless of how many of its citizens are using Google.

Libraries in tiny towns, though tiny themselves, can none the less provide a place to meet, a warm spot to read the paper, a quiet place to study, an opportunity to go online and look for jobs—oh, and books.   I’ve been in very small libraries that were absolutely vital and essential to their communities.  I’ve been to cities where the library is taking the lead on community outreach, engagement, and adult education.

I’ve also been in bedroom communities where the residents were scarcely aware they even had a downtown, never mind a library.

And believe me, I don’t want to live in such places.

Here is my selection of favorite fiction reads from 2011. Note that these are my picks for best 2011 reads, not the best of 2011′s books. Most of these were published in prior years.

My choices for fiction, in no particular order (and yes, the links give me credit on my Amazon account).

	The Typist (Michael Knight) A typist soldier in the post war occupation of Japan, with the occasional babysitting job with MacArthur’s eight-year-old son. Lovely, crisp writing and dialogue.
	In Cold Blood (Truman Capote) Yes, I finally read it. So should you. See how it all began.
	Shutter Island (Dennis Lehane) Lehane’s taut psychological thriller of a man chasing a lost soul through an off-shore insane asylum. It kept me guessing, and intrigued.
	The Spies of Warsaw (Alan Furst) I’m a huge fan of Alan Furst, and I think this is one of his best. Espionage in the early days of WWII. Excellent characters and storytelling, as usual from Furst.
	Stettin Station (David Downing) A winner from another growing favorite of mine, David Downing. British/American expat John Russell navigates his escape from pre-war Germany, but is forced to leave his love and young son behind.

In central Berlin, along the Unter den Linden, there is a public square named Bebelplatz.  Located adjacent to what was then the state opera house, the site was previously named Opernplatz.  On May 10, 1933, Opernplatz was the site of an enormous book burning, orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels.  Some 20,000 books, deemed to be decadent, or of un-German spirit, were burned that night.  Included were works by Albert Einstein, Erich Maria Remarque, Thomas Mann, and many others.

The photo below shows the memorial commemorating the book burning. Beneath a transparent plate set into the cobblestones, there is a brightly lit chamber containing empty bookshelves. Utterly brilliant, in my opinion.

Accompanying the memorial is a plaque set into the stones, quoting German author Heinrich Heine (1820).  It reads (roughly):

“It was only a prelude, where they burn books, they also burn people at the end.”

Ok, so maybe fourteen is nothing to brag about, but I’ll take it anyway. How many have you read?

Ulysses.  1984.  To Kill a Mockingbird.  Catcher in the Rye.  The Great Gatsby.  The Grapes of Wrath.  Animal Farm.  Fahrenheit 451 (umm, irony, anyone?).

Here is just a small collection of banned book lists:

A list of classics frequently banned or challenged (ALA).

A list of authors and works banned by the Catholic Church (wikipedia).

The ten most challenged books of 2010 (ALA).  The Hunger Games?  Really?

A list of books banned by various governments (wikipedia).

A list of books commonly challenged or banned in the US (wikipedia).

And here is my own experience with banned books, which I posted last year.  I also have a Six Sentence version of that experience, here.

You know what to do.  Go read.

Also:  The ALA has a dedicated channel on YouTube where readers discuss their experiences with “subversive” books.  Pretty cool.