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The Book Censor's Library
The Book Censor's Library | Bothayna Al-Essa
3 posts | 2 read | 4 to read
A perilous and fantastical satire of banned books, secret archives, and the looming eye of an all-powerful government. The new book censor hasn't slept soundly in weeks. By day he combs through manuscripts at a government office, looking for anything that would make a book unfit to publish--allusions to queerness, unapproved religions, any mention of life before the Revolution. By night the characters of literary classics crowd his dreams, and pilfered novels pile up in the house he shares with his wife and daughter. As the siren song of forbidden reading continues to beckon, he descends into a netherworld of resistance fighters, undercover booksellers, and outlaw librarians trying to save their history and culture. Reckoning with the global threat to free speech and the bleak future it all but guarantees, Bothayna Al-Essa marries the steely dystopia of Orwell's 1984 with the madcap absurdity of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, resulting in a dreadful twist worthy of Kafka. The Book Censor's Library is a warning call and a love letter to stories and the delicious act of losing oneself in them.
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BarbaraBB
The Book Censor's Library | Bothayna Al-Essa
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Pickpick

You can ban books but you can‘t ban people‘s imagination. That‘s the takeaway for me from this super original novel. It‘s the story of a book censor in a dystopian future who can‘t resist the books he has to read - and ban. Distracted by rabbits with watches the book turns into a kind of Alice in Wonderland like story. The censor and I as a reader had no idea what was real or what wasn‘t. A good book from this Kuwait author.

Leftcoastzen Beautiful Bonsai! 4d
BarbaraBB @Leftcoastzen Thank you! I just bought it so I hope to keep it that way 🙏 4d
squirrelbrain Sounds very intriguing. 🤔 4d
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sarahbarnes Great review! And bonsai! 4d
Hooked_on_books I LOVED this one! So good. Definitely a best of the year for me. 4d
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books Your review made me read it. And I am glad I did! 3d
Hooked_on_books Hooray! 🥳 3d
58 likes7 comments
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Hooked_on_books
The Book Censor's Library | Bothayna Al-Essa
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Pickpick

I read the NBA longlists because I know I‘ll read some really great books. And if I‘m lucky, I‘ll come across one that‘s extraordinary. And that‘s this one. This book explores book banning and the fight against it in a way that has lightness and whimsy. I loved this book. One of my best of the year for sure.

NBA longlist, translated literature

catiewithac Your dog 🩷🐾 1mo
Librarybelle I‘ll definitely have to read this! 1mo
Texreader @catiewithac Ditto! And is that a bunny plushie? Cute!! 1mo
Hooked_on_books @Texreader It‘s actually an elephant. It‘s very cute. My husband is addicted to buying toys for Bindi (she‘ll play with empty boxes and bottles, so I say buy fewer, but I get overruled) and he picked that out. I admit to liking it. 1mo
53 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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Hooked_on_books
The Book Censor's Library | Bothayna Al-Essa
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🔥

Librarybelle This is such a good quote! 1mo
Hooked_on_books @Librarybelle It stopped me in my tracks! I love it when I book can do that. I‘m halfway through this one and loving it. 1mo
Librarybelle I had not heard of this book, so thanks for posting about this! 1mo
Suet624 Damn. 1mo
36 likes1 stack add4 comments