An unwanted copy editor has been digging through the stacks of The Maury County Public Library in Columbia, Tennessee. The local News Channel 5 reports that library staff has found over 50 books with profane language crossed out in blue ink. The targeted books are mostly fiction, many of them mystery novels, though the 9/11 Commission Report was also defaced. “It’s one word, in particular. It’s the ‘f’ word,” says Library Director Elizabeth Potts. But, catching the culprit will be very difficult. Due to a federal law that protects library patrons’ privacy, no records are kept to track the history of who borrowed a book. If caught, the offender could be charged with vandalism, or face more serious charges if they have caused more than $500 in damages. Though Potts isn’t planning to prosecute, she does want the illegal copy editing to stop. The stealth censor is violating Free Speech and altering the authors’ creative vision.
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By John Irving
Random House | 576pgs
Release Date: October 27, 2009
John Irving’s latest novel opens in a small logging camp near the Twisted River in 1954. The status quo of Dominic Baciagalupo’s life as the camp cook is violently shaken when his 12 year old son, Danny, mistakes the Constable’s girlfriend for a bear and kills her. Father and son are forced to flee the New Hampshire camp, followed relentlessly by the obsessed Constable Carl. Last Night in Twisted River spans 50 years and traces Dominic and Danny’s movement from state to state, in an effort to escape Carl and thwart his vengeance. The only connection to their old life is Dominic’s best friend Ketchum, a gruff logger with a warm heart. Over the decades Dominic works a series of restaurant jobs as Danny develops his writing talent and becomes a bestselling author under the pen name Danny Angel. The narration of this novel has been described as chaotic, jumping forward and backward in time with little transition, but at its core, is a touching story about the love between a father and son.
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