Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know that not all of you who read are in the U.S., but still, it’s vital that none of us who are decent people forget the scope of disaster that a few, evil people can cause–anywhere in the world. It’s not about religion, it’s not about politics, it’s about the acknowledgment that humans should try to work together, not tear each other apart, even when they disagree.

So, feeling my way to a question here … Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read? Personally, I used to enjoy reading Tom Clancy, but haven’t been able to stomach his fight-terrorist kinds of books since.

And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?

Whew…  important topic this week in honor of the 911 victims.  When 911 occured, I was already in shock from my brother’s recent death and have impressions and images of that time — finding out about the attacks in the middle of teaching 35 sophomores, attending church as usual that Sunday and finding standing room only, learning that family members were in NYC at the time, wondering if life would ever allow for joy or security again.

I can’t say 911 changed my reading habits, however.  I think I have always shied away from 2-dimensional portraits of “pure evil.”  Or maybe the better word would be “impatience.”  Whether watching an action-adventure movie or reading a page-turning plotmobile, I get impatient when we aren’t privvy to the motivations of the “bad guy.”  It’s dangerous to turn an enemy into a faceless symbol, and in fiction it’s simply not as interesting.

The last audio book we popped in on our drive home — through Kansas and Iowa (very beautiful, but a bit monotonous) — was Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille, who I’ve never read before.  Not only was it perfect for our last, tiresome leg of the journey (very much a plotmobile), but I thoroughly enjoyed how the hero — a terrorist specialist — was chasing down an American extremist who was planning to bomb two American cities under the guise of a middle-eastern attack, so that the U.S. government could then retaliate and bomb the middle east. 

Now, this is about as far from what I usually read as we were from home!  But the theme seemed to be that when faced with what seems to be “pure evil,” we have an even greater responsibility not to react in kind — not to sacrifice the best parts of humanity through what could be seen as justifiable action.  I can’t help but think of this when issues of civil liberties arise…

We haven’t finished the novel yet, and it will take us a few weekends of driving to the cabin to finish it (especially since the Brewers are fighting for the playoffs), but I’ll review Wild Fire once we do.  I’m looking forward to reading other’s responses this week!

Welcome back!