The sold-out event was held at the Rose Wagner Theater downtown. Among the works we read from were Lord of the Flies, Catch-22, A Wrinkle in Time, Catcher in the Rye, and The Vagina Monologues.
My contribution to the event involved reading an excerpt from Jon Krakauer's book, Under the Banner of Heaven. Jon's book isn't banned, but it caused a tizzy when some LDS members saw it as a scathing indictment of Mormonism in general, rather than rabid Mormon lunatics in particular.
At any rate, the show was all about censorship, or the intent of some people to decide for others what shouldn't be read. Censorship is as old as, well, the printing press.
My mother was my first censor, snatching away lingerie ads. Later, it was a senior missionary companion who tried to forbid me to read (and quote aloud) from the Bible's ''Song of Solomon.''
Today my censors are primarily my wife, Irene, and Tribune managing editor Tim Fitzpatrick. Irene tells me that even should the mood strike me, I cannot subscribe to Hollywood Hooters, and Tim won't let me use certain words that appear in the magazine's photo captions in my columns.
When it comes to books, there are plenty that I don't want to read. Some are trashy and pointless. Others may have literary merit but are no more interesting than a water heater warranty. But I prefer to make my own decisions, which is why I participated in Monday's event.
My favorite parts were X-96 Radio from Hell's Bill Allred, who read from Alice in Wonderland, and Salt Lake actor Carl Nelson's great performance as the mentally challenged Charlie Gordon from Flowers for Algernon.
But most of the time the participants sat on lines of folding chairs in a backstage area and nervously waited our turns. It occurred to me there in the dark that this loose collection of dissimilar people was a small library.
People are like books. Some don't match their covers. Others get bad reviews from worse reviewers. You have to decide for yourself, and that requires a certain amount of effort and risk.
I browsed a respectable and safe-looking volume and found myself talking at length about questionable literature with Utah state Rep. Carol Spackman-Moss.
I also ''read'' a bit from Phil Riesen, Frank Layden and even X-96's Gina Barberi, who made fun of me on the radio the morning before. All of them were interesting.
Later, just for the hell of it, I plopped down with a sedate looking tome and got a nice surprise. Not only was Tracee Rosen Jewish, she was also the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami and (here's the racy part), a lesbian. Despite dire warnings by others about such content, Tracee and I got along great.
The world is a big library. If you stick only to subjects you think are safe, you risk becoming a book no one wants to check out. Then what good are you? So, get out there. Read and be read.
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Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby welcomes mail at 143 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or e-mail at rkirby@sltrib.com.
