September by Stacy

September is an amazing month—the best of the entire year.  First—it is the Fall Friends of the Library Booksale.  This year it is held Thursday, Sept. 26 through Sunday, Sept. 29.  And second is the weather.  The first cool breezes come in and I can start pulling out my winter clothes.  But, September also remains one of the saddest months because each year we’ll remember the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania plane crash.

I still remember that day very well.  It was exactly my one month anniversary working at the library.  I was in Ponca City, enjoying my Tuesday morning off, drinking a cup of coffee with my brother-in-law while my sister and her newborn slept in.  I was supposed to go to the OSU library later to learn to use their catalog more thoroughly.  When we saw footage of the first plane, we thought a beginning pilot in a little four seater had an accident.  As we watched live and saw the second plane hit, we gasped, screaming THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT. 

 As the events of the day unfolded, we became slightly hysterical—my sister wondering what kind of world she’d brought a newborn into---me thinking every place and thing was going to be hit—unsure whether to get the heck out of an oil town like Ponca or whether to stay away from what seemed in my scared mind a potential target—OSU.

Twelve years later, what we saw still seems surreal.  Obviously, I am a huge believer in the power of books.  Books have the ability to help heal pain by taking us through terrible events but in a safe environment.  They also help us remember things we should not forget.  Two books on 9/11 that I have read and recommend are:

“One Tuesday Morning” (9/11 Series, Book 1) by Karen Kingsbury.  The Christian fiction author writes about Jamie, a young mother whose firefighter husband is killed in the WTC collapse.  Jamie does not know this because a man who looks just like her husband but who was no memory is returned to her.  Many people criticize the book because of the very unrealistic premise, but, really, how realistic is it that two planes would fly into and bring down the WTC?  Parts of this novel are so touching it will bring you to tears and make you feel hope.  I did not particularly enjoy the follow-up books Kingsbury made into a series, but I do recommend this one. 

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer is the story of Oscar, a young boy whose father died in the towers.  Oscar finds a key in his father’s belongings and goes on a quest to find what the key will open.  This is a quirky and experimental book.  It is very often incredibly heart touching and draws parallels between events of WWII and 9/11.  A movie based on the book came out in 2012, which I thought was equally as good.
I was actually surprised to see that several hundreds of fiction books use 9/11 as part of the story, but not that many have become popular.  I’m not sure if these others books deal with the subject respectfully and movingly or just exploit the topic, but the other books I plan to read include: 

        "Falling Man," Don DeLillo – details how the 9/11 events affect the life of a tower survivor
“The Good Life” by Jay McInerney – two well off couples reassess their lives after 9/11.

        “Absent Friends” by S J Rozan – the long held secrets of a group of friends come to light after 9/11.  

If you are looking for stories or non-fiction material on this subject, visit with your librarian for assistance.  I hope that each of us has a peaceful Sept. 11.