This post isn’t like most of my posts. It doesn’t talk about me, but it does talk about something close to my heart, Reading and Censorship.
I read – A LOT! I believe reading is one of our fundamental rights. I do not believe any book should be censored. If you don’t want to read it, don’t. If you think your children shouldn’t read it, don’t let them. But banning books is wrong, and goes against the First Amendment.
Take Action! Protect your right to read!
September 24 – October 1, 2011 is Banned Book Week.
Sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA):
“Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.”
As some of you may know, I made out a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in 1001 days. Reading 3 books that have been banned is on that list.
Here’s a partial list of the most often Banned or Challenged Classics:
- The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
- The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
- Ulysses, by James Joyce
- Beloved, by Tony Morrison
- The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
- Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Animal Farm, by George Orwell
- The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
- As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
- A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
- Their Eyes were Watching God, by Zora Neal Huston
- Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
- Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
- Gone with The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
- Native Son, by Richard Wright
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
- Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemmingway
- The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
- Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
- All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein
- The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
- A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
- The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
- In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
- Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
- Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
- Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
- Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
- A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
- Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
- Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
- Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
- The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
- Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
- An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
- Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
- You can read more about this at:
Out of 348 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom
- And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence - Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit - Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit - The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence - Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group - What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group - Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint - Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit - Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence
Pingback: What are you reading? Banned Book Week (via Picnic with Ants) « colinusspadarius
If it’s so close to your heart, how do you get it so wrong? No book has been banned in the USA for about half a century. Fanny Hill got that honor a long time ago. Challenged books in schools that are removed is different from banning. Setting aside that Banned Books Week is propaganda, the creator of BBW said:
“On rare occasion, we have situations where a piece of material is not what it appears to be on the surface and the material is totally inappropriate for a school library. In that case, yes, it is appropriate to remove materials. If it doesn’t fit your material selection policy, get it out of there.”
See: “Banned Books Week Propaganda Exposed by Progressive Librarian Rory Litwin; ALA Censors Out Criticism of Its Own Actions in a Manner Dishonest to the Core.”
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I am aware that books haven’t been federally banned in the US in a long time, however, I never said that these books were banned in the US. Many of these books have been banned in other countries, have been challenged in the US, and banned by different groups. And no one can deny that there have been many cases of burning books in the US.
see for more information about why these specific books were chosen.
I don’t believe that it’s is “propaganda”, but if Banned Book Week makes people think, and read more…I’m all for it!
I am against censorship. (or I wouldn’t have approved this comment.)
wendy
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Wow! I am surprised to see that I have read many of these books. Funny, I am not in any way traumatized, immoral, or antisocial for it.
I see The Hunger Games on one of the lists. I very recently read this book and was thinking how much my 10-year old son would like it.
People are strange… (think with the tune of The Doors)
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I agree! I’ve read many of these books too. I’m reading a couple that have been on previous list right now…Still reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it’s deep, I have to read it in parts, but very well written. Also, The Picture of Dorian Gray…they banned it for homosexual relations…I haven’t seen any yet, and I’m almost through with the book. There are some hints, but nothing concrete.
(btw, I automatically had the Doors theme in my head when I read “People are Strange”)
so what’cha reading? wendy
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I’m reading The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton – hard SF. I read somewhere that it should be banned…lol. Maybe they just meant they didn’t like it.
Some of the books on the list amazed me but then again some people amaze me (for the wrong reasons).
Stew.
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I have Brave New World sitting on my shelf. I read it in school, saw it at a yard sale and bought it so I could reread it.
It’s great that we are able to challenge books, but there are so many lessons and conversations that are not held because a book was banned from the school, library or even the home.
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I am glad that we can challenge books, because not all books are appropriate for all ages. That’s why we have teachers, and most importantly Parents, who should be involved with what their children are reading.
As an adult with a fully functioning brain, I think I should be able to decide for myself what I think is appropriate for me.
Brave New World is a great book. I did a term paper on it in High School.
So many of these books I’d like to read again. w
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Wow! I can’t believe how many of those books I read for English class in High School. My daughter even read To Kill a Mockingbird in Grade 9 just like I did! I read Lord of the Flies, Catcher in The Rye, 1984 and A Farewell to Arms all in English class. Other classes at the same time read Catch-22, The Sun Also Rises, Brave New World and Animal Farm. Goodness..I read Gone With The Wind in my Grade 8 Reading Club (ok I was a bit of a geek and in the chess club too!) 🙂 I had no idea with the exception of Catcher in The Rye that these books were so internationally controversial.
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My favorite book of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird. Right now I’m reading a few that have been banned/challenged in the past but aren’t on this year’s list. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (been reading it for a while, keep taking time out because it’s so emotional for me), I’m reading The Memoirs of Fanny Hill (this book was federally banned at one point). Fanny Hill is pretty sexually graphic. I told Stuart I was reading porn. : )
I haven’t read Catcher in the Rye or The Sun Also Rises..perhaps…well I better decide today! I just have a week.
There’s a kick-off celebration at my library today, they are reading excerpts from some of the books. I wanted to go…but having a rough day.
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