Celebrating Banned Books Week

It's that time again! Time to celebrate Banned Book Week (Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2012). You can check out my previous BBW posts here. I do not believe in censoring or banning books in any way, shape, or form. This year, I am celebrating by posting books that were challenged in 2011 that I have read or are on my TBR list. You can show your support by getting your BBW badges and checking out the annual challenged book lists here. For more information, check out ALA.org.

Read:

Challenged in the Republic, Mo. schools (2010) because it is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.”

Challenged, but retained, at the Clarkstown, N.Y. North High School (2011) despite a parent’s
complaint about the teen coming-of-age novel, which deals graphically with teenage sex,
homosexuality, and bestiality.

Removed from a spring break elective course at the Bedford, N.H. School District (2010) after a parent complained about the novel’s sexual content.

Challenged, but retained, in the Martin County, Fla. School District (2010) despite a parent’s concern about inappropriate language.

Challenged and presented to the Goffstown, N.H. school board (2010) by a parent claiming that it gave her eleven-year-old nightmares and could numb other students to the effects of violence.

Challenged in the Republic, Mo. schools (2010) because it is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.”

 

 TBR:

Challenged in the Republic, Mo. schools (2010)
because it is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies
drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.”

Challenged at North County High School in
Glen Burnie, Md. (2010) by a small group of
parents who circulated a petition to have the book removed from use by county schools over concerns about explicit sexual content.

Challenged in the Richland, Wash. School District (2010). Used in a tenth-grade honors language arts class at Hanford High, the book tells the story of Oskar Schell, a young boy whose father died in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. The book contains profanity, sex, and descriptions of violence.

 

What books have you read or are you planning on reading to support Banned Books Week?

Don't be a robot! Read banned books!!!!!

This (Sept. 25 - Oct. 2, 2010) is Banned Books week! I think it's important to support BB week because it's supporting freedom, intellect, and above all reading! Last year, I posted a list of commonly banned or challenged classics. You can read said post here. This year, I would like to honor BB week by reading 2 books that have been recently challenged, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. I first found out about this challenge by posts that referenced an article from Mindful Musings and Book Crazy. Both posts are extremely powerful and I highly recommend that you read them both, if you haven't done so already. The article in question, can be found here. I remember the first time I read a "banned book." I was 16 years-old, and had just found out that books could, in fact, be banned and that The Catcher in the Rye had been previously challenged and banned several years back. My interest was immediately sparked and I picked up said book and read it with intense hunger. Now, while the book in question was not among my favorites, I felt that it was important to read banned books in order to support freedom and discourage censorship. This year, I carry on my tradition and invite you to do the same! Curious about Banned Books? Find out more here.

More BBW rumblings...

In honor of Banned Books Week, I have decided to read one of the "banned classics" from my to-be-read pile of currently owned books. *See previous post for full classic list*

Here are my choices:

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Final decision:

I have chosen to read Brave New World.

I would love any feedback you have if you have already read it. :)

In honnor of Banned Books Week

In honor of Banned Books Week, I give you a list of banned or challenged classics. Reasoning can be found here.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

Ulysses, James Joyce

Beloved, Toni Morrison

The Lord of the Flies, William Golding

1984, George Orwell

Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

Native Son, Richard Wright

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin

All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie

Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence

Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs

Women in Love, DH Lawrence

The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer

Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser

Rabbit, Run, John Updike

*Purple indicates books I have read and italics indicate books I plan to read. *

Enjoy the freedom to read.

Banned Books Week. Click to find out more.