As someone who has been an avid reader since childhood, I’ve always found one of the most nightmarish scenarios in literature the one that Ray Bradbury presents in Fahrenheit 451 where all books are banned.
To that end, September 25-October 1 is Banned Books Week, which makes it the perfect time to cross that requirement of reading a banned book off your library challenges list.
Books get banned for reasons that span from profanity to violence/sexual content to, my personal favorite, the author having the misfortune of sharing his name with someone else. The American Library Association (ALA) has a lot of resources on books that have banned (or that people have tried to ban), including yearly lists of the most-challenged books, most-challenged classics, and most-challenged authors, which makes for some interesting reading.
For this challenge, I ended up picking George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, mainly because I was both amused and confused by the news that until 2013 it was banned by the Connecticut prison system. (What had me stymied is why the first book was off-limits but the rest of the series wasn’t. Have they read the other books?!)
Personally, I have a hard time picking a favorite banned book because so many of my favorites are on those lists of frequently-challenged books provided by the ALA, including but not limited to Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Brave New World, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and In Cold Blood.
So, for the sake of discussion:
- What’s your favorite banned book(s)?
- What banned book are you reading for this challenge?
Be sure to tell us in the comments!
For this year’s Banned Book Week, I am reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Slaughterhouse-Five, and This One Summer. However, I started reading at the beginning of September, so I only have This One Summer left. 🙂
My favorite challenged books would have to be Saga by Brian K. Vaughn, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
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Thanks for commenting, Jackie! That’s a great list of books for this week, as well as for an all – time list.
I’ve not read Saga but want to after reading your blog post about it. 🙂
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I *adore* Saga. It’s certainly intended for mature audiences, but it makes me laugh and cry and question so much that I accept as true. And it’s science fiction. Brilliant. I hope you enjoy it!
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Thanks! When I read it, we’ll have to compare notes! 🙂
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I really like Eleanor and Park as a contemporary banned book, and any Judy Blume ones that were banned too! So many books were banned and continue to be banned just because they cover ‘taboo’ subjects- people need to know about these issues ans banning books is am doing no one any favours! Great post! 🙂
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Thank you!
Yes, Judy Blume was an author I read a lot as a kid.
I agree with you that banned books are texts that push important issues to the forefront, and banning them doesn’t do anyone any good.
Thanks for commenting!
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