I got an e-mail from my darling husband a week or so ago. He knows how much I LOVE to read. He knows that reading, to me, is as important as breathing. There are some days when I can do nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, until I have finished a book. He knows that my book taste is not restricted to any specific genre, though he also knows that I do have a few favorite authors. Basically, he knows that I love him, and I always will, but BOOKS, dear friends, are the magical things that keep me sane and happy most of the time. He accepts this, and we get along great.
However, his e-mail disturbed me greatly. It contained this link here. The link will take you to a Google page that contains 42 books that have been either banned or challenged in the 20th century. Well, 42 books, that's not a big number, right? Here's the kicker: Those 42 books are on the list recognized by the Radcliffe Publishing Course of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century. That was so shocking to me. How can almost half of the 100 best novels of the century be either banned or challenged? I still am in such emotional turmoil over this that I can't put my feelings into words. However, I thought that those books must have been banned or challenged quite a while back. I mean, who on earth could imagine banning something like "Brave New World", or "Of Mice and Men" these days? Well, if you click this link, you'll find that some of these books have been banned and/or challenged as recently as 2004. That's right, I said 2004. In this country! If you're not as shocked and appalled as I am, shame on you!
Banned Book Week starts tomorrow, September 23, 2006. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Please join me in taking a moment to appreciate these wonderful books this week. Pick one up and rediscover the magic of a story. Read one and fall in love all over again. Yes, some of them may not be to your taste or liking, but there is something very special in ALL books. A writer put a piece of their heart and soul into these creations. Even if you don't think a specific book is great, you can't deny that the writer is a magical person.
Here, for your information and enjoyment, is a list of those 42 banned or challenged books. Any typographical errors are mine, because these books deserve more time and attention than a simple cut and paste. I'm typing them all in, one by one. They deserve no less. And please, head over to the book blog this upcoming week and enter our contest. The prize is a $20 gift certificate to the book seller of YOUR choice.
Keep Reading!
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Catcher In the Rye, JD Salinger
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
1984, George Orwell
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Beloved, Toni Morrison
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
Ulysses, James Joyce
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
A Farewell To Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Go Tell It On The Mountain, James Baldwin
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
All The King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
Lady Chatterly's Lover, DH Lawrence
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Sons and Lovers, DH Lawrence
A Separate Peace, John Knowles
Women In Love, DH Lawrence
An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
The Call of the Wild, James Baldwin
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
Rabbit, Run ; John Updike
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
Native Son, Richard Wright
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
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7 comments:
Ooh, and we should have a mini-contest here.
Tell me how many of those 42 books YOU have read. I've consumed 15 of them. Can anyone beat that?
Dee, very little shockes me these days. But I am proud to say that my daugther is reading OF MICE AND MEN, right now for her 10th grade honors class, and many of these books are on her list of required reading for the next two years. So kudos to her English department.
Books I have not read:
BELOVED, HEART OF DARKNESS, SONG OF SOLOMON, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS,A SEPARATE PEACE, THE JUNGLE, SATANIC VERSES, NAKED LUNCH, AND TROPIC OF CANCER.
I can proudly say, I've read the rest. One of my all time favs - THE GREAT GATSBY. Guess I must go buys these other ones and read them. Thanks Dee...good to see you blogging again. I miss you. See you in NJ
Jeez. You know its good and all that parents are taking an interest in what their kids are doing in school, and the level of maturity in some of these books might not be appropriate for every teenager. But in a senior honors class the boundaries are going to be stretched. And heck the kids today are viewing worse than this on tv. *sigh* My grandfather caught my mom reading Mickey Spillane when she was a kid (okay some of you will not get it, but he was pretty risque for the time). Anyway pap was upset but my grandmother being a woman ahead of her time pointed out that she'd rather mom read about it in a book than learn it in the street.
And I've never heard of a person being morally damaged by reading a well written book.
As to which I've read, 12 I think. (someone really object to The Invisible Man?) Some of them were read in my HS English class. And to be honest some I found rather boring. But that's a matter of taste and preference. I don't expect other people to like everything I read either. But I'm happy to say no book was ever censored in our house.
But you know its good that people get up in arms about this stuff. By all means lets ban violence and profanity and sex in books ... leave that stuff for the Movie of the Week on tv so the kids don't have to stretch their brains so much be reading.
I'm back. followed the links to the ALI website and found this ...
Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
Okay, now they're just being silly.
It tickles me that so many of these books were on my high school reading lists and now some are on my childrens. Phooey to those who ban books. No body is listening.
Good post Dee. Looking forward to meeting you. You look good with your short do.
I can't say I have read all of these probably not even half but I don't feel anyone should ban books. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another. And as MCB said kids nowadays see so much sex and violence on t.v. I don't know how they could find any of these books offensive. m
My 12 yo grandson is allowed to play any vidoe game he wants and a lot of them are pretty violent. My son says he is mature for his age (he is not) and can handle it. I think it just makes the enured to life in general. Nothing shocks them. It is sad.
Penny
ok, you guys need to head over to the book blog and respond with your comments. The contest is over tomorrow.
Come on now, who couldn't use $20 for books?
deeceeonbooks.blogspot.com
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