Banned Books Week!

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So, what's everyone going to read? I'm going to try to dig up a copy of As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner if it's available in my university library.

Of the books on the list I posted, I own: The Handmaid's Tale, The Color Purple, Brave New World, Flowers for Algernon, Women on Top, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (and everything else Maya Angelou has ever written, she's my idol!), Huckleberry Finn, the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, A Wrinkle in Time, Deenie, James And The Giant Peach, and Slaughterhouse Five.

Anyone else? C'mon, share your subversive reading activities! What are you afraid of, the Patriot Act?

 

I think I'll finally read the fifth Harry Potter... also, a re-read of the Handmaid's tale might be in order. Also, it is time to read the Anarchist's cookbook again...

Maybe The Catcher in the Rye? It's been years since I read it, and can't recall that much of it... just bits and pieces, but they left a profound impact.

 

Satanic Verses is such rot, I can't believe that anyone would praise it let alone read it. It's about as much fun as a teenage porno story and so has extremely limited value. I don't understand why some muslims made such a big deal out of it.

 

Well, I've read several of the books for school reading (I loved Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, and A Wrinke in Time (and l'Engle's other books), but I think I'll do something less mentally intensive.

Hey, can someone help me find Waldo?

Actually, Flowers for Algernon sounds like something good. That and The New Joy o- er, never mind.

 

Interestingly my little Bubble of a town (Westbubble of course) is very into the whole Banned Books Week thing. In fact English teachers at our schools are so vehement against book-banning that virtually every single book we read in class is on that list. So I've actually read about a quarter of that list in class itself -- though truthfully I only liked a few of them.

To list:
1.The Chocolate War (9th grade)
2.Huckleberry Finn (I read it on my own in 3rd grade but it was like a week of curriculm in 9th grade)
3.Of Mice and Men (11th grade)
4.Bridge to Terabithia (4th grade)
5.Catcher in the Rye (I hate that book. . . 11th grade)
6.The Giver (7th grade)
7.Goosebumps (we were encouraged to read these in 3rd grade as part of our DEAR -- Drop Everything And Read -- program)
8.A Day No Pigs Will Die (7th grade)
9.The Great Gilly Hopkins (4th grade)
10.Wrinkle in Time (5th grade Summer reading list and essay)
11.The Witches (4th grade)
12.Anastasia Krupnick (4th grade)
13.Julie of the Wolves (4th grade summer reading)
14.To Kill a Mockingbird (9th grade)
15.Flowers for Algernon (7th grade)
16.A Light in the Attic (3rd, 4th, AND 6th grade...)
17.Cujo (6th grade Summer reading projct)
18.James and the Giant Peach (either 3rd or 4th grade, forget which)
19.Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (5th grade)
20.The Face on the Milk Carton (5th or 6th grade)
21.Slaughter-house Five (10th grade but there was no time to hand in report for it or take a test on it so it was considered, "encouraged, not enforced")
22.Lord of the Flies (10th grade)
23.Carrie (7th grade Summer reading list)
24.Tiger Eyes (There were a lot of Judy Blume books in 3rd and 4th grade, I think this was another of them)
25.Tom Sawyer (I read in 3rd grade but depending what level English you were in it was also in 8th and 9th grade)
26.How To Eat Fried Worms (3rd grade)
27.Grendel (Was that on the list? It was last year when we read it in class -- 11th grade)
28.Bluest Eyes (I have to read that this year for school)
~We also read several books like 1984 and Farenheit 451 that preach independence thinking and not allowing the government to take control of anything... Westbubble is very liberalist now that I think of it -- no one I know here voted for George Bush and when we went to war they were tons of protests and most of my friends were whining that they were stuck in classes while the protests were going on.

Yeah so I personally think our school is trying to brainwash us into being independent thinkers.

But I can also tell you WHY some parents might want to ban them. Not that I agree with it of course. When it comes to books I believe that all knowledge and understanding is good. Although I've never read Mein Kampf (I don't know German and I've had troubles finding a good English translation -- and I'm not THAT interested) I have read translations of several of Hitler's speeches. And when many American Christians wanted to "ban" the Koran (not exactly ban but they didn't want any Christians reading it because they felt it was an evil book) I went and read as much of it as I could handle. (The New Testament of the bible bugs me a little because it gets repetive because each of the different authors told some of the same stories. The Koran is about 6 million times more repetitive than the bible so I gave up eventually.) See I believe that all books originate from thought and to understand another person's thoughts, views, and opinions is good. Besides that, you can't really develop your own opinions about something unless you're introduced to opposite views and have a chance to decide why they're "wrong." Of course I'm also a writer so all books in general like

Anyways back to why some parents are against certain books: It stems from the whole movie rating thing. Just as they don't want their young children watching PG13 and R rated movies they feel some books should be X rated and as such they don't want their children (whom they want to protect) reading books that talk about sex and death -- particularly not in school. They'd rather keep their kids happy and innocent. Understandable I suppose, even if I highly disagree. But then when I was in 3rd grade I was unstoppable when it came to books and I read whatever the heck I felt like. I actually got teased by my classmates cuz I brought in "The Color of Her Panties" -- Xanth book to school for my own reading. :shrug: And who's in advanced English now Losers?! HA! Anyways...

I also know why some of those books are banned because my Mom is pretty big on the idea of censorship (much to my annoyment) -- and she actually once tore up one of my Where's Waldo books. "It's gruesome" she said. Apparently one of those books has this torture chamber scene and according to her it's very . . . detailed. Of course it's FAR less gruesome than MANY video (and computer games) but then my Mom's highly against those as well. She also used to try to convince my Dad not to let me read a lot of the Xanth books because the demons are friendly-ish in them and she was even able to convince my Dad that he shouldn't have any demons or multiple Gods and Dieties in D&D... Like when I was reading the Belgariad (for the 100th time) she got all upset when I was reading part of it out loud to my Dad because there's multiple Gods mentioned. For a while she'd won out and my Dad called all his Dieties Principalities (Which is like Arch-angels and stuff) instead but she has since then given up again. hehehe. She also wanted to go on the warpath when I was in 8th grade and I complained that in every single book that year someone died (It's true, even in the short stories and poems) but I then went into the all the benefits to be had from analyzing all those books and how it was actually my teacher who probably was traumatized by the death of her father (or someone) as a young child and since then became slightly obsessed with it and determined to make sure that her students would not fall into a depression if someone THEY knew died... in any case she chose not to argue it. *whew*

Anyways go read the books on the lists!! If for no other reason then you can laugh at the feeblemindedness of those many individuals who wanted to ban some really decent (and good) books!

 

For some strange reason when Shalman Rushdies Satanic verses was published i went in the library and borrowed it to read it. I did not manage to find anything insulting against Islam. Except if they find insulting the fact that it was a woman and not a man the enlightened one.
I have read some of these books want to read some others and thank god here in Greece we are pretty democratic and liberall about freedom of speech. So need to worry and rush to a store to buy them.

Strange i thought that freedom of speech was most cherished in USA. Maybe it really is freedom of speak the words we like

 

Censors Renew Their Assault On Franz Kafka

I will read my old Kafka schoolbooks again. Because Kafka rules!

 

"Lysistrata" is a Greek COMEDY, by Euripides, not a tragedy. And a darn good one. Lysistrata leads the women of Athens to stop a war by withholding sex from their husbands.

Speaking of which, what a great name for an RPG character!

 

I have to say that I am opposed to GOVERNMENT censorship. I would not want my 13 year old daughter reading "the New joy Of Sex", and I would be a little upset if she were to be able to get it from her school library -- the same thing goes with the "Black Lace" series of erotic novels. As a parent, I think kids in school should not have access to such material through the school. If a particular student's parents have no problem with their kid reading such material, then they can get it from the library or buy it for the kid; conversely, the library can require a note from a parent before releasing potentially controversial material to students. I'm sure most people would agree that 12 year olds (or even 16 year olds, for that matter) should not be reading smut.

 

Personally, I despise the thought of supressing a human's freedom to express whatever it is they choose to express. On the other hand, there are books out there that are a complete danger to all humankind. If any of you have ever gotten your hands on what is known as "The Anarchist's Cookbook", then you know what I'm getting at.For those of you who have never heard of it, we'll just call it a terrorist's guide including step by step processes for everything from currency forgery all the way up to making C-4 explosives in your kitchen. The fact is that the horrible crimes committed using this tome as a reference guide were committed by individual readers. Therefore, the author cannot be held accountable. But let's be serious...the author's intent behind the creation of this particular piece of work has to come to mind. If an author intends to harm mankind with his "freedom of speech", then I believe he/she has already given up any rights to influence the society he/she intends only to harm to begin with. All I'm trying to say is that not all books are safe. Therefore the banning of books is not a complete violation of freedom. Unfortunately, there are alot of people who take these same ideals to a ridiculous extreme. There is a fine line between protection and domination. On a side note, I will go to the library tomorrow and pick up a copy of "Of Mice and Men" just to support the cause.

 

Interesting that myself (a 15 year old) would not. The point about censrship is the assumption that people can't cope with new information. Odds are the only reason you don't want your daughter reading those books is that you don't want to explain everything inside them to her.

 

Maybe, but not highly likely. For many years, no one knows a child better than his/her parents, making the parents the best judge of what that child is ready to handle - like it or not, this is how it is. The issues of what goes into "readiness" and when a parent has to ease up are topics for another forum. Anyway, each child is different and each family is different. It's up to the parents to determine what's right for the family AND the child.

Here's a personal example. We recently had to have our three cats put to sleep. Every now and then my son asks where they are, and my response is to say that they've gone to new homes because they didn't want to come to our new house. Why do I give him this watered-down story? Because he's only 3 and not ready to discuss death. I know that right now the whole truth would be far more painful and traumatic for him (not me, HIM) than a gentle fabrication (hey, kitty heaven counts as a home!).

Remember this: With a few exceptions, most parents in this world are realy doing the very best they can for their children.

 

Wow...all thos books but none of George Orwell's, he's a great writer but all his works criticize the rich and those with power.

 

Check the Banned writer list, even Tolkien is in it

 

Can anyone tell me why The Catcher in the Rye is or was ever considered to be banned? I read it a couple years ago (on my own, I went to a french high school, so did not read it at school) and found it pretty tame and bland. What's up with that?

 

I'm sure that sex and profanity, in the context of the day of J. D. Salinger, weren't that tame.

 

Hmm, every single book we do for assessment at school is on that list.
I wonder what they found wrong with The Outsiders and Bridge to Terabithia? They're more of he types of books you would encourage people to read (The Outsiders much moreso than Terabithia).

 

I WISH our school had a reading list... none of my schools has ever had. It's annoying. That's how you end up hearing five reports of the same "pony Club" or whatever book on the same day... *sigh*

Oh well... I DID manage to do my report on the same book three times

 

hi all i am reading deaver the bone collector

cheers