Freedom to Read

“Everything I know about life, I’ve learned by reading banned books.” This is a quote on a pin my mom has in her kitchen. I love it because it’s so true!

This week (Sept 26 - Oct2) is National Banned Books Week, sponsored in part by the American Library Association, which celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. The movement started in 1982 because of the sudden increase in the number of challenges of books being reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom. Since 1982 alone, more than one thousand books have been challenged. Books are challenged because of many reasons including: sexual content; violence; profanity and slang; offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups; positive portrayals of homosexuals; etc. The range of challenged books includes new novels examining contemporary issues to beloved American classics. While many ideas in these books may be unorthodox or unpopular, it is important in our free society to ensure their availability for all who wish to read and access them.

Some people may think challenging or banning books was a thing of the past and doesn’t affect our literature today. However, in 2009, two of the most challenged titles included the Twilight series, by Stephanie Meyer (for being sexually explicit and its religious viewpoint) and My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult (for sexism, homosexuality, offensive language, drugs, suicide, and violence)

In support of this week, I started reading 1984 because I haven't read it yet, and I plan to reread The Catcher in the Rye. This is a list of 74 of the most popular challenged and/or banned classics. I’ve highlighted the ones I’ve read (23). I've seen movies for 9 others, but I don't think that counts, does it?! How many have you read?

1984, by George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Blubber, by Judy Blume
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer
Carrie, by Stephen King
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
Christine, by Stephen King
Confessions, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo, by Stephen King
Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
Decameron, by Boccaccio
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
Forever, by Judy Blume
Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Grendel, by John Champlin Gardner
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Impressions, edited by Jack Booth
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara
Native Son, by Richard Wright
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People, by Judith Guest
Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
Silas Marner, by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
The Living Bible, by William C. Bower
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel
The Shining, by Stephen King
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
Then Again, Maybe I Won't, by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare
Ulysses, by James Joyce

Book Review

I don't consider myself an avid reader; I'll read maybe 3 books a year. I don't have a favorite book or author really, though there are a few I've read lately and really liked (Life of Pi; Blue Like Jazz). I used to read a lot for pleasure when I was younger, but it seems there is no time these days to read anything, especially for pleasure.

Until now. I love reading. My favorite author is Stephanie Meyer and my favorite book is Eclipse (3rd book in the Twilight series). I will create time to read all 4 of the books again. I think I'll read them again every year. Seriously. No book I have ever read has kept me up until 2 am on a "school night" just to get to the next chapter. I have never cried with or fretted over or felt emotionally connected to any charachter in any book until now. It is unreal how this story just sucks you in.

I know a lot of you are thinking, "Yeah right; I saw that movie and it sucked". Well guess what. The movie did suck. The book however, kicks your @%$.

Go to the store. Pick up the Twilight series. If you never read another fiction book in your life, at least read these. You'll be thanking me later. Promise.

**The soundtrack is pretty awesome too. :-)

I mean seriously, can you resist this?!
:-p