Banned Books Week 2018     

It’s easy to take your freedoms for granted when you’ve never known any other way of living. But for many people in the world choosing to read what you wish, view what you wish or speak what you wish is not an option. Yet here in America, there is always someone who doesn’t want you to read something. Of course, in America, saying you shouldn’t read something usually means everyone will rush out to read it. Such was the case with Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. Charges of obscenity and banning in France and English ensured that sales in America would get off to a good start. The same was true of the Satanic Verses, which hit best seller lists on its release even though many western readers found it unfathomable.   

The most common forms of book banning here in the United States are localized challenges which lead to a title being removed from reading lists or from library shelves.  The most shocking aspect of some of these cases are not the books contents, but that teachers and librarians are often the source of the challenge. Of course, banning books has been going on since the invention of the printing press, and rationals to ban this or that title are still common place. Often the issue is the difference between a parental control or preventing someone else from reading a title altogether.

A common parental objection is the appropriateness of the material for their children. This was the issue behind the challenge to The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brian. Many parents felt the language and descriptions of battle too graphic. Another group attempted to ban Fahrenheit 451, a book about book banning, because one of the books burned in the novel was the Bible. Conversely, To Kill a Mockingbird came under challenge because of racial slurs and its portrayal of a mentally disabled person as not  representative of current values. 

Every year the American Library Association designates the last week of September as Banned Books Week, in order to draw attention to the many classics of American and world literature which have been considered too vile or too inflammatory to be read. It's hard to imagine the American cultural landscape without Hemingway, Flannery O'Conner or Steinbeck, yet at some point someone tried to prevent others from reading their work. 
So, exercise your freedom.  Read a book, any book, it's your choice!

                                     Notable Banned Books 

                                                   Sophie's Choice
                                              The Catcher in the Rye          

                                                 The Color Purple     

                                                   Lord of the Flies             

                                                  The Kite Runner                    

                                                     The Hobbit               

                                                     Naked Lunch         

                                                         Grendel          

                                                       The Giver                             

                                                  Brave New World    

                                                           Howl                     

                                                           1984                                                                                                                      Of Mice and Men

                                                   Harry Potter Series                                                                                                       Slaughterhouse-Five
                                                   The Scarlet Letter