Banned Books Week, September 24-30

Source: @BannedBooksWeek on Twitter

I always love Banned Books Week. I still find it amazing in our day and age that we even need to celebrate such an event, but the sad fact remains that books are still banned to this day. I mean, I guess I can see why. Books promote ideas. And what could be worse than people having ideas? They might change their life-views, expand their horizons, question the status quo, think for themselves! Horror!

It's one of the things that has truly shocked and disappointed me about my family dynamic. I grew up in a pretty sheltered, small environment. To be sure, my parents freely encouraged me to read and never really monitored what I read. I guess they felt that if I wasn't ready for something, I just wouldn't get it, but I wouldn't be scarred by the experience. And I think they were right. I am so grateful for that kind of freedom growing up. Then I went to college. Not only was I reading things, but I was discussing these things. I was no longer in a vacuum. I participated in the free exchange of ideas. And I changed. I broke off the shackles that fettered me to my parents' modes of thinking; in a way, I outgrew them. Eventually, I even became more vocal about disagreeing with my parents and questioning them and the status quo.

And it's like they don't really believe me. Like they think I'm going through some phase, like a rebellious teenager. If they even acknowledge it (my dad usually turns a blind eye and a deaf ear). This turn of events has certainly put a strain on the relationship. Mostly we can get along, but sometimes I just have to walk away or call bull-shit. Or pour another extra large glass of wine.

I wouldn't change it for the world.

I wouldn't dare go back to living a small-minded, closed-minded existence for the sake of familial harmony.

This is why we're here--to question, to think big, to dream big, to move beyond.

I am so grateful to books for giving me this medium to expand my horizons. This is so important in the current political climate. Books have made me question, books have made me wary, and books have made be fight.

This week I celebrate the perpetual quest for knowledge and growth by promoting open access to books. I hope you will join me by picking up something controversial and thinking about it. Maybe it will change your view, maybe it will reaffirm your view, but it will definitely change you and make you grow.

Cheers!

Tahleen puts together a link-up of the latest "Speak" controversy

I don't know if you guys have all heard, but Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak (too soon to call it a modern classic?) has run into some trouble again. (Honestly, reading this stuff, I almost don't believe this guy is a real person.)

On BookRiot, blogger and librarian Kelly Jensen responded with a well-thought-out and articulate response. This, of course, elicited a response from the original "journalist" who wrote the piece about Speak being "child pornography" in the comments, which are incredible to read through. Incredible for many reasons, not only for how circular the man proposing the ban's arguments are (he all but admits he's never read the book), but also for how universal and united the commenters are in their responses to his arguments. It's all worth reading.

Here are some more links of note regarding this incident.

Kelly's blog post at Stacked responding to what happened on BookRiot, and some more links of note.

Laurie Halse Anderson's response.


Kelly's response to the comment page on The Huffington Post when her original post was put up there. (Also, really commenters? Librarians only know how to shelf books? Please—your ignorance is showing.)

After the 2010 challenge on Speak, which I wrote about on my personal blog, I know there are plenty of people interested in following these kinds of challenges and controversies in the book blogging world. I just wanted to make sure anyone who is interested in reading about this gets a chance to see the whole thing as it unfolded, Internet style.

Bookish Deals (5) - Top Ten Banned Books 2011

Happy Saturday, everyone! Welcome to today's biweekly edition of Bookish Deals where I (Julia) try to scour the internet to find you guys an array of deals to fit in with any budget!

Seeing as tomorrow is the start of Banned Books week, I decided to use this post to highlight the top ten books that were banned in the year 2011 as reported by the ALA and the Office for Intellectual Freedom.

The Internet Girls Series by Lauren Myracle - $6.95 (paperbacks)
"an epistolary novel entirely out of IM transcripts between three high-school girls"
ttyl (AZ | BN)
ttfn (AZ | BN)
l8r, g8r (AZ | BN)

Reasons Banned: offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group




The Color Trilogy by Kim Dong Hwa - Various (paperbacks)
"A trilogy about a girl coming of age, set in the vibrant, beautiful landscape of pastoral Korea"
The Color of Earth (AZ | BN)
The Color of Water (AZ | BN)
The Color of Heaven (AZ | BN)

Reasons Banned: sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins - $5 - $10
"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?"
The Hunger Games (AZ | BN)
Catching Fire (AZ | BN)
Mockingjay (AZ | BN)

Reasons Banned: anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence

My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy  by Dori Hillestad Butler - $6.95
AZ

"Elizabeth's mom is having a baby, and the whole family is involved. Elizabeth learns all about the baby's development, and she traces his growth, month by month."

Reasons Banned: nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group



The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - $9.99
AZ | BN
"Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live."

Reasons Banned: offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group



Alice Series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Various
"Alice McKinley is about to become a teenager, but she doesn't know how. Her mother has been dead for years, and what do her father and her nineteen-year-old brother, Lester, know about being a teenage girl?"

All 25 books.
AZ | BN

Reasons Banned: nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - $8.99-$9.99
AZ | BN
"Aldous Huxley's tour de force, "Brave New World" is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order."

Reasons Banned: insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit





What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones - $7.99
AZ | BN
"My name is Sophie.
This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also of my second.
And, okay, my third love, too."

Reasons Banned: nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit




Gossip Girl Series by Cecily Von Ziegesar - Various
"Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where my friends and I live, go to school, play, and sleep--sometimes with each other."

All 13 books.
AZ | BN

Reasons Banned: drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - $7.99
AZ | BN
"Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos."

Reasons Banned: offensive language; racism





To learn more about Banned Books week, check out http://bannedbooksweek.org/.

Julia Reviews Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Title/Author:Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, Narrated by Emilia Fox
Publisher/Year Published: Audiobook: October 2008 by CSA Word (first published 1928)
How I got this book: The Library
Why I read this book: Long car trip alone :)
Rating: 3 stars

I often wonder what makes a book live through history. Why am I still hearing about this book published in the early 20th century and not some other book? The best way to start this review of Lady Chatterley's Lover is to give you the summary off the back of the audiobook:

Lady Chatterley’s Lover was the subject of one of the most infamous trials of the 20th century when its publisher, Penguin, was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act. Finally, after testimony from expert witnesses for the defense, including E. M. Forster, Penguin was acquitted and permitted to publish the novel in 1960. It quickly became a bestseller, largely on account of its explicit sex scenes and liberal use of four-letter words. Nearly 50 years later the sex scenes are still graphic, even by today’s standards, but the book is now read for its brilliant portrayal of the tenuous relationship between the nobility and the working class. Explicit, romantic, and emotional, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a tour-de-force, a passionate embrace of life itself. Emilia Fox reads with energy and feeling, further enhancing the narrative and extracting every bit of nuance and subtlety within the text.

Now, there is a nice summary of the background surrounding this book. When I started listening to it, I was relatively unaware of this. I knew it was a banned novel and I knew it was about an illicit romance because of the title. I may have known about the naughty words, but I sure as hell forgot until I heard them spoken to me aloud in a car riding down the highway.

It's pretty safe to say I went into the listening of Lady Chatterley's Lover with a pretty open mind as I had forgotten all of this. In a side note about how I read books, I put books on my TBR list on Goodreads and don't read the description again unless I am looking to read something specific. Lately I just chose and go into the book trusting that I added it for a reason.

Getting to the story, we hear about Lady Chatterley's past and what brought her to current circumstances in the first chapter. This includes how her husband came back from the war paralyzed. They no longer have an intimate relationship and instead are just living in the patterns that they have each established.

We can see she is bored with her life and that leads her to take on lovers, and then THE lover, the Gamekeeper. That is the basic bones of the story, really. I want to talk more about how this fits in with society today, and if the book when listened to by a modern audience is still as shocking.

As a women whose books read in a year consist of almost half romance, I was shocked by some of the passages.

There is a lot of descriptive sexual acts written in the book as well as some fun usages of certain four letter words. I think this fact alone is really what people remember it for. Why was this shocking to me, as I have read about people's intimate sexual acts in sometimes graphic detail? Two reasons that I can think of: 1) it was spoken aloud to me via the audiobook 2)there really wasn't much of a build up to the beginning of any romance.

Let's look at point two first. Lady Chatterley pretty much just sleeps with these men most dispassionately sometimes. There is no emotional connection or even very much attraction sometimes. Then when she finally engages, it's with almost negative participation on her part. Many of her internal monologue makes it feel like having sex with these men is a chore. That didn't sit well with me.

The story rests on the love or love affair between Lady Chatterley and the Gamekeeper (seriously, I think they said his name like four times. He was always the Gamekeeper). But the love didn't seem solid enough for them to act as they did. Was it not believable? At times. Did the overly sexual language pull me out of the story at all? Sometimes.

Did I enjoy it though? You know, it wasn't bad. I think I enjoyed it more because I was listening to it, which brings me back to point number one. Any dirty scenes read aloud by someone who slightly resembles Mary Poppins (especially when she did her Lady Chatterley voice!), just makes me laugh or blush. It didn't help that they always seemed to be in the middle of a passion scene when I was going through a toll booth.

Emilia Fox does a great job bringing each character to life. Her voices were actually quite good and distinguishable. My one complaint is how she did the Gamekeeper. He sounded like a crotchety old man which took the picture of Johnathon Rhys Meyers right out of my head. But overall it was really her reading the story to me that upped the enjoyability factor. And it kept me company on my lonely car ride.

Will I read it again? Probably not. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes, and I am glad that I can say that I have. Going back to my original musing on what makes a book withstand the test of time, I can see why in this case. At its heart it's about taking yourself out of your 'going through the motions routine' and take something you want. Live your life the way that pleases you. And of course, the descriptive dirty-word riddled sex. There is that, too.

Jessi Stays Fat for "Sarah Byrnes"

Title/Author: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
Publisher/Year: Greenwillow Books, 1993
How I Got This: From my local library!
Why I Read It: I read this for my YA class and because my professor had been raving about it since the beginning of the semester!
Rating: 4 Stars

Quick Synopsis (from Goodreads): 

When Sarah Byrnes was three years old, her condition became synonymous with her surname. Her face and hands were badly burned in a mysterious accident, and her father refused to allow reconstructive surgery. She developed a suit of cold, stainless steel armor to defend herself against the taunts of a world insensitive to her pain. You enter into Sarah Byrnes's world on her terms, or you don't enter.

Enter Eric Calhoune--Moby to his friends. Eric passed through his early years on a steady diet of Oreos and Twinkies and root beer floats, and he sports the girth to prove it. Because of their "terminal uglies," he and Sarah Byrnes have become true masters in the art of underhanded revenge directed at anyone who dares to offend their sensibilities.

When Eric turns out for the high school swimming team, he begins to shed layers of extra poundage. Fearing the loss of the one friendship he treasures, he gorges to "stay fat for Sarah Byrnes," who discovers his motive and threatens to beat him more senseless than she thinks he already is. Then the truth of Sarah Byrnes's horrific past finally catches up with her.

This was such an excellent read! I'm honestly surprised that Chris Crutcher is not a more prominent name in YA literature because he's one of the better ones that I've ever read. He is really an amazing writer, and I'm glad that my professor had us read this book.

Crutcher knows how to craft a very good line, and he uses his words effectively. There were some really gut-wrenching lines in this book. He gets in the heart of his character and stays there, creating the distinctive voice of the witty smartass narrator, Eric Calhoune. While I couldn't really visualize the characters, I got such a clear picture of their voices and their personalities that I would know them anywhere. I love when authors do this with their characters because it shows me that they actually care about their characters.

Another big plus in this book is that Crutcher absolutely does not shy away from any of the raw topics of life, ranging from domestic abuse to abortion to religion, which is why he gets banned quite frequently. I love that he takes these untouchable topics and has his readers really think about them through the antics of his characters. I think it's important for people to read about stuff like this, if just for the simple fact of being aware that it happens. Crutcher's approach also works really well because he uses comic relief and laughter to lighten the mood. Just because he talks about serious subjects does not mean that this book is a Debbie Downer, by any means. Hell, I read the first page and I was cracking up already. Eric, otherwise known as Mobe, is such a witty and hilarious narrator. There aren't many books out there that get actual physical reactions out of me, but this was one of them. I laughed out loud, I cried, and I gasped. That takes some good writing.

So, if you're looking for an author that you may not have heard of who writes quality novels (11 in total), I highly suggest checking out Chris Crutcher.

R holds forth on Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

New Windmills, 1972 (I totally can't find a picture of the right cover, by the way... The one on the left is just one I picked at random.)

How I got this book: It was lying about the house.

Why I read this book: I read this one some years ago, when I was 13... So, really I read it because it has animals in it and I liked animals.

Well, I think it would be fairly accurate to say that Animal Farm's reputation precedes it. On the surface, it is a fairytale (as Orwell originally subtitled it), a bit of fantasy about a farm full of animals who manage to drive the farmer away and take over the farm. Beyond that, it was actually written as a pretty direct critique of the Soviet Union as it was up to the end of World War 2, when the book was published.

As I remember it, from the very beginning of my knowledge of its existence, it has been indelibly associated in my mind with the Soviet Union - It had been represented to me as an allegory of Stalinism, and as I was vaguely aware of that as I read the book. I wasn't remotely mature enough or sufficiently in tune with world history to really understand what that meant, but I certainly was vaguely aware of it. I mean, the main reason I read it was because of the animals! What does a clueless kid care about politics or people who lived a long time ago in a country far, far away?

As it is, it was only when I later learned about the situation which inspired Orwell to write this allegory, when I finally began to gain a proper inkling about the historical context of the book, that I understood why it was considered so controversial a publication at the time.

It is interesting to note the various reasons that have been given - or can be deduced - for the banning of the novella.

I think that the heart of why this book has had such extreme reactions to it in the sixty-five years since its publication is that - assuming no prior knowledge of Orwell's anti-Stalin intent - it can be broadly interpreted as being about any political regime at all that makes great populist promises and ends up letting its supporters down... Hence the number of governments that have opposed it over the years, in states that may have nothing really to do with the USSR on face value.

Of course, such censorship theoretically does have a lovely way of backfiring. On the one hand the masses within these Animal Farm-deprived states may be prevented from exposure to anti-government ideas. But to the few who are somehow clued in to what they're missing, and certainly on the international level, such state-wide censorship by the Powers that Be is pretty much an admission of guilt... which would have exactly the opposite effect to what the state-controlled censorship boards might have hoped for.

Additionally, the Wikipedia article on banned books yielded an unexpected piece of information - Animal Farm has been banned in schools in The United Arab Emirates since 2002 because "it contained text or images that goes against Islamic and Arab values". I haven't any access to the original reference used in the article, so I'm assuming that this must be due to the anthropomorphic portrayal of pigs. From what I understand, it is also banned in private secular schools for non-Muslim expatriates; my general desire for the separation of religion and state means that this is disappointing news.

That said, it might be pertinent to note that the book isn't banned throughout the country but only in schools... I do wonder if its ban in schools is more a symbolic gesture than an actual restriction in this case, considering the book's availability through other channels. The school ban is particularly interesting because it suggests that age was a factor in determining whether the book constitutes appropriate reading material, even in the realm of religious censorship. Considering how my appreciation of the allegorical nature of Animal Farm has grown over the years, the age factor is certainly an interesting question to raise.

(Relatedly, there is an interesting review/article/essay thing about the impact of Animal Farm written by Christopher Hitchens, who does a much better job than I've done here... Although, as this other guy points out, the book actually is accessible in many Muslim countries, unlike what Hitchens mentions - so, pinch of salt, I guess?)

Stephany's Review of A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Title: A Diary of a Young Girl 


Author: Anne Frank

Publisher: Doubleday

Where I Got It: Library

Why I Read It: In honor of banned books week
Rating: 5 stars!!



In honor of Banned Books Week, I decided to read Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. It's listed on the 2009-2010 list of the most challenged and/or banned books. When I first saw it on this list, I was completely dumbfounded!

Diary of a Young Girl is written as a diary when Anne gets it as a gift. She starts a diary talking about her life, goals, expectations, etc. It eventually goes into what it's like to have yourself and your entire family hidden away from Nazi's because you're a Jew. It talks about what it's like to be the front end of racism, how she and her family were treated, and how they had to hide. Unfortunately, they were found and they were taken to a concentration camp where she was brutally beaten, injured and soon died there. Her diary takes into the emotional and physical aspects of what she had to go through, and how she got through the little bit that she did.

My thoughts on this book is that it's a fantastic book. I read it in school (checked out from the schools library!) when I was younger, and just recently re-read it again! It teaches woman nowadays how to be strong in the lives we lead, how to grow and be young ladies and how no matter what life throws our way, we CAN get by! This books also teaches us about the history of World War II, Nazi's, Jews, and Concentration Camps. What's better then reading an actual diary about all of this, rather then a history book?  I do not think this book deserves to be on a challenged or banned book list. I feel as if those who DO want it banned, need to be less judgmental and more open minded. Why not let your kids read such an amazing book and  learn history all at the same time?

Why It's On The Banned And/Or Challenged Book List:

I found the 2009-2010 Banned Books list on the American Library Association's website. Here is a direct quote from their list as to why it was banned:

"Challenged at the Culpeper County, Va. public school (2010) by a parent requesting that her daughter not be required to read the book aloud. Initially, it was reported that officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary,one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, due to the complaint that the book includes sexual material and homosexual themes. The director of instruction announced the edition, published on the fiftieth anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future despite the fact the school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints. The remarks set off a hailstorm of criticism online and brought international attention to the 7,600-student school system in rural Virginia.The superintendent said, however, that the book will remain a part of the English classes, although it may be taught at a different grade level. Source: Mar. 2010, pp. 57–58; May 2010, p. 107."

I just don't understand this at all. You don't want your kids reading such a book because of sexual material and homosexual themes? So I am assuming that you don't want your kids watching tv, or going outside in public where they can SEE these things happen on a daily basis. It's just a book that will teach your children history!!!! I feel like it's people who ban or challenge books that make others dislike reading. Whatever happened to our freedom to read and write as we choose? It just irks me. In my opinion, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl deserves 5 stars, and to never be banned or challenged!!! I will definitely allow my kids to read this book, in fact, if it's not a requirement for them to read it in school by the time I have kids, it will be required for them to read one summer between school years!!!

Tahleen reviews: "Forever..." by Judy Blume

Today marks the first day of Banned Books Week! What banned books are you reading this week to celebrate it?

Title: Forever...

Author: Judy Blume

Publisher: Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1975

Where I got it: I took this out of the library.

Rating: ★★★½

When Katherine meets Michael, she begins to feel things she hasn't felt before. Among these are sexual desires, and Katherine must decide if she's ready to lose her virginity. Forever... tells a sweet story of first love and sexual awakening, as well as taking responsibility for the decisions that go along with it.

Katherine and Michael's relationship is pretty accurate of how a teen's first relationship feels like. Katherine narrates her story in an almost diary-like format, telling us all of her experiences and emotions through this first serious relationship in her life, and her first real sexual encounters. Anyone who has been a teenager will understand what she's going through, even if they didn't have sex at the time (or still haven't). Readers will identify with the relationship aspect and the decisions that have to be made within a relationship.

Unfortunately I found the writing a bit bland. There wasn't much of a plot, as it is mostly about sex and, in essence, is meant to educate about how to go about it safely. What really bothered me was the constant use of elipses, which don't just make an appearance in the title. There might be pauses in real speech like that, but I don't particularly care to read it in almost every sentence.

So why am I including this as a Banned Books Week post?

Over the years, Forever... has been challenged many times, so much that it is number 8 on the American Library Association's top 100 banned books list for the decade of 1990-2000. The reason for the challenge is clear: Blume gives detailed descriptions of sexual activity and has Katherine go on the birth control pill. Yet, it doesn't out and out say all teens should go out and start having sex. Rather, Blume educates her readers on the proper precautions they should take should they decide to become sexually active, which, let's face it, many teens do (regardless of whether they read books like Blume's or not).

Instead of banning this book, parents and educators should take the time to talk to their children and students about sex. In fact, this book provides a great starting point for broaching the subject. They know what sex is, and they may have already had sexual experience. If it's not discussed and if all literature pertaining to it is banned, there is no way for them to know how to protect themselves. Sex is a choice that everyone must make. Some will decide to abstain, others won't. It has been like that, well, forever. So don't take the chance for others to learn away by taking this book off the shelves. It might not be the greatest literature out there, but it serves a worthwhile purpose.