03 | October | 2015 | Polilla Writes

Today is the last day of Banned Books Week. I didn’t want to let it slip by without mention, so here is a list of some of the most famous books that have been banned, censored, or challenged at some time.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – by Mark Twain
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl – by Anne Frank
The Arabian Nights – by Mahsin Mahdi
Awakening – by Kate Chopin
Bell Jar – by Sylvia Plath
Brave New World – by Aldous Huxley
Call of the Wild – by Jack London
The Color Purple – by Alice Walker
Candide – by Voltaire
Catcher in the Rye – by J.D. Salinger
Fahrenheit 451 – by Ray Bradbury
Grapes of Wrath – by John Steinbeck
Gulliver’s Travels – by Jonathan Swift
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – by Maya Angelou
James and the Giant Peach – by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley’s Lover – by D.H. Lawrence
A Light in the Attic – by Shel Silverstein
Lord of the Flies – by William Golding
Madame Bovary – by Gustave Flaubert
Moll Flanders – by Daniel Defoe
Of Mice and Men – by John Steinbeck
The Scarlet Letter – by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Song of Solomon – by Toni Morrison
To Kill a Mockingbird – by Harper Lee
Ulysses – by James Joyce
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – by Harriet Beecher Stowe
A Wrinkle in Time – by Madeleine D’Engle

Now, confession time:

I have not read 21 of the books on this list, but 6 of those 21 are in my TBR stash. Of the ones “to be read” I have read part of 2 books (and will complete them). This means so far I have read completely only 6 of the 27 listed here.

It’s hard to accept why some books are banned, or censored, or challenged. It’s hard to avoid life, the natural way of some things, and shared expression.

Here are three of the above books on which I’ll comment.

I loved Madeleine D’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, regardless of the “objectionable” things she included in her fantasy novel.
I loved the movie To Kill a Mockingbird and equally enjoyed the book, even though there are racial issues. But that was the way of the time, the same as in Gone With the Wind (not included in this list but also challenged); it doesn’t mean I feel that way. I will not read Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, though, as it will undoubtedly spoil To Kill the Mockingbird for me in revealing more racial issues than I care to read for entertainment.
It is fully understandable why there was an outcry (and still is) about Catcher in the Rye, due to the constant use of profanity of Salinger’s main character. Some people are not bothered by that.