Tag Archives: banned books

Do you read banned and/or challenged books? Here are 50

Posted on January 8, 2023 | 8 comments

Hello, Everyone!

I’ve been thinking about the banning of books again, and that there is a steady increase in the number of books people are trying to prevent others from reading. It seems to me that by this time there would be less of that instead of more.

Below I have made a list of 50 of the books I’ve read that are/were banned and/or challenged, although I not likely knew it at the time of reading. They are in no particular order.

  1. The Holy Bible
  2. 1984 – by George Orwell
  3. The Catcher in the Rye – by J.D. Salinger
  4. Catch-22 – by Joseph Heller (I did not finish this one but will try again later)
  5. The Great Gatsby – by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  6. Brave New World – by Aldous Huxley
  7. To Kill a Mockingbird – by Harper Lee
  8. Of Mice and Men – by John Steinbeck
  9. The Color Purple – by Alice Walker
  10. Fahrenheit 451 – by Ray Bradbury
  11. Lord of the Flies – by William Golding
  12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – by Ken Kesey
  13. Animal Farm – by George Orwell
  14. Their Eyes Were Watching God – by Zora Neale Hurston
  15. The Bluest Eye – by Toni Morrison
  16. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl – by Anne Frank
  17. Heart of Darkness – by Joseph Conrad
  18. The Alchemist – by Paulo Coelho
  19. The Hate U Give – by Angie Thomas
  20. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – by Sherman Alexie
  21. And Tango Makes Three – by Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson (picture book)
  22. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo – by Jill Twiss (picture book)
  23. I am Jazz – by Jessica Herthel (picture book)
  24. Skippyjon Jones series – by Judy Schachner (picture books; I read four)
  25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – by Mark Haddon
  26. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afganistan – by Jeanette Winter (picture book)
  27. The Adventures of Captain Underpants series – by Dav Pilkey (picture books; I read one)
  28. Hunger Games series – by Suzanne Collins
  29. Where the Wild Things Are – by Maurice Sendak (picture book)
  30. Where the Sidewalk Ends – by Shel Silverstein
  31. The Grapes of Wrath – by John Steinbeck
  32. Hop on Pop – by Dr. Seuss (picture book)
  33. The DaVinci Code – by Dan Brown
  34. A Time to Kill – by John Grisham
  35. Water for Elephants – by Sara Gruen
  36. For Whom the Bell Tolls – by Ernest Hemingway
  37. The Amazing Bone – by William Steig (picture book that received 4 honours)
  38. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – by Mark Twain
  39. Bridge to Terabithia – by Katherine Paterson
  40. Girl With a Pearl Earring – by Tracy Chevalier
  41. Invisible Man – by Ralph Ellison
  42. Gone With the Wind – by Martha Mitchell
  43. The Call of the Wild – by Jack London
  44. Charlotte’s Web – by E.B. White
  45. The Lorax – by Dr. Seuss (picture book)
  46. Harriet the Spy – by Harriet Fitzhugh
  47. James and the Giant Peach – by Roald Dahl
  48. The Giving Tree – by Shel Silverstein (picture book)
  49. Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice – by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard (picture book)
  50. In the Night Kitchen – by Maurice Sendak (picture book)

Almost all of the above I have no problem with, although I can’t say I enjoyed all of them.

Which of the above books have you read? Do you agree with the ban or challenge?

To your knowledge, have you read any not listed here that have been banned or challenged?

Thanks so much for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

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Books Banned in 2021

Posted on October 19, 2021 | Leave a comment

Book banning has been a thing for a very long time, since the late 18th century, in fact. And it continues.

Here is a list of 21 of the most commonly banned books this year.

  1. George – by Alex Gino
  2. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You – by Abram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
  3. All American Boys – by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
  4. Speak – by Laurie Halse Anderson
  5. Something Happened in Our Town: a Child’s Story About Racial Injustice – by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard
  6. To Kill a Mockingbird – by Harper Lee
  7. Of Mice and Men – by John Steinbeck
  8. The Bluest Eye – by Toni Morrison
  9. The Hate U Give – by Angie Thomas
  10. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out – by Susan Kuklin
  11. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo – by Jill Twiss
  12. Sex is a Funny Word: a Book About Bodies, Feelings, and You – by Cory Silverberg
  13. Prince and Knight – by Daniel Haack
  14. I Am Jazz – by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
  15. The Handmaid’s Tale – by Margaret Atwood
  16. Drama – by Raina Telgemeier
  17. The Harry Potter series – by J.K. Rowling
  18. And Tango Makes Three – by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
  19. The Captain Underpants series – by Dav Pilkey
  20. Thirteen Reasons Why – by Jay Asheri
  21. This One Summer – by Mariko Tamaki

How many of these have you read? I’ve only read the seven books I have in bold print.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

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27 most famous banned, censored, or challenged books (Banned Books Week)

Posted on October 3, 2015 | 8 comments

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.

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

Now, it’s your turn.

  • What do you want to share about the list of 27 books?
  • Do you purposely search out books that have been banned or censored or challenged?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

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It’s Banned Books Week: here’s a list of 100 banned books

Posted on September 24, 2013 | 18 comments

This is Banned Books Week. It seems the last time I posted anything about this was in 2010, so I think it is time to mention it again with a list of 100 banned books. I know if a book is banned … or challenged, as it is usually called in the USA … it is drawn into focus more than it would have been if left alone.

The following paragraph and list is from modernlibrary.com which you may wish to check out.

On July 21, 1998, the Radcliffe Publishing Course compiled and released its own list of the century’s top 100 novels, at the request of the Modern Library editorial board.

  1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  6. Ulysses by James Joyce
  7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  9. 1984 by George Orwell
  10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
  11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
  12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  13. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
  14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
  15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
  19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
  21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
  23. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
  26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  27. Native Son by Richard Wright
  28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
  29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
  31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
  32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
  33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
  34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
  35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
  36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
  37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
  38. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
  39. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
  40. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  41. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
  42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
  44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
  45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
  46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
  48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
  49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
  51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
  52. Howards End by E.M. Forster
  53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
  55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
  56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
  57. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
  58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
  59. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
  60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
  61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
  62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
  64. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
  65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
  66. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
  67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
  68. Light in August by William Faulkner
  69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
  70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
  74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
  75. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
  76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
  77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
  78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias by Gertrude Stein
  79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
  80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
  81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
  82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
  84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
  85. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
  86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
  87. The Bostonians by Henry James
  88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
  89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
  90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
  93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
  94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
  95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
  96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
  98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
  99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
  100. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

For someone who loves to read my record is poor: six I have read, seven I have seen as movies, eight I have on hand to read – four of those I started.

Have you read any of these? Do you agree with any of them being banned, or do you believe banning books is a bad practice?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

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