It is Banned Book week!

[JitterbugPerfume]

what are you reading that the church lady thinks is to naughty?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I am less interested in the books on banned lists

as I am in the reasons why these books get on the list.

This is a list of banned and challenged classics by the American Library Association and there are few that I can come up with the reason:

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics

Here are the top books on the list---WTF:

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

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. Ralph Elison's Invisible Man, recently banned in N.C.

Invisible Man Banned: Ralph Ellison's Landmark Novel Banned From School Libraries
"Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," which won the National Book Award in 1953, was instantly recognized as a masterpiece, a novel that captured the grim realities of racial discrimination as no book had, " Rosenblatt wrote. "Its reputation grew as Ellison retreated into a mythic literary silence that made his one achievement definitive."

Including the book in its list of 100 Best English Language Novels since 1923, Time literary critic Lev Grossman also expressed great admiration for Ellison's work.

"Evenhandedly exposing the hypocrisies and stereotypes of all comers, Invisible Man is far more than a race novel, or even a bildungsroman. It’s the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century."

The notion that it has been banned by the racist on N.C. made this a must read for me.

[Tindalos]

3. As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner

I didn't even know it was banned. Not sure why either.

[pscot]

4. I tried to reread The Rosy Crucifixion

not too long ago. I couldn't really get into. I think Miller was banned in France. He's a good writer though. He just grabs you by the collar and drags you into his life. Reading Miller takes stamina.

[pscot]

5. Montaigne was banned in France

The Church decided he didn't give Mankind sufficient credit for general awesomeness. He was proscribed for more than 150 years.

[SheilaT]

6. Does this mean *I* get to ban a book?

I'll start by banning the Bible. Any and all translations. Old and New Testament. Also the Koran.

[jeffrey_pdx]

7. I took a class on Obscene Literature in college

All the books we read were banned somewhere at sometime. It was interesting to see some of the older books that had been banned when they came out, they seem so tame to the newer ones. I'm thinking of "Lady Chattersley Lover" compared to "Naked Lunch" or "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (which has chapters that are actually hard to read due to extreme violence).