Speaking of banned books...

[Guy Fawkes]

I found http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm
but does anyone have a list of all the banned books?

And what's your favorite banned book?

Mine is: "The joys of gay sex" or "The prince and the prince" (I've never read the first, but I hear its good, and I like the title)

[Angelus]

1. Why would anyone ban Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn???

Those are great books! Why ban classics like Huck Finn?

[Dookus]

2. Because people are idiots

they want to ban Harry Potter because it "promotes witchcraft" and Huck Finn has been the victim of PC overreaction because of the frequent use of the word "nigger" in reference to Jim.

[Angelus]

4. How does Harry Potter promote witchcraft?

This is insane. The RW Christian fundies need to be stopped. I'm guessing they're the one's who are doing all the book banning. :grr:

[DarkPhenyx]

22. it shows children that...

...spellcasting can be fun, it makes you powerful, and able to even defeat powerful adults.

[Az]

29. It shows that magic is what you make of it

It destroys the idea that Good and Evil are concrete things. It shows that our world is ours to make and that we are the source of good and evil. It teaches people to think for themself and that someone else cannot tell you what evil is.

[DarkPhenyx]

32. And damnit!

We just can't ahve that/ What would teh world become if it was populated by intelligent free thinking people? No, no,no...we simply can't ahve that. It is not to be allowed.

[TrogL]

37. Fundies think good and evil ARE concrete things

[bigbillhaywood]

39. They are...and the fundies are evil.

[DarkPhenyx]

40. Oh, I agree.

Me being a Pagan person and all.

Someone did ask about Harry Potter and why was he being picked on. Those are the arguments you get against the book.

[boxster]

3. Perceived racism...

in the case of Huck Finn.

The reasoning people come up with is always just as entertaining as the list itself, if not more so.

[DarkPhenyx]

6. It's a good question...

...and I see you already have the answer. I'd like to hear about the rest of these books though. I'm adamently against banning books, however I'd really like to hear the idiotic reasoning behind this years winners.

[Az]

28. Understand the hatred for Harry Potter and you understand the culture war

Consider these two series. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Both have magic, demons, and a host of hot button issues that would seem to send the religious right over the edge. Yet they rally around LOTR and burn Harry Potter.

This all has to do with the rift in America concerning morality. On the one side you have the supporters of rigid morality defined by authoritative dogma. On the other side you have a diverse source of cultural morality combining together into a relativisit morality.

LOTR's universe is set in the concrete moral definitive world of Tolkien's imagination. In it Good and Evil are real things. Your position is defined by where you stand in regard to them. In fact it is corruption by the real actions of Evil that taint others. Posession of the Ring is enough to turn men Evil. Evil is a palpable corruption to be fought.

In Harry Potter's universe good and evil come from peoples actions and choices. It is theirs alone to originate. And some things that would expect to be evil are actually good. The world is not as simple, as black and white, as Tolkiens Middle Earth. It is the moral relativism that resides within the Potter stories. The ability to figure out good and evil for one self that drives the religious right batty. It is along this divide that our society is split. And understanding the nature of this split is becoming increasingly vital to save our society.

[Bluzmann57]

5. "Huck Finn"

I grew up in a Mississippi River town and always thought it would be cool to float down the river on a raft. Huck, Tom , Injun Joe and the rest were cool, imo.

[Beer Snob-50]

25. I thought it was a great book but I think it has

the word...(look around) Ni**er in it.

[noonwitch]

34. Yes, it does. I read it in high school.

In context, it shouldn't be offensive, because Mark Twain is writing about the times he lived in. Jim, the character referred to, is a great character who teaches Huck important lessons about life. The point of that aspect of the story is that Jim is more than the label "N&%%#* Jim.

[Beer Snob-50]

36. Correct.

But there are many who still find the term offensive and that is why it is banned in areas (IMHO) My son read it (he has read a few of the banned books and he is only in the 8th grade! I may be raising a subversive!!)

[GirlinContempt]

7. The chocolate war?!

That was my FAVORITE book in high school!
Handmaids tale? A Wrinkle In time?
Jeeze....
How could you challange those books?


http://home.nvg.org/~aga/bulletin43.html

[GirlinContempt]

11. http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html

http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html

[bobbieinok]

8. German authors whose works Nazis didn't burn were insulted

Some wrote public letters to various journals demanding to have their works burned.

[DarkPhenyx]

9. Handmaid's Tale only made #37

for those keeping score.

"Sleeping Beauty Trilogy" in at #53. That's almost depressing.

Where's Waldo in at #88? What for? The one, unbelievably small, tit shot in the book?

[Angelus]

12. There was a tit shot in the book?

[DarkPhenyx]

Yeah, in Waldo at the beach.

One woman has her top untied and a kid has spilled icecream, I think, on her so she is sitting up in shock and you get a side shot, complete with nipple, of one boob. Considering that the books are originally French, I believe, the scene isn't surprising, and even by American standards it shouldn't be shocking.

[Angelus]

17. Geez.

The RW Christians need to grow up. I hate that they control schools and what books kids should read. :grr:

[DarkPhenyx]

19. Here's the link to the complaint.

http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/archives/001808.html

Told ya I wasn't joking

[BritishHuman]

44. Where's Booby?

You'd have to be REALLY looking to see that.

But of course, that's what they do...

[DarkPhenyx]

20. Banned because it is depressing?

http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/archives/001808.html

Shit happy ban all text books. Every last one of them is depressing.

[IronLionZion]

10. I've read quite a few of those

I make a point to read banned books and watch banned movies. Especially if its my church that bans it!

[DarkPhenyx]

13. So do I.

Though as a Pagan my "church" doesn't ban many books. :)

I try and read the ones that are of a more mature reading level. Harry Potter lands in that catagory so you know my standards are pretty weird. I tink I cna avoid the girls version of "What's Happening to My Body". Also the boys version. If I don't have it figured out by now I'm pretty much a lost cause.

[The Lone Liberal]

14. Mine is “Fatima and the 5th Fleet”

:evilgrin:

[maveric]

15. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is banned???

One of greatest pieces of american literature ever! I guess that the anti-racism theme is too dangerous for the New century Amerikans.
Unfuckingbelieveable!

[Southpaw Bookworm]

30. That's exactly it

Those good white Christian Southerners weren't too pleased about their portayal and prevented the book from being available in certain areas.

[DarkPhenyx]

16. Banned Book Project (URL Link)

Ya'll might find this useful.

http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/

Here is the entry on "Jump Ship to Freedom"

http://solonor.com/bannedbooks/archives/001820.html

[DrWeird]

18. Langston Hughes was (is?) banned.

For those who don't know, Langston Hughes was a great African-American poet in and around the fifties. He was outspoken about civil rights and the strife in the poor, black community.

And elementary school teacher, Jonathon Kozol, was fired for reading a Hughes poem to his classroom. He taught in the Bronx, and his students were poor and black.

[greatauntoftriplets]

21. The infamous Index!!!!

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/indexlibrorum.html

[blondeatlast]

23. I'm the second person "Requests for Reconsiderations"

are seen by at Phoenix Public Library.

Some are just inane, others are insane, still others are mind control.

And the surprising thing is--our side can be just as nutty as theirs.
The outstanding case I remember is a wonderful children's book concerning a child's reaction to her sibling's stillbirth. Beautifully written and illustrated, compassionate, heartfelt, and a real gift for parents/grandparents having to explain the situation.

We got a complaint about its mention of Heaven. The book was NOT removed, tyvm.

But all in all, most are from the wing-nuts.

[corporatewhore]

24. in 2001 a texas high school banned an algebra book because they said

it had an agenda numbers were neutral each chapter began by listing accomplishments acheived by blacks latinos and women

[Az]

26. Mark Twain's Letters from Earth

The acerbic wit of Twain in full bloom. But this is a side of Twain that many don't want people to see.

[SOteric]

27. The one I'm compiling

on banned poets and their poetry.

Excerpts at:

http://edgewise.org/Edgewise.html

[BritishHuman]

45. I could sit and read them all night

But as a guy, being openly moved is frowned upon.

*sniffle*

[Emboldened Chimp]

31. Off that list? Brave New World.

I'm a little surprised, and somewhat disappointed, that my favorite, Henry Miller, is not on the list. Oh, how the mighty fall!

[thestatusquo]

33. small minded people

I work in a library, and the one section about gays (rights, sex, lifestyle, etc) is frequently vandalized. So cowardly.

[bobthedrummer]

35. Lolita.

Btw, the name of the musical project my wife (the bass player) and self are "parents" of is ---The Books Banned---that's us!
:hi:

[politicat]

38. What could they have POSSIBLY banned Anastasia Krupnik for?!?!

I read that as a kid.... and read it to my sisters, and read it to my much younger cousins....

There was nothing to be offended by. Unless it's because they're a liberal, rational family.

Okay, those are on the list to buy for my niece and nephew.

Pcat

[Deja Q]

41. That book was banned?

Damn! I bought the Joy of Gay Sex vol 2 a few years back.

I already knew half of what it told me, and the other half was new to me (and remarkably gross, I had no idea people would do THOSE things, even heteros - yes, I inquired...). The book itself is basically a bunch of pictures... I don't recall if they used the proper words to describe the acts, or the make-up words you'd use in front of toddlers... I'm thinking it was the latter though...

As if it made a difference, there's no practical reason for me to read it. I'd never put to use what I'd learned from reading it. :evilgrin: (I'm gay and living proof that gay guys just won't go after any human that's got a penis.)

[LWolf]

42. I don't know about favorites;

I've read 68% of the "100 most frequently challenged" on that list. Out of that 68%, I really despised one, and didn't care for another; but I never would have suggested banning. Librarians don't ban, even when they are no longer librarians.

Most of the books on that list are challenged in school libraries, by the way. I've dealt personally with challenges to some of the books on that list, and to many others.

As a matter of fact, I still support my school library in many ways. I do the book ordering, since we haven't had a library tech in 3 years, and I'm the only one on campus qualified to do collection development. And this weekend, for mother's day, my oldest son will show up to sign off book reviews; part of the "review" process for approving books for the school library shelves requires non-employee signatures. It can take all year to get enough people to read every single book in an order so you can get them on the shelves; and now we aren't allowed to shelve a single volume until the entire order has been reviewed. We can't download the title list into the checkout system until then. So my son, 26, who grew up in libraries I worked in, will happily approve every damned book on every order this weekend, moving the process along. He grew up reading the actual banned books from our library; rather than have them destroyed, I "adopted" them, with permission from the school district.

[WilliamPitt]

43. Johnny Got His Gun

It's been banned like four times...right when big wars start.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. Jeeeeze...A lot of these are books that were recommended

when I was in public school.

Some, like Lord of the Flies were required reading.

And what the hell's wrong with "Where's Waldo"? Are they talking about something other than the picture book in which you try to find "Waldo" amidst a jumble of silly cartoon people?