Celebrate the freedom to read!

So, banned books week is almost over, what have you done to celebrate?! I know that not everyone celebrates holidays that are instituted by the American Library Association, but I believe that everyone should. Its ridiculous that in our "advanced" society (note the sarcasm) we are still banning, or worse, burning (gasp!) books! Its literary abuse in my mind!

So, Im giving you an easy way to send the week out with a bit of fanfare :) Just tell me what banned book you have rebelliously read!! Here is a list of some of the common ones, and examples of the illogical and absurd reasons why they have been banned!

The Color Purple by Alice Walker ~ It has been banned because of "sexual and social explicitness" and because it is "smut." Wow...

Animal Farm by George Orwell ~ because of "indecent images" and because "Orwell was a communist."

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut ~ because it "contains foul language and promotes deviant behavior" (side note: I bought a copy of Cats Cradle from a little used bookstore in a small town and when the owner scanned it he said, "Oh! I didn't know we had this stuff in here" with a scowl on his face! You own a bookstore buddy, respect them! I mean yeesh! they can hear you...)


Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh ~ because it should be prohibited to use public funds to purchase material that promotes homosexuality and novels with gay protagonists suggest that homosexuality is natural and they should be taken from the shelves and destroyed (Im paraphrasing). I don't even know what to say about that one...

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll ~ What?! Apparently it is "disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level."

In 1978 the American Heritage Dictionary was even challenged! Apparently it contained "39 objectionable words." Are you freaking kidding me?!

This is only a teeny tiny portion, there are lists here, here, here and here that contain many more. So, please share the banned books that you have loved and join me in my quest for literary freedom by pledging to read one soon!!