Salem

So, I was browsing through Google Play today and ran across this "Banned Books" sale with a list of controversial books for $5 each. (No idea if the same is available on iTunes... guess I could look, but too lazy). I ran across this website: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

So, anyone want to list the "controversial" books they've read in the past?

From http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorsh ... pedamerica :

The ones I read in school, nearly all before I was even 16:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (also Tom Sawyer, which has had its share of controversy... that Mark Twain....)
Call of the Wild
Fahrenheit 451
The Great Gatsby (senior year HS)
The Red Badge of Courage
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (college, and very insightful. Thanks to those like Masters, Kinsey, et al for the sexual revolution!!)
Stranger in a Strange Land (not surprising, but only a couple of Heinlein's books could even come close to being controversial... damn Boy Scout)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Where the Wild Things Are (didn't know about the penis thing!!)

Google Play has a nice list of various works, too https://play.google.com/store/books/col ... nded?hl=en
(not sure what regions it will show up in)
Shakespeare (pick and I probably read it before I was 18, but not all of The Bard's works have been controversial)
The Lord of the Flies
The Anne Rice trilogy (you know the one!! Adults only!!)

I just have one question, though: How would a work by one of the Founding Fathers of the USA end up on such a list--Tomas Payne's Common Sense and other writings? I may not agree with everything he wrote philosophically, but his ideas and writings helped shape the world as we know it. Probably got banned in some other country.

From the Banned Book Week List:
-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
-The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
-Fahrenheit 451
-The Grapes of Wrath
-The Great Gatsby
-The Jungle
-The Scarlet Letter (arguing that Hester Prynne was an adulterous hussy who deserved what she got will not endear you to your high school english teacher)
-Stranger in a Strange Land
-To Kill a Mockingbird
-Where the Wild Things Are

From Google's Challenged Books List (without repeats from above):
-The Awakening (what a loathsome protagonist)
-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
-Oliver Twist
-Common Sense
-The Diary of Anne Frank
-The Outsiders
-Of Mice and Men

Most of these I read between 12-18, with the exceptions of Stranger in a Strange Land, which I read just a few months ago, and Common Sense, which I read around 2008. I'm a bit surprised some of these books were banned anywhere.

While I could be sold on age restrictions for some books, "banning" a book is never the right response.

Faithfully,

-Paul the Paymaster

I didn't note it in my OP, but there is a longer list on bannedbooksweek.org if you click through a few links. There's some interesting information there (such as why some books were banned or restricted), so I'll leave it to anyone reading this to dig a bit.

ban all books

Who the hell & why bans books ???

You must be living in a real crappy old-fashioned system if they ban books !

sabinati wrote:ban all books

Yup. books are for only for intellectual fools that live in ivory towers. books never did a thing for us.

alloin wrote:Who the hell & why bans books ???

You must be living in a real crappy old-fashioned system if they ban books !

Check out the website http://www.bannedbooksweek.org. The truth of it is that what they have there are mostly the better known books. While a few have been outright banned in some countries, most listed there have just had controversies such as giving them to students to read. (Who wants their 14 year old reading a book with racial slurs in it? )

I am amazed that Mr. Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" wasn't mentioned as it was a huge news story in the late 80s He was sentenced to death by Ayatollah Khomeini (article) of Iran. Then again, this is the first I've ran across this and they may rotate their listings every year.