My parents have absolutely no idea what it is--why, where, when, and what books have been banned are all unknown to them. Although I could ramble off a list of banned books when they asked me, and talk a little about who challenges books, I'm still no scholar. I'm hoping that my knowledge of the subject will grow (as I hope awareness of the cause will grow, too).
A number of books we consider classics have been banned from, or challenged by, libraries and schools. This list below includes banned books that are currently ranked in the "Best 100" and "Rival 100" novels lists. They're many books that you read in high school and college. Books that you've always said you should read, but maybe haven't. Maybe knowing they have a sordid past will spice them up and peak your interest again. Perhaps enough to read one in support of Banned Books Week.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Ulysses, by James Joyce
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
1984, by George Orwell
Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Native Son, by Richard Wright
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
The books in green are ones that I've read. The highlighted Vonnegut novel is the one I've selected to read this year for Banned Books Week, thanks to Out of Print's book club.
You can find Banned Books Week on the web via Facebook and at their official site. Visiting ala.org/bbooks will take you to the American Library Association's website with even more links and information regarding the history of Banned Books Week, and the banning of challenging of books in the United States.
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