September 24 - October 1 is Banned Books Week. Did you know that? I didn't, until the other night.
I think banning books should be a sin - or at least illegal. I'm of the opinion that there is no greater right than the freedom to express ourselves - and books are an expression, a representation of how things really are (or perhaps how they should be). Either that - or they're purely entertainment, and who on earth would want to ban people from being entertained? If you don't like it - just don't read it.
It's amazing when you look at a list of banned classics - many of which were later "unbanned" - and made part of high school curriculum. I read several of these in high school - and banned or not, they still bored me to tears.
A Separate Peace, Jonathan Knowles
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
If only someone would have banned Old Man and the Sea. Oh - how I hated that book.
What banned books have you read?
No comments:
Post a Comment