Read Any Good Books, Lately?

[dales]

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/about

During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 24 through October 1. Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here

According to the American Library Association, there were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2010, and many more go unreported.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2010 were:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group
.

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is usually on the list

[Gob]

I'd be more impressed if they said who by, where and when these books had been banned.

If it's just in a few religious schools, WGAF?

[Scooter]

Here is a list from the past few years. It looks like they are looking at public schools and libraries rather than private ones.

[Sean]

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Mindless shite

I fixed that one...

[loCAtek]

The American Library Association is secular not religious;

What is ALA?

The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with members in academic, public, school, government, and special libraries. Melvil Dewey, Justin Winsor, C. A. Cutter, Samuel S. Green, James L. Whitney, Fred B. Perkins, and Thomas W. Bicknell founded the Association on October 6, 1876, in Philadelphia.

As of July 31, 2010, the ALA had 61,403 members, with members in the United States of America, Canada, and over 115 other countries. Approximately 94% of those members are personal members, with the remaining being organizational or corporate members.

The mission of the American Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

ALA is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional offices in Washington, D.C., and Middletown, Connecticut. We may be contacted by e-mail, phone, fax and mail.

[The Hen]

I fixed that one...

+1

[BoSoxGal]

+2

The popularity of that series, amongst adult women in particular, makes me want to vomit. (This would be a nice place for that barfing icon - hint, hint).

[Scooter]

What is it about the novels you find particularly vomit inducing? Just a new twist on the romance novel, no?

[Gob]

[Jarlaxle]

Never read them, but I have run across some of the author's stories in anthologies (usually looking for Jim Butcher's stuff)...she's not bad, at least writing short stories.

[BoSoxGal]

I skimmed a few pages of the first book at a friend's once - she hadn't read it, but was given it as a gift from her sister-in-law.

Admittedly as a former graduate student of English lit I'm a bit snobbish when it comes to what I deem worthy of my reading time. Still, I found Twilight to be substandard writing. The whole movie tie-in, 'team Edward' v. 'team whoever-the-other-one-is' was over the top. The fact that legions of middle aged women were tittering endlessly (still are!) over these young adult 'literature' characters just turns my stomach.

I can't explain it much better, Scoot. I'm an admitted odd duck and would have little in common with the mass of women who dress their daughters in pink & Disney princess gear while salivating over teen idols from Twilight. Perhaps that's my loss.

[loCAtek]

What is it about the novels you find particularly vomit inducing? Just a new twist on the romance novel, no?

I never liked 'romance' [male dominance] novels, but found them vomit inducing.