Blogging Question: Banned Books Week ends on the 6th. How do you feel about books being challenged to be banned from libraries or schools? Have you read any banned books?
Its amazing how many GOOD books are on the Banned Book List. I think it should almost be viewed as a compliment for someone to want to ban your book. It means that your book is both popular and making a statement. I also feel that people should have the freedom to WANT to ban a book. I think that privately owned libraries or ones owned by religious entities shouldn’t hesitate to remove a book if they don’t agree with its contents. However, government owned schools and libraries should NOT be banned from shelving certain books. I don’t care how evil or wrong the contents. This is America and we have the freedom to express ourselves through language without fear of being oppressed.
I am not against age-restricting materials. Just like kids can’t purchase rated R movies or buy Playboy magazine, I wouldn’t be against kids not being able to purchase erotica or gory horror without parental permission. That said, I probably would let my kid read whatever he wanted like my mom let me read whatever I wanted.
Banned books I’ve read on this list of 100 Most Challenged Books:
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Wordpress 
I agree! There are a lot of great books on that list!
Age-restricting materials are good!
J’adore Happy Endings
Yes, definitely don’t need my one year old running around with a playboy.
After googling what the 100 top banned books were I found I had only read three of them, not because they are banned books, but because most of the banned books were not in genres I read.
There were quite a few banned books that I read because some English teacher decided it would be a great idea. At the time I wish they were banned. I used to read everything by Judy Blume and apparently MOST of her books ended up on the list.
Check out how many I was required to read when I was in high school. 🙂
Stop by my blog if you like. My link is below.
Happy Hopping.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
http://silversolara.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-blogger-hop-105-1011.html
There’s a few books I read in high school that I wished were banned (at least at the time). Never was a fan of Shakespeare or Hemingway (I know, blasphemous!).
Great reply, couldn’t agree more!
Thank you for stopping by!
Great answer, Lizzy! I agree with you, to a point. If an author writes a book including detailed instructions on how to kill the President, or blow up a government building, or commit some other heinous act, then I do think such a book should be banned. For example, recently Amazon was heavily criticized for having” The Pedophile’s Guide” available for sale. This book glorifies pedophilia, and even gives instructions to pedophiles on how to perpetrate their crimes and manage their lives. I don’t think anyone should be able to read such a book. Pedophiles are sick people. This book justifies and glorifies that sickness. Kids could be hurt in the process.
Speaking of kids, I think they shouldn’t have easy access to certain books, because either their developing ethical values may be compromised, or they might suffer emotional traumas.
Now, if people want to read such things as “Fifty Shades of Grey”, or “The Silence of the Lambs”, I say let them. I wouldn’t want kids (and even teens) anywhere near these books, though. Younger minds simply lack the necessary maturity to evaluate such books and their possible negative effects on their minds.
Thanks for sharing your answer!! : )
OJ Simpson tried to write a book entitled: If I did it. It would have been about how the murder happened “if” he killed her. Public outcry was so great that the book never got published. So I can definitely agree on some limitations, although I’d much rather bad books like these get on the shelves than “classics” being banned from shelves.
Yes, it’s too bad that classics get banned. However, some classics are a bit much for younger folk to deal with… in my own answer to this question, I detailed my emotionally painful reaction to two Edgar Allan Poe stories, “The Tell-tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”.
I must confess that, unlike you, I don’t like the horror genre. I want my vampires and werewolves to be the romantic kind! Lol. However, I’m following you back, because you were nice enough to follow me first, which I greatly appreciate!
Having said the above, I will add that I like the looks of SERPENT’S RING, and will read the post to see what it’s all about..
By the way, I LOVE your new header!! It’s so much better, aesthetically speaking, than your old one!! Congrats on getting such a terrific header! It ROCKS.
Its funny that you should say you like my header, when I’m going crazy looking at it. I SHOULD go ahead and pay someone to make me a nice professional one – however the first time I did that, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted and ended up paying for something I didn’t like. Here’s to hoping my photoshop abilities improve soon. 😉
I totally agree. Gov owned schools and stuff need to let us choose. Privately own stores have every right to pick and choose.
I appreciate your distinctions between privately-owned libraries and government-owned ones–definitely a good point!