Welcome to Banned Book Week 2015 (Sept. 27th- Oct. 3rd), celebrating freedom of reading!

Censorship is the bane of the literary community. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry…nothing is safe from small minds that seek to suppress books found objectionable for some reason or the other. Every year books are challenged to be banned and removed from school libraries and curricula for the most asinine of reasons, as if kids won’t read them on their own if they want to. Making something taboo only increases interest in it, only makes the mind dwell on it. And really, who has the right to call a book ‘objectionable’? It’s all subjective. Just one group’s opinion over other groups’ opinions. Usually it’s been the people that yowl the loudest that got their way. Thankfully, that’s changed.

don’t read Obsidian Alcatraz. it’s the devil’s work. 

One of the first lists of banned books was the Librorum Prohibitum, maintained by the Catholic Church. It began in 1559 and was finally done away with in 1966. This is just one example of a controlling body banning what they deem subversive or offensive. There are plenty of other examples world-wide of institutions banning books. For the most part, America today is much more tolerant, even if that wasn’t always the case. Some places are still quite strict!

don’t read Obsidian Alcatraz. it’s full of perversion and violence.

Perhaps you recall the clamor for banning J K Rowling’s Harry Potter novels because they were believed to promote witchcraft and devil worship, and went against Christian beliefs? Other books to have been cause for concern, at various times, include Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Catcher in the Rye.

feeling daring? come walk the labyrinth and face the unseen hunter.

Do you agree with the banning of books, or do you think that if a ‘ban worthy’ book gets someone hooked on reading, then it’s a good thing? I welcome your opinions.

 

**Next up- Banned Book Week 2015: Banned Books Through the Ages.