10 Books That Were Banned for No Good Reason

Book banning and burnings have existed since the earliest days of written text. It’s not a new practice, nor is it one that’s died out with history. It remains to be seen how successful those efforts will be, but if there’s one thing history has taught us on this subject it’s that usually when books are banned, there’s just no good reason to explain why.
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[@sffan42]

Banning books is an act of cowardice

[@heatwave]

Which is why it's done exclusively by Republicans.

[@spartacusjonesmusic]

They only censor the truth.

[@joanhoffman3702]

And an act of ignorance and fear.

[@alexmccabe5173]

Depends what you are burning.

[@dave_riots]

Unless those books defend genocides.

[@diyeana]

I love it when people try to ban books. It makes me realize it's a book I definitely need to read. It's one of the best ways to expand your mind.

[@spartacusjonesmusic]

All my favorite books were banned. :)

[@hectorsmommy1717]

My favorite sweatshirt says "Celebrate Freedom: read a banned book" and lists about 20 books that have been banned, including the Bible and Quran. My librarian friend has a display table where she puts out books that people are trying to ban in the schools. No signs, just the books, and they get checked out frequently

[@Darth-Claw-Killflex]

So, you behave like a child? Have you ever even read an entire book? Gotta love that virtue signaling

[@sherriea789]

@@hectorsmommy1717 I love that idea for a sweatshirt or t-shirt!

[@rosemaryedwards7239]

Oh so true!

[@worlds-in-conflict]

When you try to ban Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 aren't you just validating their content?

[@ashkitt7719]

*minorities in video games* Literally 1984

[@pakde8002]

Ironic isn't it?

[@neilmackay5655]

Yes.

[@ttaylorboi]

The point of 451 is to inform you of its flashpoint so yes

[@ttaylorboi]

@Robert Sears this account is a robot

[@noodengr3three825]

My experience with someone trying to ban a book is that it stirs up interest in people who would not have heard of them and as a result picked it up to read to see what the controversy

[@anarchyantz1564]

Remember. When someone says a book needs not to be read but banned. You REALLY need to read that book.

[@mamacito1795]

Wonder if people would say that about the Bible tho..irony most of the same people trying to ban these books were the type who tried to ban the Bible back in the day. Life be crazy sometimes

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@mamacito1795 And now the Bible thumpers are the ones wanting to ban books as well.

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

@@mamacito1795 The Bible is a great fiction story. Who'd want to ban that???

[@bendover4773]

Yeah, like mein kampf

[@anarchyantz1564]

@@bendover4773 Except that one IS NOT banned.

[@christophermerlot3366]

DH Laurence had the best approach to being censored. Every time Lady Chatterley's Lover wound up in court on obscenity grounds, he would rewrite it and make it raunchier.

[@joanhoffman3702]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@03hancocks]

I was about to comment on this - how was this not included?? Even my mother remembers finding the book in the library and it would fall open to That Page...

[@dervelthecelt]

In my senior year in high school, I took a class on holocaust studies where the teacher fought for almost every book on her reading list to be unbanned including elie wisels night, maus and even excerpts from mein kampf. The class was better for it because she wanted her students to critically analyze the direct thoughts of the people of the time for the heroes that fought against genocide and the monsters that sought it

[@ryanfields1965]

Night was banned?? Elie Wiesel came to my high-school in like 2002 and spoke to us. What an amazing man. I bought a copy of night, and he signed it for me! :)

[@amb163]

Your teacher was/is a legend. Respect.

[@maxdanielj]

@@ryanfields1965 night is very often banned for the same reasons that make it so important for people to read

[@Foolish188]

When your own views line up closely with well known evil, you will try to ban books that point that out.

[@macsnafu]

Maus? Really? Wow.

[@thegnosticalien]

Oh my Lord… bridge to terabithia is a very sweet story about friendship, love and imagination… anyone who tried to ban it should be ashamed of themselves honestly

[@GeorgieB1965]

Most recently, the graphic novel "Maus" was banned in some city in the Midwest. I read the book and found it highly interesting as well. He did the memories of his father, who was a concentration camp survivor, extremely well.

[@YouTubecanfuckagoat]

The second book From Mauswich to the Catskills elaborated upon the first book. I remember reading it in the late 80’s & finding it very powerful.

[@bryancorrell3689]

A Tennessee school district was widely reported to have banned the book in early 2022, but that wasn't entirely correct. It was removed from official curriculum, but it wasn't really banned as the book was still available in school libraries.

[@GeorgieB1965]

@@bryancorrell3689 Thanks for refreshing my memory. I wrote about this on my blog, plus one other, and I don't have access to my blog from my phone (computer, yes), so I was doing it from memory.

[@bluebelle8823]

Maus has been banned on and off for years in various places. I've never got that particular banning myself.

[@GeorgieB1965]

@@bluebelle8823 I think most of the bannings had to do with language and the settings.

[@typograf62]

A case of book-banning happened in Thisted in Denmark in the late 70'es. The book was "Katamaran" about youngsters falling out with society. It was first removed from the public library by the city council. Then, when teachers wanted to read and discuss it, it was also banned from schools (I'm not quite sure by whom). Then the booksellers in Thisted started lending it out for free. The power of the city council did not reach that far. I think the reason was instances of "obscene language" ("Hår på dåsen").

[@TheKalaxis]

I've just finished reading "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess, which was banned in some places for it's "objectionable language and depictions of extreme violence". The film version is very faithful to the book and I believe that also got banned.

[@christophermerlot3366]

That was a course book for me in Grade 11 English class.

[@Parasiteve]

i wanna say clockwork was considered a "video nasty" back in the day but im not sure. all i know is theres a Rpe scene in the movie that i asume is in the book as well. i also wanna point out that stephen kings IT wasn't banned i dont think and that book has a way worse sexual part in it. well worse in a different way. nothing like children having to "do it" to stop an interdimensional clown from eating them.

[@WraithWriter]

@@Parasiteve Yes and no... While England initially had no issue with the film, the director, Stanley Kubrick, demanded it be pulled from theaters.

[@katashworth41]

It wasn’t banned, it was removed from circulation by Kubrick himself with the specification it won’t be shown until after his death.

[@phillipkennedy508]

Read that one in early '80s'. Couldn't see what 'they' were bitchin' about.

[@socialswithmichelle]

Without understanding, there can be no progress. Whenever a book is banned, we must go out of our way to find a copy and read it. Most books are banned for the stupid reason that it disagrees with a majority's ideals, but it is important to see the world from different viewpoints - that is how we grow and get better at being kinder to our fellow human beings. If a book is accused of something such as "inspiring a distrust of the police" perhaps we had ought to look at why the author feels that mistrust enough to place it in their works, and do what is possible to fix it.

[@PaulMcElligott]

I read both “Catch-22” and “Catcher in the Rye” in high school. It was a Catholic high school. A religious school assigned both books with no controversy. In the 1980s. Chew on that.

[@ablemagawitch]

Were you assigned them to read or have to hold out at arms length? .and if the later being bored you decided to read them. Kidding, it is weird though, that religious schools ban less books than public school boards due.

[@loopslytle]

Banning a book is the truest form of ignorance a society can implement.

[@johnopalko5223]

Banning a book is the quickest way to get it onto my personal reading list. I have read every book discussed in this video, with the exception of _The Hunger Games,_ and that's just because I haven't gotten around to it yet. Some of the books I found supremely enjoyable, some I found boring, and some I found impenetrable. I never found any to be worthy of being banned.

[@RottenRogerDM]

Blood Heir by Amelle Wen Zhao was banned and the publisher refused to print the book. She went inidie.

[@johnopalko5223]

@@RottenRogerDM Her book was never banned and her publisher never refused to print it. Some readers of the manuscript raised issues of racial insensitivity and possible plagiarism. The charge of racial insensitivity stemmed from the fact that she was writing based on what she knew and some reviewers, who were unfamiliar with her culture, made erroneous assumptions. The plagiarism charges were found to be baseless. The author, herself, requested that publication be delayed while she made revisions to make it clear that she was not referring to any particular existing race. The book was published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Dell Publishing which is, itself, a division of Random House. Not indie by any means. Critics gave it a rather tepid reception but, as far as I know, there have been no objections to it.

[@hectorsmommy1717]

As a school librarian (retired) I will defend a parent's right to choose to not allow their children to read a certain book. Whether I agree or not, it is their right. Having said that, I will defend to the death the right of other students to read anything they choose. I was brought up by parents, supported by teachers and librarians, who let me read anything I wanted. I have read all of the books mentioned, many for school assignments. If something was too advanced, I just got bored and put it down. I grew up in a small town that was 99% white Christian (one Jewish family and a couple of First Nations families made up the 1%). The diversity in people, ideas, experiences that I did not get in my life I was able to get from books, until I was old enough to travel and do other things to experience them myself. Books are most children's window into the wider world. The more they experience from books, the better their real life experiences will be.

[@Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

If a parent doesn’t want their kid to read something, then they can accompany their kids to the library. It’s not your place to withhold information and viewpoints in their stead. So I hope you aren’t acting as a pseudo parent, telling kids no when their parents can’t be bothered to be there, and surely you aren’t plucking books out of hands of kids who are sitting in the library reading books they haven’t checked out yet.

[@hectorsmommy1717]

@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria Of course not. The parents had to submit in writing any book titles their kids could not read and these were entered into the system so they could not check them out. The majority of parental control actually went to the teachers who assigned the books for class, we just had to make sure the library copies weren't checked out instead. We had no control over what they would pull from the shelf and read in the library without checking out and yes, a lot of students circumvented their parents by doing exactly that.

[@The_Real_Mier]

@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria I don’t see how you came to that question upon reading this comment… Nowhere is indicated that ‘Hector’s Mommy’ would be doing such things. I quite appreciate this attitude of a librarian!

[@nbenefiel]

My dad took me to the library every Wednesday evening from my fifth birthday on. He’d take out anything I wanted to read. We would discuss the books after I read them.

[@trinaq]

When "Hunger Games" first became popular, it was accused of ripping off "Battle Royale", which had a similar premise of teenagers battling each other in a secluded area.

[@unfortdork]

Which is hilarious because the author was clear that she was inspired by Greek myths of the Labyrinth and Minotaur. She even gave the characters names to punctuate the point.

[@ajstevens1652]

If authorities try to ban a book, you should immediately question what it is that they want to hide from you.

[@martinstallard2742]

1:09 Bridge to Terabitha 2:24 Catch-22 3:26 The Colour Purple 4:30 Fahrenheit 451 6:02 The Catcher in the Rye 7:35 The Hate U Give 9:14 The Hunger Games 10:43 Nineteenth eighty-Four 11:47 Slaughterhouse-Five 13:15 Ulysses

[@cohengamertv6548]

Why did they forget MAUS

[@dspectre]

This should have a permanent home at the top of these comments

[@kellyrickard9171]

Thank you

[@scottgates4979]

In the late 1970s and early 80s, my high school pulled almost half of the books from the PUBLIC SCHOOL library shelves because they'd been blacklisted by one or more local churches. They couldn't actually destroy the books because they were school property, so they put them in the librarian's office. It got to the point she had to move her desk from her office and out into the library because there simply wasn't room for her and all the boxes of books. I was one of the students that had access to the school computers, so I had a "disc"(5.25 floppy) that had to be stored in the librarian's office, also. They kept a lot of %@(% under lock and key for fear there would be mischief. One day, I grabbed one of the black listed books, Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle", and checked it out. I was very nearly EXPELLED. The Principal* and Librarian called my dad to explain why I would no longer be welcome at school because I had "Checked a book out of the Library"..they caught him on one of his more MOODY days and in one of the few times he acted like he had my back, he drunkenly and obscenely began to lambast them on "WHAT THE HELL IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO IN A LIBRARY?" Perhaps they should have lead with how dangerous those ideas were to my 16YO mind before they said "Scott is being expelled for checking a book out of the library". :-) *Principal. One day I will relay the story of the D&D Letter that promised I would end up Worshiping the Devil, On Drugs, Be Imprisoned, and Die by Suicide. Yeah, they think that way in Kentucky. Glad I left.

[@aceofspadess4945]

I grew up in Iowa, and I am so happy that I had access to any and all of these books in my school library. The first amendment should be protected at all costs.

[@spartacusjonesmusic]

Well said!

[@hectorsmommy1717]

I assume not Vinton. They recently went through 3 library directors and decided to close the library. The reason? They didn't carry more positive books about TFG and supposedly the librarians were pushing an LGBTQ agenda.

[@pakde8002]

Oddly enough the same people who ardently defend the second amendment are more than willing to trample the first.

[@Berengier817]

The definition of irony? Banning Fahrenheit 451

[@russelllomando8460]

FYI....It's called F 451 because that's the temperature at which books burn.

[@suzannecooke2055]

Yeah. One of the things I learned from that book was that I could re-heat pizza in its box as long as I kept the temp under 451

[@Damoinion]

Fahrenheit 451 was one of the first true sci-fi books I read after discovering the genre when I was about 9 or 10 years old. (Early 1970's). I had read a lot of old pulp sci-fi prior to it, mostly in the form of the old double-sided books. Reading this helped me to feel free to read anything I wanted to, no matter what. Because of where we lived, we used a postal library system, so we had to send requests for titles in with our returns. The library service questioned my requests several times until my mother sent a written approval for anything I requested even when she was not totally comfortable with my current series of curiosity. Yes, I gave myself some nightmares but I also learnt things that would normally have never been obvious. Censorship is for those who are scared of other people's intelligence.

[@skwervin1]

Like you, I fell in love with this genre when my father gave me my first sci fi book at age 9 - R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury because I was bored with the YA section in our local library. I had read Catch 22, To Kill a Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse 5, Fahrenheit 451, and many similar before I started high school. My parents encouraged me to read widely, and truth be told I had been reading long before I started school and freaked my school librarian out when at age 7 I was checking out history and mythology books from the non-fiction section - the teachers type books not the pretty picture ones!! Living in Australia, pretty much all of those books mentioned were in my school library and I even studied most of them. It's rare now for books to be banned here, if they are it is usually a copyright issue or some sort of fraudulent behavior that causes it, but there was a time in the late 30's when the "wowsers" would ban books such as Lady Chatterley's Lover because of their salacious content.

[@danielreuben1058]

This is a list of books everyone should read. When you ban a book, you're saying, "I know better than you do about what's acceptable in..." Which most of these books specifically question in one way or another.

[@BrianHartman]

I'm sort of impressed that people made sense of Ulysses enough to want it banned in the first place.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

If you read it Ulysses is no worse than 'Fear and Loathing ...', and both are classics

[@suzannecooke2055]

I LOVE your comment♥♥

[@dawnculver1503]

I tried to read it unsuccessfully!

[@nbenefiel]

I found Ulysses a difficult read. I read it while living in Dublin, which helped. My great grandfather smuggled a first edition from Paris in the 1920’s. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive. It was one of a couple of hundred signed by Joyce.

[@Damoinion]

Got to love how a nation, based, (purportedly), on religious freedom and equality, bans books for being "anti-christian" but never for being anti any other mythos.

[@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis]

You ever tried to find a copy of 'Mein Kampf' in the us?

[@DanaTheInsane]

Depends what part of the country you live in

[@DanaTheInsane]

@@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis you have to avoid the balderized one the US government released in World War II. It played down Hitlers Christianity considerably.

[@jacquelynsmith2351]

One of my friends got me some of my favorite socks: one foot has a bunch of banned-book titles, and the other foot has those titles crossed out. To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, etc. Just need to look at my feet if I need another book to read.

[@joshuahunt3032]

“Catcher in the Rye” was challenged for so long, many in my generation (border between millennials and Gen Z) ultimately decided that Holden came off as a bit of a whiner, and now the themes of the book seem a bit poorly-carried lol

[@derekfnord]

I'm a Gen X'er, and that was exactly my reaction to it, too. I couldn't even get all the way through it because Holden annoyed me so much... 🤣

[@joshuahunt3032]

@@derekfnord As a 24-year-old at the time of writing, reading that book was one of many incomplete assignments of mine in high school (partly due to a then-undiagnosed general anxiety disorder correlated with high-functioning autism [I knew about the autism since I was 4, just not the anxiety]) lol

[@christineparis5607]

I didn't like the book, honestly. There were so many other books that put it in the shade, it just didn't do anything for me.

[@diyeana]

Lol I'm Gen X and hated that book as an assignment in High School. Holden was so annoying and a whiner. I read it again a few years ago and have the same opinion of Holden but think the book is decent overall. Maybe I was in a forgiving mood that week. Lol

[@The_Notorious_N.O.E.]

I'm also borderline Genx/millennial and I remember having to read Catcher back in high school but I didn't enjoy it. In hindsight i think the teacher didn't give it proper context and Holden did come off as whiny. Once I read it again as an adult, having learned more about it's context in themes and history, and also having a better perspective as an adult looking back at my own adolescence I was better able to appreciate it. Yes, we were all whiny teens at some point in our lives, even if we didn't realize it at the time.

[@CRMcGee2]

My high-school English teacher recommended reading banned books, she was awesome and inspiring.

[@TwentyNinerR]

Before 2010, the Indonesian Attorney General once had the authority to ban books; the last books to be banned at this point were about the September 30th Movement and the oppression in West Papua. In late 2010, the Indonesian Constitutional Court issued a verdict that revokes such authority, citing that book banning, if absolutely needed, should be done through a court verdict and that the author of such books must undergo the due process of law.

[@pakde8002]

And censorship still happens. Screenings of he movie "Senyap" not possible at theaters and private screenings at universities have been disrupted. Discussion of writings about 1965/1966 were prohibited at a writer's festival in Ubud, Bali a few years ago.

[@canaan5337]

If I wrote a book that got banned I think I would put it on the Internet so people can read it for free even if it was removed from the library at your school.

[@Momcat_maggiefelinefan]

I’ve read most of the banned books in this episode. Can’t say I’m any worse for having done so. University grad, 25+ year career in health care. Studied Catcher in The Rye, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, 1984, Animal Farm etc, mostly as required reading in high school. My 10 year old grandson is on book 2 of the Hunger Games, discussing each chapter with his mom, my daughter. (Kid’s been reading since age 3.) Controversial books encourage individual thought, present an alternative to societal norms, enlighten and educate the reader, but they do not suggest the violence nor disobedience to law for which they are banned. Banning books, movies, intellectual thinking of all kinds, decreases one’s independence. As a mature person, one should be given the right to read, watch, purchase controversial materials whether their rulers agree or not. That would be censorship on a grand scale.

[@iansmith1965]

I remember I read George Orwell's "1984", on the day of the first line of the novel..."It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen" on April the 4th 1984!

[@geraldmartin7703]

Our favorite book for story time when I was in first grade was Little Black Sambo. We demanded the teacher read and show the picture book to us so often she finally got sick of it and refused to read it to us any further. Of course this was 1955 and Austin, Texas and I don't know if the book was ever outright banned. I learned my love of pancakes from it; but that's all.

[@suzannecooke2055]

Yeah, pancakes with lots of butter!

[@christinak1053]

My Grandma lived in Strongsville, Ohio. I remember her talking about the book and how profoundly beautiful and sad Catch-22 was.

[@CaptainMarvelsSon]

Sexual content all over television, violence in the most popular video games... but BOOKS?! That sort material is unacceptable!

[@danielbigham6290]

"Alive", the true story of the Andes plane crash. Graphic description of cannibalism was the reason cited by parents. Half of my fellow students stayed home during that week. While horrific, I enjoyed the story of survival under the worst of circumstances.

[@labhrais6957]

It makes me giggle that people used the three finger salute from Hunger Games. And it obviously offended government so, it actually worked. I love it.

[@dawnculver1503]

Whenever my husband says something to me he knows I’ll disagree with, humorously, I give him the 3 finger salute telling him to read between the lines. I’ve done this for years

[@laurieforsythe6855]

Slaughterhouse 5, one of my all time favorite books. So it goes.

[@jeremyborder6794]

Instead of banning books, the cops should actually address those issues & fixing them

[@ttaylorboi]

Burning a book is the political equivalent of a child throwing a futile tantrum. Its a flagrant display of one party's immaturity in the face of opposition to their childish narrative.

[@sandrataylor2323]

LOL...back in the 70's Donna Summer's song Love to Love You Baby was banned from being played on the town's local radio station. The parents said it was too suggestive. We kid's though bought the 45 and played it on our record player at home.

[@omegatired]

Apparently, none of these people who desire to control what we read has ever figured out that the more we try to make it go away, the more likely we are to encourage people to go out of their way to find and read the book ...

[@pakde8002]

Most of these book burning protests are performative theatrics led by a local demagogue aka hypocrite.

[@omegatired]

@@pakde8002 Followed by a bunch of people who have completely forgotten what it's like to think for themselves, because it's easier that way.

[@tonystewart9105]

The destruction of printed work demonstrates a lack of faith in the destroyer's dogma. That's why power tolerates no challenge

[@Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

I will give this caveat-some books have been over-printed, and there aren’t the buyers anymore. Thrift stores DO NOT WANT books like Twilight and Fifty Shades since they already have far too many. It’s okay to destroy excess copies like that.

[@pakde8002]

Banning a book is the best way to get teenagers to read. As a teenager I read all of the listed books (except for Ulysses) published before 1978, the year I graduated high school.

[@tinaharnish]

I grew up reading whatever I wanted. Watched whatever I wanted on t.v. I asked my mother once how come we could read/watch whatever we wanted. My mother said that she didn't believe in censorship.

[@ricardoaguirre6126]

I grew up in Texas but in the blue county of El paso. I can consider myself fortunate that I didn't have to endure book bans. In my elementary school there was a Harry Potter club. In high school I got to read Night, To Kill a mocking bird and One flew over the cuckoos nest.

[@scottkrater2131]

Who knew New Jersey was so open. I went to High school in 1979 and Catcher in the Rye was required reading in AP English. In my Junior year we did Cuckoo's Nest, book and the uncensored film was shown in class. Don't know about today though.

[@ajparry1996]

I grew up down the road from Mechanicsburg, Pa. I am not surprised. Disappointed but not surprised.

[@Mach5Johnny]

My favorite banned books are 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Hunger Games, and The Anarchist Cookbook!

[@stephaniegraham5341]

It is sad to see books getting banned because society’s mind is not open to new ideas and the possibility of people being influenced/encouraged to think for themselves.

[@Foolish188]

I love quite a few of these books, especially Slaughter House Five. I would go along with banning Ulysses because it is inane and boring, almost as bad as the "Classic" Pilgrims Progress. You left out Huckleberry Finn, another wonderful book that idiots are always trying to ban.

[@eurodoc6343]

I read Ulyssses for pleasure... not that there was any pleasure in it. That book is a brutal slog to get through, especially the final chapter.

[@ryhol5417]

Seriously

[@NARushton]

The last chapter was the one I understood the most. By the time I got to it i was so desperate to finish that I speed read it, made more sense that way (purely by accident )😂😂

[@geraldmartin7703]

There is a hilarious mention of the book in Allan Sherman's early 1960s novelty song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah."

[@suzannecooke2055]

You have my undying respect. Anyone taking on that slog can do ANYTHING!

[@nbenefiel]

I slogged through Ulysses back in the 70’s when in grad school in Dublin. Living in Dublin helped. My great grandfather smuggled a copy signed by Joyce from Paris in the 1920’s. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive. It would be worth over a million today.

[@rjaymurphy]

the modern day equivalent of book burning is still happening continually. In the form of internet censorship

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

No book should ever be banned. To do so is an ultimate show of cowardice and ineptitude. I firmly believe that any who wish to burn books should climb onto the pyre they want to build and douse themselves in lighter fluid.

[@dangerkayutak2032]

I have read most of these books. The Hate You Give is on my TBR list.

[@aceundead4750]

When i think book bans i think of Galileo being censored by the Vatican

[@MariaAbrams]

Dude, I went to high school in the 90s, we read animal farm, lord of the flies,taste of salt, grapes of wrath, to kill a mockingbird...those books ALL have curse words and/or racist words and phrases. I didn't think we were still doing this...I thought they stopped in the 80s or something, but to see this being done in the 2000s, and in California surprises me! They're just books, people!! We watchword things on TV and in the news every day. Wtf?!?

[@phillipkennedy508]

I read Catch22 back in '71or2. No punches pulled. Great book that opened my eyes a bit further at the time. Appropriately titled .

[@pakde8002]

Same here.

[@amb163]

As an author, it is the greatest praise and privilege to have your book (or books) banned -- just means more people will want to read it ;)

[@joanhoffman3702]

If you don’t want to read a book, fine. However, you have no right to tell me what I can or cannot read/watch/listen to. That is censorship, and that’s one ship I will not sail on.

[@eviljoshy3402]

I remembering reading Bridge to Terabithia and Fahrenheit 451 in middle school. Course I'm 37 and I went to school in a small town. I guess our board of education were more level headed than today.

[@_Ben___]

Catch 22, banned if you do, banned if you don't.

[@allthingsconsideredaa]

I love when the American conservative Republicans mention 1984 and don't get the irony.

[@E.HondaSF]

Same people get mad at Rage Against the Machine lol

[@ArmenianBishop]

I agree: the irony wasn't lost, with the reelection of Reagan, for a 2nd Term, that very year (in 1984).

[@ashkitt7719]

George Orwell was an anti-communist snitch so meh, 1984 is over.

[@theg.c.142]

Farenheit 451 is probably in my top 5 favorite reads. Reminds me of how the Democrats/Republican Biden Administration is acting right now, to the T. I want a Desantis/Gabbard 8 year stint. I'd even go with a 4 year run of each at the helm. This tribal division we're seeing right now needs to stop. On both sides. Folks need to stop watching fox news, MSNBC, cnn, oan, ect......America's 1st step to recovery. ✌🏼

[@ashkitt7719]

@Gerald H I dunno I'm just so burned by folks saying that helping marginalized people in any way is Literally 1984 that I am like "Maybe Airstrip One isn't so bad" I also think that Orwell's depiction of the Prole class in 1984 is bougie AF (not unlike that of Idiocracy) and implies that when left to their own devices the Masses are just stupid and evil. Winston Smith is a member of the "Outer Party" which is like the petit bourgeoisie and I think it's clear as to why Orwell chose to make it from his perspective rather than that of someone from the Prole class.

[@BabyMakR]

For a county with an amendment to the constitution that specifically prevents banning things, the USA sure has a hell of a lot of books that are banned. Makes one wonder, if they can chose to ignore that amendment, why can't they chose to ignore the 2nd?

[@mischadickerhof5375]

Another immense classic, Walt Whitman's «Leaves of Grass» is permanently mentionned as beiing obscene. One of the last times during the Levinsky - Clinton hearings, as he had offered her a copy.

[@rake.]

Banning books only brings them more notoriety. Stiestand effect. It's best to not ban, let them stand on merit.

[@darkermatter125.35]

In our very tiny christian school all of the books were donated, I believe. I'm not sure who donated, but someone who was not in line with the school's line of thought donated Farenheit 451. It was marked as for 8th graders only. I don't think anyone there ever read it, but just the description on the back. Because I read SO many books in school I was running out, I was able to get it before 8th grade. It blew my VERY sheltered, brainwashed mind. I should reread it sometime.

[@maxdevlin4349]

No book should be banned, but some should be age restricted.

[@diyeana]

Haha ya, I don't think a 10 y/o should be reading Laurell K Hamilton, but at the same time, that's up to the parents of that child to decide.

[@maxdevlin4349]

@@diyeana Just hope the parents have a decent moral compass.

[@maxdevlin4349]

@Edward Elizabeth Hitler My dad would bring me stacks of racy pulp spy novels when I was 10, pretty sure he knew I was getting a bit of an "education"

[@ashkitt7719]

@@diyeana Also The Turner Diaries and To Train Up a Child should definitely be banned.

[@Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

@@ashkitt7719 To Train Up a Child is literally nothing but a guild on how to abuse children and conceal it. As it perpetrated and instructs on how to cause harm, this is a rare example of something that shouldn’t be protected speech. It’s not fiction.

[@pamsharpe60]

I’ve read the majority of these books, some of them as set books at University in the 1970s. I really do believe that there are always going to be people who are offended by anything at all. In the 1960s there was a poster that read “Ban It”. No subject, or why, which neatly sums up the mentality of a lot of these folk. Get a life, people, these books will still be around when you’re long gone.

[@johnsnyder1835]

A book worth banning is a book worth reading.

[@Caterfree10]

Much as I love using banned books lists for reading recommendations, I'm also alarmed at how much they've increased in recent years. I literally bought Gender Qu33r (censored here bc youtube hates me reclaiming my own damn slur) bc I feared what the lawsuit calling it CSEM would do, even if I don't live in that state. (And let me just say, the authorities can pry Gender Qu33r from my cold, dead hands; I have never seen such a reflection of my own gender feelings in any book before ever. I wish I could've read it in high school.)

[@lostbutfreesoul]

I figured out how to bring around Nineteen Eighty-Four : Allow the population to prosecute directly, with pay outs should they win their cases. All those camera's will be put up and turned on neighbors overnight, so they can find something to prosecute you with!

[@beagleissleeping5359]

The song "Hello, Mudda, Hello Fadda" which is supposed to be an unhappy letter from a boy in summer camp has a lyric that goes, "And the head coach wants no sissies, so he reads to us from something called Ulysses." Until seeing this video I never understood why the audience in the song laughed.🤪

[@neilmackay5655]

That line and that song pop into my head any time the book is mentioned. My mother thought the song hilarious.

[@bryancorrell3689]

I remember reading 'Catcher in the Rye' in college and thinking "So what was all the fuss about?"

[@johnlarson111]

banning a book makes me want to read them.

[@erictaylor5462]

Anyone who believes the 1984 is pro-Communist has not actually read the book. I don't think you can get any more anti-Communist unless you are talking about Animal Farm.

[@eetadakimasu]

Most of these books were in our AP English class in Highschool, I'm from Oklahoma, but we broke up into groups so we didn't all read each book.

[@SevCaswell]

You'd think that in a country that worships the idea of free speach it would be illegal to ban a book...

[@Kriss_L]

The left in the US has been fighting against free speech for years.

[@SevCaswell]

@@Kriss_L Umm, then why is every book banning lawsuit filed by the religious right?

[@Kriss_L]

@@SevCaswell Books are just a small part of 'speech'. Look at the reaction of the left to anyone who says anything that they disagree with.

[@ashkitt7719]

@@SevCaswell Because the Religious Right knows how power works. Some books should be banned, books that advocate genocide and abuse of marginalized populations should absolutely be banned. Same with books written by right-wing authors such as Ayn Rand.

[@Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

It is CONSISTENTLY the conservative Christian right wing trying to ban books. Ideally, only their bible would be allowed.

[@cpcva724]

Fahrenheit 451 . I'm surprised it wasn't banned for the title. Celsius 232 instead. At least in Europe.

[@johnbockman6078]

"Maus effect" is the inadvertent popularization of a book by banning it. When a book is banned, it's publicized as off limits to students--but it's still available at book stores that don't give a hoot about what has or has not been banned. And so sales for that book invariably go up, which can be prevented by not banning it in the first place.

[@ablemagawitch]

Amazing how book store employees back when we had them) would actually recommend the banned and restricted books to kids their own age.

[@kevinrwhooley9439]

Really weird. Just a few minutes ago I read an article on the first book in 2 decades to be banned in Ireland titled "The R*ped Little Runaway".

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Lookin sharp Simon! Miami vice vibes😁

[@jeffduncan9140]

Ha! He is kinda dressed like Sonny. 😆😆

[@toddnolastname4485]

You're talking about books being banned from public school libraries, or even from being included in mandatory curriculum. I'm pretty sure very few of these people are trying to ban the books outright. They just don't believe their kids should be forced to read these books. Or should have access to these books before a certain age (in some cases, that age is 18).

[@taliaryn3699]

I remember reading Bridge to Terabithia in school. I enjoyed it Canada, grade 7 or 8

[@anikajain571]

Makes me want to read them all and have them all mandated as educational reading worldwide.

[@trevormillar1576]

When you say"banned", do you mean that all possession of the book is illegal, resulting in the proverbial "midnight knock on the door", or just from school curriculums and libraries? There's a world of difference.

[@bluebelle8823]

He uses the word challenged most frequently and I know most of these are only removed from circulation in US collections (even then its town to town). As far as I know only one maybe two of these books are banned in the context you are using anywhere.

[@jainey]

There's no surer way of having teens read a book, than banning it

[@abracacursedcosplay8366]

The only book I believe should be banned is 13 Reasons Why as it has broken nearly all guidelines the avoid copycat suicides and as a suicidal 14 year old I was forced to read it as required reading for English class. Schools should be careful about mental health and making that book required reading is awful to me. The amount of suicidal teens these days is a severe problem.

[@davidbroughall3782]

Books get quietly banned from libraries all the time simply by those in charge refusing to add them to the collection. Where I work, the person in charge of library collections refused to order a book I had requested be added to the collection. He was backed up by senior management. This happened right around the time that all staff went through mandatory training on intellectual freedom, which we list in our strategic plan as our #1 corporate value.

[@subrosa7mm]

My teacher read Bridge To Terebithia to my class when I was in 4th-5th grade. My class enjoyed that book. Oh lord! Really people?

[@birdie2010]

The movie Fahrenheit 451 comes to mind

[@dragonmaster613]

There is an edition of that book that literally begs you to burn it, with match included.

[@AltonV]

I have read both 1984 and slaughterhouse 5 and they are probably top 2 of the book that I've read. Slaughterhouse 5 was a reading assignment from my teacher (at around age 14-15), and I would probably never have read it otherwise.

[@RottenRogerDM]

Slaughterhouse and Ulysses are boring. 1984 and 451 we read parts from in class.

[@paulmeredith2037]

A Jewish author once said where one burns books one will eventually burn people this quote comes from the excellent TV series the world at war.

[@joelb8653]

I'm not sure anything has been banned more than "Johnny got his gun" a truly brutal read but amazing nonetheless.

[@Damoinion]

Yet, like many of these, a movie was made from it, (also to banned in places). I wonder if any of those censors recognise the song "One" by Metallica?

[@aceofkpop1243]

My only issue with "Catch 22" was that it made zero sense, which was worsened by the fact that none of the chapters were in chronological order. I remember my entire AP English class getting a massive piece of paper from the art room and everyone trying to put events and chapters in the right place on a time-line lol

[@darubicon1501]

As an American, how could I have any idea about which books are worth reading if they were never banned?

[@sheilarough236]

When I was in the 11th grade, I did a book report on The Catcher in the Rye. I believe I got an A on it

[@Tripskiii]

youre literally reading off my highschool reading books for english...