Tuesday Thingers, hosted at Wendi’s Book Corner: “Have Your Books Been Banned?”
This week, in honor of Banned Books Week (Sept. 26th – Oct. 3rd), our Thinger comes from Tina of Tutu’s Two Cents.LibraryThing has a library called BannedBooksLibrary that lists. . . you guessed it!. . . banned books. When you click on the library and look on the right-hand column in the first blue box, you will see how many books you share with BannedBooksLibrary.
Questions: Do you have any banned books in your Library? If so, how many? Do you remember having any strong reactions or feelings when reading these books? Were any of the books on the list particularly surprising to you?
My Answer:
Five of the books in my collection are in the BannedBooksLibrary account. Please note that these aren’t the only banned books I’ve ever read:
I’m really not surprised that any of these books have been challenged or banned, although I’m not sure why the other two books in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy aren’t on the list as well. Personally, I had the strongest reaction to The Handmaid’s Tale; it chills me, because I don’t think its scenario is entirely out of the realm of possibility.
BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report
The Last Bridge, by Teri Coyne
Next reviews scheduled:
The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway
Goldengrove: A Novel, by Francine Prose (10/15/09 TLC Book Tour)
Currently reading:
The Possibility of Everything, by Hope Edelman (ARC from publisher – September 2009 publication)
New to my LibraryThing “To Read” collection:
ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes Year 2, by Susan Helene Gottfried
New additions to the Wishlist*:
Whistlin Dixie in a Nor’easter, by Lisa Patton
After You, by Julie Buxbaum
BOOKMARKS: Reading-related Reading
“Bookmarks” isn’t the only bookish link roundup in town – have you checked out Chris‘ Friday Bookish Buzz at Book-a-rama, Carrie‘s Saturday links at Books and Movies, and Cathy‘s Weekly Link Round-up at Kittling: Books? (Sometimes we’ve picked up on a few of the same posts, but they always alert me to stuff I missed!)
New to the book-blogging community, or looking for new-to-you ways to connect with other book bloggers? Jackie has assembled an excellent “beginner’s guide” to joining in on all the fun! Semi-related: Becky explains the lure of reading challenges
Why are fewer books getting reviewed on Amazon.com?
Why Fahrenheit 451 is still relevant (and I’m glad my 10th-grader’s English class will read it this year)
Amanda is collecting the first Harry Potter book in translation – can you help her find a version she doesn’t have yet? Also: a kid who gets to choose what to read may be more eager to read in the first place. Somewhat related – what are your “book hooks”?
A writer critiques a “celebrity” novel, and wonders who publishers are serving; critiquing Schmindle the Kindle; spoiling The Lost Symbol (kind of)
He’s not a book blogger, but he is an avid reader: are any of the books on Chris‘ nightstand in your TBR stack too?
Do you have any interesting reading plans for the week ahead?
Welcome to your first Salon, Florinda! Great to have you with us!
Melissa – It's nice to be here! Even though what I'm starting out with isn't much different from what I was doing on Fridays and Saturdays, I think I'm going to like bringing it all together.
That is strange that only one of the "His Dark Materials" books is in the banned library.
Welcome to the Salon! Great post, lots of great links and the LTBannedBooksLibrary is fabulous.
Welcome to the Sunday Salon, Florinda! Congratulations on reaching your 1000th Post! That really is quite an accomplishment. I think I'm up to 700 something.
I had hoped to participate in this week's Tuesday Thingers but didn't get the chance. I was surprised by how few of my books matched books in the BannedBooksLibrary. I have quite a few books in my library that didn't match up that I thought would have.
Thank you for the links! I missed so much this past week. My computer stayed off more than I turned it on, I'm afraid. I hope to be around more this week.
I hope you have a great week, Florinda!
I didn't know about the LT banned books library. I have 8 (several overlap with yours):
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Kathy (Bermudaonion) – That puzzles me too. Are the other books less objectionable in some way – and if so, what way?
Gavin – Thanks for the welcome!
Wendy (Literary Feline) – I really thought I'd have more matches with the BannedBooksLibrary too. I was slightly disappointed by how few there were, to be honest :-).
I definitely hope you'll be able to be around more this week too!
Dawn – It looks like we have three in common, and you have a couple of others that I've read but don't have in my library.
I almost always learn something from Tuesday Thingers!
Thanks for letting people know about my HP collection. 🙂
Amanda – I think it's a very cool project. Wish I could help you out with more than just a blog mention :-).
Thanks for the link! 🙂
Carrie – Thanks for the links!
Well, I've purchased the Opposite of Love and hope I like it as much as After You. I'll let you know what I think.
I hope that your week is going well and that no HUGE BUGS make their way into your bedroom as they did mine!
Sher
Sheri (Menagerie) – The Opposite of Love has been on my wishlist for a little while. Since it's out in paperback now, I should probably just go ahead and pick up a copy.
No giant bugs in our bedroom, thank goodness (I read about yours – yikes!)…but I'm wondering if critters are in the walls. I keep hearing scratchy sounds. (Shudder)
Hey! I resemble one of those authors you mentioned.
Susan – Yes, you do! Go figure :-).