It’s that time again: Banned Books Week.

Here – in no particular order – are a score of the banned books I’ve read and written about on this blog over the past seven years.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

As is customary around this house at the end of each month, I checked to see if the book had ever been banned. It makes sense that the Italian fascist state wasn’t crazy about it. But parts of the U.S. and Ireland have banned it as well.

My favorite tidbit about censorship and this book: Hemingway’s editor dashed out what the publisher deemed to be inappropriate language (for example: s – – -), most often used by the soldiers. So the author, no doubt cursing all the while, grabbed a stack of First Editions and hand-wrote the missing letters to restore the original text. He sent one of those editions to Irish writer James Joyce.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Madeleine L’Engle won the Newbery Medal in 1963 for her seminal story of courage, strength, and determination.

Three decades later, though, Wrinkle was suddenly proclaimed both too religious and not religious enough. (This story about her friendship with Mom includes Madeleine’s reaction to the sudden uproar.)

It was the 23rd most banned or frequently-challenged book during the 1990s, according to the American Library Association.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Of course, this is on some banned-books lists. One reason given is because it mentions Huck and Jim took off their clothes to bathe in the river.

Another reason it was banned early on was for using the word “sweat” instead of “perspiration.

Oh, brother.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Eight years ago, youngest son James entered college to study engineering and math. That first semester, he chose an elective that we still talk about – a literary class involving reading and discussing banned books.

One of his favorites from the list was The Kite Runner, which Gary and I read soon after. The Bluest Eye affected James deeply, too.

This was Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s first novel. She wanted there to be a book that spoke out for those who didn’t feel beautiful despite cries of “Black is beautiful” during the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. More than 50 years later, The Bluest Eye is still on the Top 10 Banned Books list.

All the more reason to read it and talk about it.

Candide by Voltaire

Another banned book – this one upon publication in 1759.

The author, Monsieur de Voltaire, used a pseudonym because he had already been locked up in the famous Bastille prison for his criticism of religion and politics. He wasn’t about to give up on his biting satire.

Candide’s story, as he all-too-slowly rises above the “best of all possible” teachings of his youth, is one well worth an evening’s read.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass’s narrative is stunning as he tells of growing up a slave. His writing style comes across as nothing but raw truth, without a hint of hyperbole. (Of course, a prison in Illinois disagrees, banning the book for being “divisive.”)

Douglass escaped to the North in 1838 and put his story in writing in 1845. Although it’s not a long book, I found it took multiple sittings, as the cruelty described is absolutely brutal.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

This harrowing war* novel takes place during World War I, and our storyteller, Paul, is a young German soldier who finds himself struggling to survive trench warfare.

*anti-war novel, actually

And guess who banned it? All Quiet on the Western Front was among the first “degenerate” books to be publically burned by the Nazis.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I first “met” Jane when I was 10 or so (1968) at a Catholic grade school.

Sacred Heart Elementary had just added a “library” (basically a converted broom closet, but still …).

There was one set of books available to 4-6 graders and another for 7-8 graders. I wanted to read Jane Eyre, but was told it was reserved for the older girls. Sister Mary Soandso told me to pick out a more age-appropriate book.

I asked about Jane each week – because no one ever checked it out! But no, I wasn’t old enough to read such a big book. Essentially, I was banned from reading “Jane Eyre.”

Eventually, my mom checked it out for me from the town library and I read it in a few days. This was at least my third time reading it and it’s still fascinating, horrifying, and wonderful.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Here’s yet another title I’d heard of countless times. Hadn’t read it, though, or even looked into the storyline.

What a surprise to learn that Vonnegut witnessed the firebombing of Dresden firsthand toward the end of World War Two. As much as he wanted to write about the horror, Vonnegut simply didn’t remember many specifics – nor did a fellow soldier he contacted years later.

And so Vonnegut wrote this anti-war novel. It is semi-autobiographical, mixed in with science fiction and a non-linear storyline. And guess what? It’s been banned from some school libraries. Of course, that just makes me want to read it again!

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Remember Gulliver?

Throughout his tale, Irish author Jonathan Swift leans on satire to criticize government and religion (so, of course, it was banned). He was quoted as saying he wrote this classic: “to vex the world rather than divert it.”

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Much of the controversy surrounding Animal Farm stemmed from its portrayal of “Animalism,” a clear allegory of Communism. In fact, George Orwell had a rough time finding a publisher, the concern being it would put England at odds with the Soviet Union during the final years of World War II.

Ultimately, the characters in this novella – although animals – are all too familiar.

Especially the pigs.

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

This semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. The title finally makes sense at the very end.

And yes, this book has been banned. Seems some city folk don’t like calling a female dog a bitch.

Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman

My blood boils thinking how school board members objected to “unnecessary use of profanity and nudity” in the books. How about the unnecessary use of profanity and nudity at the death camps? The shallowness of their decision is criminal.

Something tells me the school board members didn’t bother to read Maus, but yielded to a constituent who clutched her pearls at the sight of mice marching naked to their deaths.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

While reading this in high school, at the height of “Big Brother is watching” horror I did the math. The year was 1976 and the book was based on George Orwell’s dystopian vision for “the future,” which was just eight years away, by my calculations. He published Nineteen Eighty-Four – his final work – in 1949, just a few years after the horror of World War II. Rather than demanding this book be banned, we should all dust off our copies and give them another look.

It is all too familiar.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

This is one of the top banned books in America.

Did I feel uncomfortable reading it? You bet.

Every single person who reads The Color Purple should be very uncomfortable. Celie tells us her story by writing letters, first to God and later to her sister Nettie, from whom she’s been separated for decades.

Celie’s story, set in the early 1900s in Georgia, includes racism, poverty, incest, and rape. It also includes friendship, love, and redemption. It is a story that should be shared, not shunned.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Steinbeck faced censorship …

… for language, racial stereotypes, and even being “anti-business.” It’s interesting to research the reasons given for book-banning ahead of time and then watch for them while reading. They often “go awry.”

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

My favorite moment, in both the book and the movie, is when Scout innocently breaks up what could have been a lynching. She scans the crowd of angry men until she recognizes a classmate’s father:

Hey Mr. Cunningham … don’t you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter; he’s a nice boy. 

Shamefully, this is still one of the most banned books in American schools.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

If you’re not already planning to read The Picture of Dorian Gray, would it help to tell you the book was censored and even banned for many years?

Wilde, only too aware of Victorian sensibilities regarding Dorian’s hedonistic lifestyle, steered the ageless lad’s homoerotic experiences into dark shadows.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns has been “challenged” by one of those banned books groups because of acts of brutality shown against women. But that’s the whole point! Students need to be shocked by what was (is) considered acceptable behavior toward women in Afghanistan and other lands.

It’s an oversimplification to say it’s the female version of The Kite Runner, but this second story is every bit as important as the first.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In the 1960s, the book about censorship was itself censored so that a squeaky-clean version could be read in high school literature classes.

In a case of extreme irony, this version (without curse words or mention of smoking, drugs, or marital relations) was then used as the mainstream rendition for decades. Eventually, a Missouri high school class compared their modern version with the teacher’s early copy and notified the author, who saw to it that the original novel was the only version printed from 1979 onward.

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