Reading Banned Books

Do you enjoy a good book? I myself enjoy picking one up and actually read a little bit each day, most of my reading now days is on my kindle, and even though this is an excellent source to store and read your favorite books, not all books are available in this format, and those seem to be the ones you really want.

Bijoux over at Bytes From The Burbs did a post last week called Do Something Naughty: Read A Book click the link and give her post a read, she brought my attention to a serious subject.

Reading and Banning Books, how in the world did a title like To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee end up on a banned books list? This list states the reason “language, racial themes, it does "psychological damage to the positive integration process" and "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature," and it's "filthy, trashy novel,"

Other books on this list include, The Lord Of The Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Gone With The Wind, to name a few, I am just waiting for Fahrenheit 451 to end up on the list, Lord knows we should ban a book that tells the story of a man whose job is to burn books and the houses in which they are hidden, you know there can’t be a moral to this story, actually this is a good book too.

In my opinion all of these are great classics that we all should read, some of these we read in school, but they are worth reading again, reading is becoming a lost art and I am proud of my Daughter in Law for many things, but one is she has already introduced our Grandson to the library, and takes him there once a week.

How does someone get into a position that grants them the right to ban reading materials, I know we have to be aware of what our kids are exposed to in school, but at the same time shouldn’t we be aware of what is being hidden from them.

After seeing this list I did the only thing I could think of, I really wanted to show them all what I thought, I did a search and found myself a 1960 copyright hardcover edition of To Kill A Mockingbird and bought it, it arrived yesterday.

Now that I have it there is only one thing left to do, and that is to read it.

Some libraries sell books for fund raisers, I have picked up quite a few for three dollars a bag this way, and just before we went on vacation this year I broke down and bought the kindle edition of Gone With The Wind, while on vacation we stopped at a yard sale and the lady there gave me a bag of books she didn’t sell.

Look what was in the bottom.

Finding myself sitting in my recliner right in the middle of the crossfire between the Union and Confederate forces, stranded on a deserted island trying to feed myself, while at the same time fighting the forming society that is as frightening there as in real life, viewing a trial to save a man accused of something he would never do, and looking out the window hoping the firemen do not see that I am actually reading a book rather than watching TV.

If you want to read something that has been banned for violence, language, sexual content, racial slurs, alcohol abuse, prostitution, statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, the disabled, and using the Lord's name in vain, these are a few titles that will fill the bill.

And if you want to read a really classic novel, put aside the thoughts of those trying to hide our history by controlling what we read, look at this same list of books, because contrary to popular belief, they are actually classics.

Lose yourself in a good book, reach back and revisit some of the classics you once read, and pick up a copy of some you may have forgotten, putting a few of these banned books on your bookshelf just may end up being the only copy you can find when it comes time for your grandchild to read it.