We are indeed back again so soon! Alaina (That's What She Read) and I just couldn't resist coming together to read a book in honor of Banned Books Week. Yes, we are both well aware this week has long since passed but hey, we have lives outside of reading (unfortunately) and so better late than never I say!!
We did bounce around a few ideas for what our Banned Book should be. Of course, we prefer to stick to a book we both own (this makes not having to buy ANOTHER book easier on both of us) and we both haven't read. My memory might be a bit fuzzy here (and Alaina please correct me if I'm wrong) but some of the books we toyed with reading together were: Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, and even Dracula came up!
In the end I wanted to stay away from Catcher in the Rye since I remember barely getting through the first few pages more than a decade and a half ago! I think I may have thrown Catch-22 in there but in fact we didn't initially have that on our minds at the time of picking a book. We both knew we wanted a classic (ie old) book rather than a current one. I was instantly cool with that idea because nowadays ANYTHING that's published can end up on a banned list by some school in some state for no real good reason. But don't get me started on that!
Anyway, what did we go with? Glad you asked. Drum roll please...
I think this is a great choice to read for banned books week and not just because it's short and sweet coming in at under 300 pages! But it also echoes Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Agenda 21, and even The Handmaid's Tale, all wrapped up in a nice new package of a crazy and extremely overreaching government. Of course we all know what happens in these sort of books could and would NEVER happen, but sometimes you've gotta wonder... And might I add that I have read all of those. I've included links to my reviews except Animal Farm & 1984 which I read in my junior high school days.
So, yeah, this book has been on the banned books list in many schools throughout this great (and might I remind us all, FREE) nation because of it's highly conspiratorial views that government, when given too much power, can in fact be a not so good thing. Wouldn't want to wrongly influence the minds of the young and impressionable high school students right? I mean, I know at that age I couldn't think for myself yet nor could I make up my own mind about what's right and what's wrong! Let me stop before my mind explodes!
As I write this I am less than 100 pages away from finishing the book but this is a "pre-review" before my actual thoughts and opinions. And trust me when I tell you it will be very hard for me to remain objective and simply talk about the style of writing and storytelling as opposed to going into depth about the subject matter and idiotic reasoning behind banning this book or any other book just like it. To put it as mildly and as frankly as I possibly can, I'm insulted, and so should ever parent of any school institution or library that would ban this book who would doubt my child (or my) intelligence and ability to read this kind of book and not get "the wrong idea" about government and its usefulness or lack thereof.
Okay, rant over...for now...
What did you read for Banned Books week? If you didn't during the actual week as both Alaina and myself haven't either, what book have you read because you heard it was banned? Or perhaps a book you've read and later found out we added to the Banned Books list for whatever reason?
Do you think the idea of "Banned Books" is a good or bad one? Why?
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