I love discussing banned books, especially because I think the banning of books is ridiculous, and that it's counter-productive. Banning a book is the best way to ensure that millions of people will read that book. Funny how most of the books that have been banned and/or challenged throughout history are now required reading in many high schools. The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbord, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and many, many more have been challenged, and yet they're books that most people know of.
I will never understand why people lobby to ban books. Many that are challenged are books that help us understand our society or the society of the past. Sure, there's racist terminology in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but people were racist back then. They used those kinds of words, and there's no use trying to change it. Is it that hard to face the truth?
As for my favorite banned books, I really loved Go Ask Alice, which has been frequently challenged for its graphic portrayals of drug use, and for its language. I've also noticed that in the recent years, Looking for Alaska has been challenged a lot by high schools because of the sex scenes, teenage drinking/smoking, and language. Both of these books are amazing and well written, and people just need to get over themselves.
As for my life outside of books, I wrote a 5-page paper this morning on minimal sleep. It's my punishment for procrastinating, I guess. I'm also heading to Gainesville next weekend to hang out with my aforementioned ex-boyfriend, Corey, and to see my friend Sarah and catch up, since I haven't seen her since our high school graduation. So I should have an interesting blog post in two weeks. I'm also moving into my apartment this weekend! (And by "moving in" I mean moving my clothes upstairs into my new bedroom)
Hope everyone's week is awesome!
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