It’s Banned Books Week!

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You can read more about it here.

In the meantime, what’s on the ALA banned and challenged list that you’ve read and loved? The books on this list are books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century that have been the target of ban attempts.

  1. F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby.
  2. J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye.
  3. John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath.
  4. Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird.
  5. Alice Walker. The Color Purple.
  6. James Joyce. Ulysses.
  7. Toni Morrison. Beloved.
  8. William Golding. The Lord of the Flies.
  9. George Orwell. 1984.
  1. Vladmir Nabokov. Lolita.
  2. John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men.
  1. Joseph Heller. Catch-22.
  2. Aldous Huxley. Brave New World.
  3. George Orwell. Animal Farm.
  4. Ernest Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises.
  5. William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying.
  6. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms.
  1. Zora Neale Hurston. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
  2. Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man.
  3. Toni Morrison. Song of Solomon.
  4. Margaret Mitchell. Gone with the Wind.
  5. Richard Wright. Native Son.
  6. Ken Kesey. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
  7. Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse-Five.
  8. Ernest Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls.
  1. Jack London. The Call of the Wild.
  1. James Baldwin. Go Tell it on the Mountain.
  1. Robert Penn Warren. All the King’s Men.
  1. J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings.
  1. Upton Sinclair. The Jungle.
  1. D.H. Lawrence. Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
  2. Anthony Burgess. A Clockwork Orange.
  3. Kate Chopin. The Awakening.
  1. Truman Capote. In Cold Blood.
  1. Salman Rushdie. The Satanic Verses.
  1. William Styron. Sophie’s Choice.
  1. D.H. Lawrence. Sons and Lovers.
  1. Kurt Vonnegut. Cat’s Cradle.
  2. John Knowles. A Separate Peace.
  1. William S. Burroughs. Naked Lunch.
  2. Evelyn Waugh. Brideshead Revisited.
  3. D.H. Lawrence. Women in Love.
  1. Norman Mailer. The Naked and the Dead.
  1. Henry Miller. Tropic of Cancer.
  1. Theodore Dreiser. An American Tragedy.
  1. John Updike. Rabbit, Run.

8 thoughts on “It’s Banned Books Week!”

  1. Whenever I’m told what I can or can’t do, I’m inclined to get angry and do just the opposite. Forbidding someone to read these great literary books is an injustice to us all. Perhaps I need to recheck my bookshelves to make sure I have a complete set. They’re bound to become valuable collector’s items in no time. I suggest you do the same.

  2. I’m amazed that any books on this list could even be considered to be banned. Though I can understand the “reasoning” behind some, their places as classic literature and historic landmarks of various cultures and time periods are obvious.

    At first glance, I didn’t see Fahrenheit 451 on the list…but that might be a touch ironic here…

  3. I don’t see Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo on your list. A difficult read, sad and terrible, but beautiful in its anti-war theme.

  6. I still cannot understand why people still insist on banning books. It makes no sense! I suppose people can be intimidated by books such as Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings. Its a crying shame!

  8. I can’t believe they are still banning books. This isn’t World War II era Germany! I have read and enjoyed many of the books on this list. What floored me was “The Lord of the Rings” is on that list! I guess three epic movies made from those books doesn’t count for anything. 🙁 I suppose “The Hobbit” will be next.

    I wish I had the funds to buy a copy of these books before they disappear. :<

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