Time: Top 10 Banned Books

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katiemac

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I didn't realize Candide was controversial enough to be in the top ten. I find the list pretty interesting--I've read seven out of ten, all in high school. Five of them were required reading, the sixth (Lolita) I chose for my senior thesis and the seventh was Harry Potter, which I just read on my own.

When the high school librarian saw me reading Lolita ... holy crap, she railed into me.
 

benbradley

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For "1984" the reviewer seems to mistakenly think Obama's anti-Hillary commercial was based solely on the book:
The book spawned terms like "Big Brother" and "Orwellian" and continues to appear in pop culture — most recently as the inspiration for a political YouTube hit.
It was of course based on Apple Computer's first Macintosh ad, played during the 1984 Super Bowl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

EVERY scene is very similar, and several scenes appear to have identical footage. The Obama ad isn't based on the book at all, it's based exclusively on the earlier ad (which was then of course based on the book). This ad wouldn't exist without the earlier ad.

Looking through the whole list, as best as I can remember, 1984 is the only one I've read all the way through.

Perhaps one that should get a "dishonorable mention" ;) is "The Jewel of Medina," which had its publication canceled by Random House just weeks before its publication date:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_of_Medina
 

Momento Mori

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benbradley:
Perhaps one that should get a "dishonorable mention" is "The Jewel of Medina," which had its publication canceled by Random House just weeks before its publication date:

Ah yes, that's the book that allegedly resulted in the UK publisher getting a firebomb delivered to their house by some nutter who thinks that God is too fragile to cope with a work of fiction and needs a pathetic loser to do His smiting for Him.

There was an interesting opinion piece in The Times a couple of days ago about how The Satanic Verses ultimately represented a victory for those who'd campaigned to get it banned because although they failed to stop Rushdie's book being published, they've helped to encourage self-censoring among publishers who jump to conclusions about what might be viewed as Islamophobic.

MM
 

HeronW

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Didn't read Catcher in the Rye because I don't care for boys and their baseballs, never heard of Anarchist's Cookbook, and the Satanic Verses bored me.

Dr Paingloss is fun though!
 

Sarita

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My favorite reaction to the list was Neil Gaiman's saying, "I guess I'm not trying hard enough!"

LOL. My kind of writer.
 

Phaeal

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Hey everybody! Let's burn some Neil Gaiman books! He'd love it. Probably show up to throw the first match.

Nothing like a good book-burning to boost sales. ;)
 

Sassee

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Candide -- haven't read it yet
Huck Finn -- We read this one in high school as part of the curriculum.
Brave New World -- Also read this one in high school as part of the curriculum.
1984 -- Yep, another one read in school.
The Catcher in the Rye -- I want to say I read this one, but I don't remember it. (I know what it's about I just don't remember the actual reading)
Lolita -- haven't read it yet
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Another one I'm pretty sure I read but no longer remember
The Anarchist Cookbook -- haven't read it, but it looks lolsome
The Satanic Verses -- haven't read it yet
Harry Potter -- okay, seriously... now it's getting ridiculous. (and yeah, I read the whole series)


This reminds me of the parents that like to ban Pokemon because they think it's evil or something. Annoying/different != evil
 

Higgins

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Candide -- haven't read it yet
Huck Finn -- We read this one in high school as part of the curriculum.
Brave New World -- Also read this one in high school as part of the curriculum.
1984 -- Yep, another one read in school.
The Catcher in the Rye -- I want to say I read this one, but I don't remember it. (I know what it's about I just don't remember the actual reading)
Lolita -- haven't read it yet
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Another one I'm pretty sure I read but no longer remember
The Anarchist Cookbook -- haven't read it, but it looks lolsome
The Satanic Verses -- haven't read it yet
Harry Potter -- okay, seriously... now it's getting ridiculous. (and yeah, I read the whole series)


This reminds me of the parents that like to ban Pokemon because they think it's evil or something. Annoying/different != evil

Whatever happened to Lady Chatterly's Lover?
 

BlueLucario

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I do have a bookmark that has a list of the books that have been banned through the ages.

If it's okay with you all, I could type up a list of them.

It really makes me mad to see people make a big deal out of a little book. Harry potter for example, kids love that book. I did when I was in school. The book was so popular back in the day, that everyone had a harry potter book during Silent reading class, and no one would shut up about harry Potter. In the day, anyone caught without a harry potter book was considered 'weird'. (I know it sounds ridiculous, but really.) THat's how I got into HP, because everyone else was into it and I thought it was my ticket to fitting in. :(

I don' get it. If people don't like this certain book then don't read it. They shouldn't ruin it for everyone else.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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Didn't read Catcher in the Rye because I don't care for boys and their baseballs...
You must be thinking of Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker.

I'm surprised Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller wasn't on that list. It was banned in the United States until the 60s. I'd have picked that over Harry Potter.
 

CaroGirl

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The pen is mightier than the sword. I've read all but Lolita and Candide (and must admit, I didn't finish Satanic Verses due to boredom). I gotta get me some Lolita and Candide, obviously.

BTW, I love the term "back in the day" when referencing the Harry Potter craze. I just do.
 

aka eraser

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I'm also surprised at no Henry Miller or William Burroughs.

(Tangent alert: That's the first time I've been to Time's site and will likely be the last. The short pages, requiring one to click umpteen times to slog through a short article, piss me off. Why would they do that? I'll tell you - so they can subliminally scorch our eyeballs with umpteen repetitions of their ads! Fie on them!)
 

Toothpaste

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I can't quite tell if people are mocking Harry Potter being on that list, or finding it super absurd that it was banned in the first place. It may seem funny to put HP on that list compared with the other literary works on the list, but think about it. It is arguably the biggest book that has ever happened, and also had a heck of a lot of controversy around it. People actually did HP book burnings. Maybe now that it is all over people don't remember all the fuss, but I do, and yes it was absurd that people wanted to burn/ban it, but I pretty much think it absurd to want to burn/ban any book.

Anyway, sorry, but I think HP is perfect for this list. It might not be some grand literary work, but it's faced just as much controversy as some of those other ones.
 

BlueLucario

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I'm curious Toothpaste, but why do you think that HP should be on the list?

IMO, book burnings are stupid. I don't know how Rowling feels about her books being burned. She didn't do anything wrong. Book burning are nothing more than wasting money, and making authors even more rich. And it also helps making the books sensational. (In my observations.) .
 

eveningstar

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Anyway, sorry, but I think HP is perfect for this list. It might not be some grand literary work, but it's faced just as much controversy as some of those other ones.

I agree.

My mother is an elementary school librarian and had a student return the first Harry Potter after checking it out. He'd brought it home and his mother had told him he wasn't allowed to read it because his family was Christian.

And I had thought the anti-witch stuff in Massachusetts was passé.
 

CaroGirl

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I'm curious Toothpaste, but why do you think that HP should be on the list?
I'm not Toothpaste, heck, I don't even play her on tv, but I'll give an answer anyway. I'm like that.

Because it's one of the most popular books of all time and was widely banned by Christian groups. That's why.
 

BlueLucario

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I agree.

My mother is an elementary school librarian and had a student return the first Harry Potter after checking it out. He'd brought it home and his mother had told him he wasn't allowed to read it because his family was Christian.

And I had thought the anti-witch stuff in Massachusetts was passé.

Isn't that their problem? What about the kids who aren't christian? If a student wasn't allowed to check out these books, then what's the point of keeping them?

I say it's up to the schools to keep the banned books. I thought we're trying to separate church and state, banning Harry Potter is just allowing the church to interfere right?

(Back in school, there were several books that are more related to Witchcraft than Harry Potter. They had spells and rituals and moon phases on how to perform magick, and they tell you more about the craft. Look up Silver Ravenwolf, for those who aren't familiar with Paganism.)
 

virtue_summer

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The thing that bothers me the most about things like this? People banning books are like ninety-nine percent of the time banning books they've never read. It's like the Da Vinci Code. My grandmother told my mother and me not to read it, that it was evil. When asked how she would know this, if she'd read it herself, she said no she hadn't read it and didn't intend to but someone had told her it was evil and that was good enough for her. Seriously, it's ridiculous. Those people should learn to think for themselves. By the way, the top ten list includes five books I've read (okay, so I have a little catching up to do).
 

CaroGirl

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Because it teaches children about witchcraft.
I thought Blue was asking why it was on the list, not why it was banned.

Wasn't Winnie the Pooh banned at one point? I remember I attended a lecture by Timothy Findley about censorship and he spoke about banning the Pooh. I can't remember why it was banned, though. Anyone remember why?
 

DeadlyAccurate

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I've only read Candide (freakin' hilarious book, but I read it in a college lit class), Huck Finn (read it once for school and once on my own), and the HP books (read all seven), though I also have the Anarchist's Cookbook on my computer.
 
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