Banned Books Week 2013

Today is the beginning of Banned Books Week, and I'm celebrating with a round up of posts I've written in the past about Banned Books. This spring, I did this series about banned books, which came in seven parts:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four 
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven

Just a few days ago, I wrote a post about the censorship of a book I particularly like.

Also, check out this fun interactive list of this year's most banned or challenged books. How many have you read? I've read 8 out of the 41 on the list. This list repersents the most banned books of all time. I've read 8 out of 44. Finally, this list is the most challenged books of the 1990's. I've read 28 out of 100 there.

Let me know how many of these commonly banned or challenged books you have read. It makes me so sad to see these lists, because some of my all time favorite books are quite high on many of these lists.

I believe that there will always be people who try to ban or censor books. But remember, knowledge is power. Books are so important. They keep us from becoming like the people of Fahrenheit 451 (a favorite, often challenged, book of mine): empty, and tied up constantly with the most trivial of matters. They did not care about life, because they saw no meaning in it. There was no point that they could see because they knew nothing but the small constraint they had created for themselves. Books give us the power to see beyond our own time and space. They allow us to travel the world, and through time. They help us find meaning.

I don't believe is forcing books on people, and if people do not wish to read these books, they should not read them. I don't, however, think it is at all appropriate for these people to tell me what I can and can not read. That is a decision for me to make.

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