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I Read Banned Books

Sep 30, 2009
By Ken.
Effluvia

banned books

This is Banned Books Week, a defiant celebration of reading and of books that various asshats have tried to exclude from public libraries. In celebrating Banned Books Week, it is essential to heed Pogo’s warning: we have met the enemy, and he is us. These are not books that some government bureaucrat decided you, or your children, should not read. These are books that your neighbors decided that you, or your children, should not read — at least not in a public library. When such challenges to books have succeeded, it has been because of public indifference; when they have failed, it has been because people have stood up and told Mrs. Grundy to fuck off.

So go read a banned or challenged book, or get your kids to read one.

If this issue concerns you, get involved. Otherwise one day you might take your kids to your local public library and find that the selection has been dictated by the sort of slack-jawed morons who think that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is racist, or who think that 1984 promotes communism.

[Careful celebrants will also examine the supporting materials and note that on some occasions citizens tried to get books removed from libraries, and on other occasions they simply challenged their suitability for particular grade levels. The fact that some of the supporters of Banned Book Week tend to conflate these very different categories is less honest than we might hope.]

Last 5 posts by Ken

19 Comments
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19 Comments

  1. Mark Thompson  •  Sep 30, 2009 @9:40 am

    Do pre-1984 children’s books count as being banned for purposes of Banned Book Week? I think they should.

  2. Randall  •  Sep 30, 2009 @10:09 am

    There was a big kerfuffle about Harry Potter here where I live (deep in the Bible belt) – so I will celebrate by finally reading the last two book in that series.

  3. matt  •  Sep 30, 2009 @11:46 am

    long live holden caulfield!!

  4. Jdog  •  Sep 30, 2009 @11:59 am

    It is a matter of great personal and professional shame to me that none of my books have ever made a banned list, far as I know. (I think, alas, that it’s also cost me some sales — getting on a major banned list is kind of like being in Hollywood and making Nixon’s enemies list, back in the day.)

  5. Chris  •  Sep 30, 2009 @12:00 pm

    My father was a middle school principal (4-7 or so) who would occasionally have to deal with nonsense like this, and was once involved in the least successful book banning attempt I’ve ever heard of.

    When the Harry Potter craze was just getting started (book 1 or 2), a parent came to him concerned over the witchcraft and awfulness in the Harry Potter books. So my dad read it. And liked it. And thought “hey, these books actually have pretty good role models for kids – they do their homework, respect their teachers, etc.”. So he told the complaining parent to pound sand, and when they needed a theme for the 6th grade interdisciplinary project, well, he got out the sorting hat.

  6. CEJ  •  Sep 30, 2009 @1:25 pm

    For a twist on Abbie Hoffman leave a banned book on the stacks at the local public library.

  7. Ken  •  Sep 30, 2009 @1:56 pm
    It is a matter of great personal and professional shame to me that none of my books have ever made a banned list, far as I know. (I think, alas, that it’s also cost me some sales — getting on a major banned list is kind of like being in Hollywood and making Nixon’s enemies list, back in the day.)

    Jdog, your books, and discussion of them, are now all officially banned from Popehat for — uh — “promoting gun culture, in contravention of President Obama’s populist agenda.”

    [Send me my cut via paypal]

  8. Jdog  •  Sep 30, 2009 @2:34 pm

    Well, I guess that counts; thanks. But I was kinda hoping for the Catholic League, the Moral Majority, or the Brady Center.

    Sheesh. I was kind of hoping I’d get one of those for my only purely original (at least, I don’t think anybody else stumbled on it before I did) innovation in fantasy fiction: dwarves don’t float.

  9. Ken  •  Sep 30, 2009 @2:54 pm

    I’m a big dummy. I never made the connection before that you’re that Joel. I ate up Guardians of the Flame back in the day. Very cool.

    Is your stuff Kindle-available these days?

  10. Jdog  •  Sep 30, 2009 @3:55 pm

    As to the second: I honestly don’t know; I make it a point to not keep up with the subrights stuff, as that way lies madness.

    As to the first: :) And I’m not at all surprised that mention of my minor innovation sparked you making the connection, so :) , again. Yup; that’s me: Joel “How do you make a dwarf float? One dwarf, two scoops of ice cream, then fill the glass with rootbeer” Rosenberg.

  11. Ezra  •  Sep 30, 2009 @5:05 pm

    Wait, you are that Joel Rosenberg? Man, I’m right there with Ken about the Guardian of the Flames books. After the Videssos books, your series was my favorite back in the day. Of course, you’re still wrong about Truman. Heh.

  12. Jdog  •  Sep 30, 2009 @5:37 pm

    Well, somebody has to be me; I just drew the short straw.

  13. BP  •  Sep 30, 2009 @6:21 pm

    I’ll further derail the comments to step forward as a regular Popehat reader and commenter who loved the Guardians of the Flame series. I read it back when they first came out in paperback and then again just a few years ago, and introduced my wife to fantasy fiction via your series. She loved it too. Thank you.

  14. SPQR  •  Sep 30, 2009 @8:00 pm

    Its the issue that you identify in your last paragraph that has kept me from supporting these efforts.

  15. Mark  •  Oct 1, 2009 @12:32 am

    Well, I’ve been banned from the public library since St. Patrick’s Day ’04, but that was all a big misunderstanding.

  16. Jdog  •  Oct 1, 2009 @4:33 am

    BP — thank you very much.

  17. Travis  •  Oct 1, 2009 @5:37 am

    Great timing, I just cracked open The Satanic Bible the other day.

    (It’s okay. Much of it is stupid, much of it reminds me of Ayn Rand. In any case, I’m finishing it.)

  18. Tsiroth  •  Oct 1, 2009 @8:01 am

    Jdog: I’m another fan. I really enjoyed the Guardians of the Flame books.

    SPQR: I agree with you. I don’t care for the dishonesty of their “marketing.”

  19. Ezra  •  Oct 1, 2009 @8:56 am

    Travis, I often have trouble discerning between stupid & Ayn Rand…

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