My Favorite Banned Books

 

It's banned books week again.  So I thought I'd talk about 7 of my favorite banned books.  They are not my favorites because they are banned.  They are my favorites because I really enjoyed them.  Some of them have appeared on my annual "Best Books I Have Read This Year" list.  In my opinion, they are good books.  They tell a good story.  They have stuck with me.  They mean something to me and I think they mean something to others as well.  So here they are in no particular order (because that's just too hard to do):

1.      To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Okay, this is one of my all-time favorite books. It may very well be my favorite book.  I read it as a freshman in high school.  (Again I say thank you to Mrs. Y for having it as part of the curriculum.)It might have been the first book we read during the school year.  And nothing else I would read that year could even come close. (To this day nothing ever can)  At the time I knew nothing about it.  It blew me away.  It moved me.  (How could it not?)  I've read it multiple times.  (I've seen the movie multiple times too.)  It is worth a read and a re-read and...In her first and only novel (I'm not counting Go Set a Watchman which was released after her death.  I think of it as a lesson in how a so-so book can evolve into the most powerful novel with revision and editing), Harper Lee teaches, but never preaches with a story that never ages.  (Although the language is definitely of its time)

2.     The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas:  I was not and AM not the target reader for this book.  Then why did I read it?  Because it intrigued me. I'd heard about it and I wanted to give it a try, even if it was "young adult."  (I dislike labels.  Read what you want to read.  If you're a kid and you want to read something that's adult; go for it!  If you don't understand it all who care?  If you're an adult, why shouldn't you read books that are for a younger audience?  As I wrote in 2015 one of my favorite books, [which has not been banned as far as I know] is No Matter What which is a child's book that I read to my son many times.  It will always stay with me.)  As I wrote shortly after I read it:  Why should a 50+ whiter than white woman read this book? Why did I LOVE this book? Because it speaks from the heart. I may be a 50+ whiter than white woman, but I understood Starr. And I understood her situation. Maybe my eyes were opened a little bit more. (I don't claim to completely understand.) And she gave me hope. (We all need hope; maybe now more than ever!)

3.     The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini:  Khaled Hosseini has written more novels, but none has moved me like this one.  How could I understand a story so foreign?  How could I not?  Like many good novels, it is difficult to read at times.  Its fiction, but the underlying truths are difficult to digest.  And yet we must.  

4.     The Captain Underpants Series by Dav Pilkey:  When he was young my son was not a reader.  This series by Dav Pilkey, as well as Dan Gutman's My Weird School series got him reading.  It's silly.  It may be offensive.  (I was never bothered by that.)  It encouraged my son's creativity.  (He made his own comic book about Diaper Baby...at least that's what I think it was.)   When children are learning to read, I feel we need to let them read.  We need to let them explore.  Maybe it's not something you want your child to read and that's okay.  As for me, it made my son laugh and it kept him reading.  He was asking for more.  I made sure he got more.  Reading is fun.  Let kids have fun.

5.     Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult:  This is not my favorite Jodi Picoult novel.  (That would probably be the first one I read by her, A Change of Heart.)  It is, however, the one that is "most banned.  Jodi Picoult never shies from difficult topics, which is probably why people are so quick to ban her stories.  (Have they even read them?)  Reading about a school shooting ISN'T easy, but it IS real.  Ms. Picoult doesn't just present one side, she never does.  And this gives the reader a unique understanding, which as human being, we really need.  As I said in my review of another of her books (Wish You Were Here), "I have read not all but most of Jodi Picoult and every one I've read touches me in some way. This one is no different. As we wrap up (I hope) the pandemic, this story is one that needed to be written and needs to be read. Years from now I hope people will be reading this and learning or remembering what it was like... This novel surprised me as I really thought it was going one way and it went another. That's the joy of Ms. Picoult’s novels; they often do that and it's good. So very good. The past several years of pandemic have changed us; this novel reminds of us all of that. Now that I've read it I know I will read it again sometime. Because it is worth it. And it is needed...”

6.     The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells:  A powerful memoire that reads like fiction.  (You're probably going to wish it was fiction.)  How did the author survive her childhood where the family was constantly moving, her father was making grandiose promises (especially when he was drinking) and her mom just didn't want to be a responsible mom?  It certainly wasn't easy and this book isn't easy to read because it IS true.  The truth can hurt and be ugly.  But ultimately the story is inspiring.  (I will admit that her 2013 novel The Silver Star is even more of a favorite and ranks close To Kill a Mockingbird as a must read more than once.)

7.     One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey:  I started with a book that I read in my freshman English class, I end with one that I read for my senior AP English class.  I loved that class and I loved the book, which is a bit strange as I was one for always following the rules and the protagonist is anything but.  He's not a good guy, but he changes things...for the better?  Or is it just change?  I've always been torn between doing the "right thing" and doing "my own thing." And I still wonder about Chief Bromden and where his journey takes him now that he is free.

I'd encourage you to read any (or all) of the books above and let me know what you think.  Or share what your favorite book is, banned or not.

 Books are meant to be read; they are not meant to be banned.  There are books I love; there are books I've hated.  None of them should be banned.  We are each unique individuals with our own likes and dislikes.  We are all have the capacity to make up our own minds.  Don't like it?  Don't read it.  (Unless it's required for a class...then you should probably read it.)  Like it? Love it?  Share it.

 It's banned book week.  Read a book.  Read a banned book.  READ!