Banned Books

BANNED BOOKS is a hot topic now, it’s on the news, or you may have even seen it pop up on your social media feed. Censoring and banning books isn’t a new thing, but lately there seems to be a fresh effort for edgy cultural commentary to be purged from the shelves.

Some of the best books of all time were removed from bookshelves by parents, school board members and activists. Sometimes, banning books can have a positive effect by compelling readers to buy these books in the hope to understand why.

In the United States, a book might be banned from the library or a store, but that doesn’t mean it’s illegal to read it.

Banned Books Week 2022

September 18-24 was Banned Books Week 2022, which celebrated the freedom to read and open access to voice and information to all. This year’s theme was “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us ”. Below is a selection of books that have been banned or censored at some point in time. We encourage you to borrow them!

• 1984: challenged for its pro-communist and sexually explicit content.
• The Communist Manifesto: banned to prevent the spread of communism
• Brave New World: because of its characters’ acceptance of promiscuous sex.
• The Decameron: condemned by the Catholic Church in 1559 on the grounds of its intolerable errors.
• The Satanic Verses: most notably banned in Iran. The novel was seen as blasphemous by most Muslims because author, Salman Rushdie, used Islam in a satirical way.
• To Kill a Mockingbird: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was banned because of violence and its use of the N-word.
• Black Beauty: was banned in South Africa during the Apartheid simply because it had the words “black” and “beauty” in the title.
• Fahrenheit 451: banned in Australia on the basis of “questionable themes” such as censorship, repression and religion.
• Lord of the Flies: for its use of profanity, extreme violence, and statements defamatory to women.
• Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial tale of a middle-aged scholar’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl was banned in the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1959 and remained forever controversial.
  

Did you know that Australian author, artist and refugee Anh Do had 17 of his children books banned in a US school district? Read more

Read Banned Books…Because You Can!

The handmaid’s tale Margaret Atwood

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.
Banned and challenged for profanity and for “vulgarity and sexual overtones.”

Interesting fact – Margaret Atwood created a version of the book that was “unburnable”. The book sold at auction with proceeds donated to PEN America. Read more

The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons – their love, their sacrifices, and their lies. Written against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before. The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel’s faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption.
Challenges included age inappropriate material, sexually explicit content, and offensive language.

The Alchemist Paulo Coelho

The inspiring spiritual tale of self-discovery that has touched millions of lives around the world. Combing magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations. Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different–and far more satisfying–than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
 The Alchemist – and all works by Paulo Coelho – were banned by the Iranian government.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey

The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a penetrating look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who hated anything to do with domesticity. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.
It was banned in several school districts due to strong sexual situations, alcoholism, and abuse.

Carrie Stephen King

A modern classic, Carrie introduced a distinctive new voice in American fiction – Stephen King. The story of misunderstood high school girl Carrie White, her extraordinary telekinetic powers, and her violent rampage of revenge, remains one of the most barrier-breaking and shocking novels of all time.
Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is…Carrie
Most frequently banned books of the 90’s because of its violence, cursing, underage sex and negative view of religion.

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, famed for his decadent champagne-drenched parties. Despite being surrounded by Long Island’s bright and beautiful, Gatsby longs only for Daisy Buchanan. In shimmering prose, Fitzgerald shows Gatsby pursue his dream to its tragic conclusion. The Great Gatsby is an elegiac and exquisite portrait of the American Dream.
Officially challenged at the Baptist College of South Carolina, due to its sexual references and profane language.

Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie

Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India’s independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1,000 other midnight’s children‘ all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts.
Political controversy because of its alleged ‘anti-India content and portrayal of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in bad light.

Nineteen Minutes Jodi Picoult

Intricately textured and rich with psychological and social insight, Jodi Picoult’s novels grab readers by the throat from page one and never let go. As emotionally charged as any she has written, Nineteen Minutes is one of her most powerful works to date. Set in a small town in the wake of a horrific school shooting, Nineteen Minutes features the return of two beloved Picoult characters – Jordan McAfee, the lawyer from The Pact and Salem Falls, who once again finds himself representing a boy who desperately needs someone on his side; and Patrick Ducharme, the intrepid detective introduced in Perfect Match, whose best witness is the daughter of the superior court judge assigned to the case. As the story unfolds, layer after layer is peeled back to reveal some hard-hitting questions about the nature of justice, the balance of power and what it means to be different. Nineteen Minutes is a riveting, thought-provoking tale with a jaw-dropping finale.
Challenged for containing depictions of physical violence in schools and a scene of graphic sexual activity.

A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield – the weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion—this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep. Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote his ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right.
The war story was so true to history that the Italian government banned it upon publication from 1929 to 1948.

What is the number 1 banned book in the world?

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
This novel was banned in Australia, most likely for its use of vulgar language, sexual references and undermining of family values.

Back to Blog