Dubuque Virtual Book Club discussion

This month our discussion will focus on books set in and around schools, colleges, and universities! Below is a list of suggestions to get everyone started, but please don't feel limited to this list!

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Magicians
The Art of Fielding
Never Let Me Go
A Separate Peace
Dear Committee Members: A novel

I'm going to sidetrack the (so far, very quiet) September discussion! This week is Banned Books Week, when libraries, booksellers, and reader celebrate intellectual freedom by calling attention to the ongoing challenges to that freedom.

Because books in school libraries or on suggested reading lists are so often targeted for challenges, Banned Books more or less fit the theme of Back to School :)

In our June discussion I mentioned that I read The Giver when my mom bought me a copy after it was removed from our 6th grade reading list due to another parent's complaint. Later that year I read Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc, which was never challenged or banned as far as I know, but as I was reading the book's author (Nancy Garden) was all over the local news. Another of her books, Annie on My Mind, caused a large local controversy (up to and including literal book burning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_on...) because the characters were lesbians. I was 11 and terrified I was going to get in trouble for reading anything by that author, and didn't end up reading Annie on My Mind until I was in my twenties.