Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

What books are you reading in this category? What recommendations do you have?

Here are a few helpful links in finding banned books:
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlyc...

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlyc...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Luckily, there are sooooo many great books that have been banned at one time or another. Not sure what I will choose yet, but two that I would recommend would be The Color Purple or Catch 22.

Thank you for the links. They are very helpful for me, because I am going out of "my box" for this challenge. All recommendations/links/suggestions are great and welcomed.

I'm planning to read 1984 for another prompt of the challenge, but I found a book that was banned, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, that is held in high regard by George Orwell. I think that I'll read this first and 1984 then!

Giulia wrote: "I'm planning to read 1984 for another prompt of the challenge, but I found a book that was banned, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, that is held in high regard by George Orwell. I think that I'll ..."

Tropic of Cancer has been on my TBR shelf for quite sometime now. It is the first book that came to mind for this prompt. I'm with you on that one! 1984 is on my shelf too, but I'm not quite as excited about that one.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I love the movie and am looking forward to reading the book.

I might read Lady Chatterleys lover. Not sure whether it was ever actually banned in uk though, or whether it was published as an edited version. I know that when the full version was published the government tried to ban it but were unsuccessful. Does anyone know if it was actually banned.

I think I'm going to read Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut.

I read "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie, and OMG why was there so much hype it was terrible.

I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I could also easily count is as a book that scares me (terrifying).

In this category I read "To kill a mockingbird". I simply have no words to describe how wonderful this book was.

I went with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It seemed right, seeing as it's about books being banned.

Can anyone recommend a book that was banned in the UK? I would like to restrict myself to this if I can as I'm in the UK, but can't find one that interests me that I haven't already read! ( so not Lady Chaterley, or Tropic of Cancer please)

Any ideas? Thanks

I read The Catcher in the Rye for this prompt,

http://www.banned-books.org.uk/

American Library Association has released the 10 most challenged books of 2014: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/14/...

I read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov for this prompt.

Two great links for that:

http://www.sanftleben.com/Banned%20Bo...

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censor...

I read "The Canterbury Tales" for this prompt. It was banned in England when it was first published as well as in the American Colonies during the 1600s. It's still banned in some American schools to this day.

How just finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for this. Loved it but now have to read all the rest!

How just finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for this. Loved it but now have to read all the rest!

I recommend The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I actually did laugh and cry.

I read Th1rteen R3asons Why but so many of my favorite books have been banned: Lolita, Invisible Man, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood,The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The book and film A Clockwork Orange was famously banned in the UK. The film it was linked to a homocide case and considered to be responsible for copycat violence and was completely banned in the UK until this century and many libraries, schools, etc banned the book as well in solidarity.

Amii wrote: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I love the movie and am looking forward to reading the book."

Also read . Definitely recommend!

Just finished reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

1001 Books to Read Before You Die #35

I read Madame Bovary for this category. I had realized that "To kill a mockingbird" would fit here.

Banned Books Week starts today (9/27-10/3)! So this is the prompt I'm starting Animal Farm today for this one.

I just read The Complete Persepolis for this prompt. About two years ago it came under a lot of scrutiny when the Chicago Public Schools banned it. I believe the reasons cited were mostly offensive language and inappropriate for the age group. I was particularly looking for something of more current controversy for this prompt, as I really feel the best way to fight book bannings is to buy and read the "inappropriate" books. Persepolis is definitely PG-13: there are some strong swears, and references to sex, but more importantly there are a lot of references to violence and torture. There are not however any "on screen" sex scenes, which I had initially thought might be the problem. It is exactly as inappropriate as Shakespeare, and maybe even less. All in all it's a good book, and thought-provoking. Everyone approximately middle school aged and up should read it. Ironically, one of the major themes of Persepolis is censorship and freedom of expression...

When I was a freshman in college, Marjane Satrapi came to speak at my college and I was lucky enough to get to speak to her afterwards. She talked about how, when she left Iran, she was told that the Western world was a place of freedom and tolerance. And in many ways it was, but she also found that no matter what country she lived in there was always some group facing discrimination and something the government and/or society was trying to censor. She mentioned several things about the US, both good and bad, that reminded her of Iran, including her book about censorship being banned.

I was planning on reading the crucible for this but I will likely use it as my play instead, I've read a lot of the typical banned books but not one flew over the cuckoos nest so I think I'll read that for it

I was planning on reading the crucible for this but I will likely use it as my play instead, I've read a lot of the typical banned books but not one flew over the cuckoos nest so I think I'll read that for it

I read The Giver by Lois Lowry

I ended up reading Speak and it was sooo good!! Awesome suggestion from other members here :)

1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell

I planned to read Ender's Game, but ultimately decided if I was going to read a banned book, I would read a book that was more widely accepted as a banned book. I read Tropic of Cancer, thanks to the mentions earlier in this thread, knowing that it is definitely NOT my kind of book.

I really wanted to not hate this book. I expected that I wouldn't love it, but despite that, i hoped to see it as a good book, a book that would move me to see the world through another's eyes. Instead, in the midst of c**ts, whores, lice, and bedbugs, I was unable to pull the story, the message, the purpose from this book. It is one of "THE" banned books. To me, it seems a very long detailed piece meant to show why books should not be banned. This quote is the key to the novel for me:

I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it. We must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and the soul.

The problem for me was that I couldn't find those fragments or splinters, as they were so bogged down in the mire of putrid life described throughout the rest of the book, the mire that is quite likely the reason that the body and soul are in need of resuscitation to begin with.

Alexis wrote: "I read Tropic of Cancer, ... I really wanted to not hate this book. I expected that I wouldn't love it, but despite that, i hoped to see it as a good book, a book that would move me to see the world through another's eyes."

Haven't tried Tropic of Cancer; made several attempts at Sexus but it always seems to fall from my hands in a matter of minutes. I have nothing against books with sexual content - in fact I recently read The Crazy Green of Second Avenue and loved it. Sexus, though, I found highly pretentious and boring. But maybe it's just me!

The only Henry Miller book I was able to finish was actually Under the Roofs of Paris - plain old smut, without any pretense at high literature. At least, what you see is what you get.

Back to the topic: for that prompt I'm reading L'Autre Monde Ou Les Etats Et Empires de La Lune by 17th Century soldier and free-thinker Cyrano de Bergerac. More on that when it's done!

Christophe wrote: "Back to the topic: for that prompt I'm reading L'Autre Monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune by 17th Century soldier and free-thinker Cyrano de Bergerac. More on that when it's done! "

And it is done. This book is a pretty odd one; it's been called "science fiction" but it is nothing like what we mean by that. The narrator's travel to the moon is a way to take subversive discourse out of the realm of Earth. Conversations with moon dwellers are a pretext for a compendium of advanced scientific or philosophical discourse of the time. Quite fascinating!

Christophe wrote: "Christophe wrote: "Back to the topic: for that prompt I'm reading L'Autre Monde ou les Etats et Empires de la Lune by 17th Century soldier and free-thinker Cyrano de Bergera..."</i>

Have you read [book:Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle? Another of the first science fiction books, its conceit is similar and it's a quick and fun read.

Melody wrote: "Have you read [book:Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle? Another of the first science fiction books, its conceit is similar and it's a quick and fun read. "

Haven't read it yet. Its cosmology is clearly similar; the ideas that were outlandish in the 1650s were clearly making their ways towards the mainstream in the 1680s. Also, they both hail from the same intellectual family (so-called libertines), Bergerac at its beginings and Fontenelle at its end.

On another level, Fontenelle and Bergerac at are at two opposite ends in terms of longevity: Bergerac died at 35 while Fontenelle lived a full century.

Apparently the Harry Potter books are the most banned books in schools in the US so I counted HP7 for this prompt.

Yeah, it only takes one screwed up parent to ban a book in the US. It's funny. They go by the magic. But if they actually read the books they'd realize they teach values all kids should have.

I totally agree.

Yeah it really doesn't take much to get a book banned in some places :) crazy

I read a book about Banned Books and the way they get banned is horrible. It seems it only takes one outraged parent to get it banned. Why they don't just refuse to read the book or let their child read it?

Because some people are selfish, entitled twats who think that "I don't like it" is the same as "it shouldn't be allowed"