Old Books, New Readers discussion

Fellow book lovers!
The June 2023 Book of the Month theme is banned & controversial books.
Nominate your books on the thread.
Once we receive 6 valid nominations a poll will be set up.
Please check your nomination against the book club rules:
1. One nomination per person.
2. Poll will be set up when we reach 6 valid nominations.
3. Nominations should have been first published earlier than November 1972.
4. To get a wider variety of selections, the nominations may be limited to one book per author.

Unless I'm missing it on the bookshelf somehow, the group has never read The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I'll nominate that one to get the ball rolling.

According to the book's Wikipedia entry, the book was “controversial upon publication in 1899” and, while not technically banned, was censored.

I nominate The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, it was banned for a short period during Nazi rule. Though I have no idea of the objectionable content it contains.

I nominate Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It has been banned for sexual content.

It is getting increasingly difficult for me to find banned books i haven't read, but this sounds good so my nomination goes to

The tale of the unextinguished moon: And other stories, (1926) by Boris Pilnyak

In an allegedly fictional novel, three leaders order a Red Army officer to undergo an operation, which he is very reluctant to comply with. The officer dies on the operating table. Although Pilnyak wrote in a note to the story that there are no genuine facts used in the novel, there is a staggering similarity with the story of Mikhail Frunze, once head of the Red Army, who also died after being advised by Stalin to undergo an operation, despite feeling healthy. The novel caused a scandal and was immediately taken out from print. Pilyak’s name was renounced in literary circles and the novel proclaimed an anti-revolutionary attack against the government.

Nidhi wrote: "I nominate The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, it was banned for a short period during Nazi rule. Though I have no idea of the objectionable content it contains."

This book on its own wasn't banned, but Thomas Mann, recipient of the 1929 Nobel Prize for Literature, was one of many authors whose works were prohibited by the Nazi Party. Authors, living and dead, were placed on the list because of their Jewish descent, pacifist or communist sympathies or suspicion thereof, or because the subject matter was deemed 'degenerate'. Other authors included Bertolt Brecht, Sigmund Freud and Oscar Wilde.

Mann's books were also destroyed across Germany and Austria during the book burnings of 1933 as part of a campaign organised by the German Student Union.

Hang on there, my suggestion costs a bloody fortune. I'll find another book to nominate 😂

Okay here is my easily obtainable nomination:

The Naked and the Dead (1948) by Norman Mailer

In 1949, the book was banned in Canada and Australia – ostensibly for language, though Mailer was also mocked for his use of the word “fug” as a replacement for the more typical expletive. In Canada the book was banned by the Minister of National Revenue, who thought the book was “disgusting” (he hadn't read it).

Thanks Jazzy, for the explanation. So technically The Magic Mountain was never banned for its content but for author's religion. The book is not eligible for this category.

message 14: by ian (new)12 minutes ago
ian flannery | 2 commentsHg wells mysterious island

Nidhi wrote: "Thanks Jazzy, for the explanation. So technically The Magic Mountain was never banned for its content but for author's religion. The book is not eligible for this category."

Well...yes, but not just religion as Jews are a race of people like being Black or Asian.

Jazzy wrote: "Nidhi wrote: "Thanks Jazzy, for the explanation. So technically The Magic Mountain was never banned for its content but for author's religion. The book is not eligible for this category."

Well...y..."

Jews are not like being Black or Asian. Jews for the most part are white people. Jews blend into the white communities of the USA.

We're not blending in here. It is the same though, that's why the Nazis murdered so many of us

Also I came out of a synagogue in the USA more than once to meet rocks and debris thrown and taunts yelled.

I nominate  Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. This book is listed as banned ( I googled banned book's list lol)

Jazzy wrote: "We're not blending in here. It is the same though, that's why the Nazis murdered so many of us

"


Jazzy, it is not the same. Have a good week.

Jazzy wrote: “We're not blending in here… Also I came out of a synagogue in the USA more than once to meet rocks and debris thrown and taunts yelled.”

These are great points. I’ve heard older Jews laugh right out loud at the notion that they’re now thought of as “white”. That's certainly not their experience over the last two centuries of American history (not to mention world history)! 😅

In my country being 'white' means nothing. Where do you come from? Where were you BORN? I open my mouth to speak and am hammered for not having the 'right accent'. And the man at the chippy also has a go at me being Jewish, calling me JEW-isshh. and saying I am tight with my money.

Peter wrote: "Jazzy wrote: “We're not blending in here… Also I came out of a synagogue in the USA more than once to meet rocks and debris thrown and taunts yelled.”

These are great points. I’ve heard older Jews..."

that is so true. People feel free to smash the windows of Jewish families and nothing is done.

But i'm sure all of us will treat each other with respect as we wish to be treated. Book lovers are great people after all ❤️

Well said, Jazzy! 🙏🏼

I'm nominating Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. It has a fine history of being banned in multiple countries.

Jazzy wrote: "But i'm sure all of us will treat each other with respect as we wish to be treated. Book lovers are great people after all ❤️"


Jazzy, we will just agree to disagree on this subject matter. Have a wonderful week. Enjoy Reading, 📚

Love you La Tonya xxx