Bites and Steph Su Reads Ban Together for Ban This! and the Banned Books Reading Challenge

As if I haven't been pimping it out, Ban This! started yesterday; my month-long celebration of all that is banned books and the wankery that comes from them (or spurns them, as it were). This year, in conjunction with my banned books event, Steph Su over at Steph Su Reads is hosting The Banned Books Reading Challenge.

If you sign yourself up, you are promising to read something of the banned and/or challenged variety between September 1st and October 15th. Why is something like this so important? Simple. It shows the jerks that try to keep these kinds of books out of kids' hands that they're failing. By their incessant asshattery at attempts to purge their local libraries of such "filth," they are doing nothing more than providing free publicity and driving even more kids to read such books. Because you know kids listen when their parents say not to do something, right?

A good place to start looking for reading material if you're not sure where to find it is the ALA's Yearly Lists of Banned or Challenged Books (at the bottom of the page). You will certainly not be short of excellent books to pick up.

Personally, I'm hoping to get in one banned book read in this month. Hey, don't look at me like that. As of September 17th I am on vacation from everything, including this blog, for two weeks. That means no blog reading, reviewing or anything to do with it (I haven't stopped since I started back in January of 2009, I think I've earned my break). I have a blog tour book to read and I think I can fit in one more book after that, plus a review, before I go. That book will probably be ttyl by Lauren Myracle simply because it's in my pile and I bought it from my local library's book sale because it made the banned books list.

You know if a book lands there, it's damn good and worth reading. So pick 'em up, sign up for Steph Su's reading challenge and be sure to add your name to the Ban This! list to let everyone know that you're in it to win it this month against those neo-Nazis that want to take our words away from us.