Some Final Words for Ban This!

This wraps it up for this year's Ban This!, along with Banned Books Week. Thank you to everyone who participated by posting about something banned and book-related this month and to all of the authors that stopped by and said a few words. The purpose of Ban This! is to just stick it to those that feel the need to parent the world and keep literature away from young, impressionable eyes. People need to be reminded that we're all different, we all function at different levels and we can all handle different things differently. Blanket statements are killer and I certainly don't want myself or my supposed future loinfruit wrapped up in them. Let me handle me and mine. You stick to yours. Thank you all for helping me prove that point.

So this year I'll leave you with a couple more articles that popped up in my PW scanning that I thought could add a little to the asshattery that is censorship. Enjoy!

Apparently a Russian priest feels that novels by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

and Vladimir Nabokov should be banned for justifying sexual perversions. I've never read ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE or LOLITA and while they sound a bit out there, they haven't persevered for this long because of their perverted nature. I wouldn't think someone so illicit would win a Nobel Peace Prize either. So I'm thinking someone's got something a little mixed up here. Granted this same church that spawned this guy claims that Russian women need to be wearing longer skirts and non-revealing clothing as well. Good luck with that, buddy.

While this article is more tongue in cheek, I'm wondering just how much of it is serious. Granted, some heinous reading choices forced upon children too early on could hinder reading but where are the parents teaching their children that there are better books in the world that they will probably like more? LORD OF THE FLIES should be stricken from reading lists? Some kids like that book. It's demented and sadistic and I'm sure a breath of fresh air compared to the likes of WUTHERING HEIGHTS for some. I guess it just goes to show how a difference of opinion can manifest itself. I had some terrible times with some books in school but others loved them. It doesn't mean I think they should be killed dead. While BEOWULF might be above the rang of some high school sophomores, others might get it. Unfortunately not every child can be catered to in school. That's where that extra reading comes in and allowing the kid to read something they actually WANT to. Funny concept, that balance.