This is Banned Books Week, and we here at Litstack applaud all the buzz that it’s gotten on social media. The very idea of banning books is the antithesis to an educated and progressive society, and yet some of our most cherished classics have been subject to challenge: The Grapes […]
As book lovers, we don’t really understand the purpose of censorship. We certainly don’t support an effort to ban any books because we believe that readers should be able to judge for themselves the appropriateness of a given book. But sometimes, even the best books are pulled from the shelves. […]
Each year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top ten most frequently challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The ALA actively condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information, which is certainly something […]
We love this post from THP: University student Kate Boryeskne created a compelling response to censorship with a series of paintings she’s calling “Banned Books Mugshots.” The illustrations feature characters from challenged books such as “The Scarlet Letter” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Check out more of Kate’s illustrations on her […]
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin. Illustrated by Eric Carle. In February of 2010, the Texas Education Board made one of the more embarrassing blunders in the annuals of book banning. In their eagerness to protect their constituency from an obscure Marxist theorist, they […]
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed….and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” These words […]
I remember when I first received my first Harlequin book. I was 13 years old. I don’t remember anything about the book other than it’s olive green cover, but what I do remember is the reason why my mother gave me the book and the feeling has stayed with me […]
Coraline Neil Gaiman Harper Entertainment ISBN-10: 0061649694 My first encounter with Coraline was with the movie, an unusual occurrence for me — usually the reverse is true. I thought it was atmospheric, quirky, a teensy-bit scary (even for me, a-totally-fully-grown-and-not-at-all-afraid-of-disembodied-hands adult), and creative. Then, of course, I had to read […]
Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2012 celebration of Banned Books Week will […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.