On Reading Banned Books
Note: With the daily insanity, Banned Book Week snuck up on me this year and almost got past me. But today is the final day, so here is a slightly edited version of last year’s column since the issue is still the same. Scared people try to ban books. Librarians think that’s a bad idea. I agree. What banned books have you read?
By Bob Gaydos
Little Free Library RJ Photography
In 1982, the American Library Association began celebrating Banned Books Week in the first week of October. This is your reminder. It’s that time again. And make no mistake, the people who are waging wars on our freedoms have their sights constantly set on what we read as well as what we think and say.
The aim of this special week, according to the ALA is “to celebrate the freedom to read and to promote silenced voices.” The association keeps track of books that are challenged or banned in schools and libraries and it has been kept busy since the Trump MAGA cult gained political power.
For the record, in 2024, ALA documented 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials across all library types, a decrease from 2023, when a record high 1,247 attempts were reported. It also recorded attempts to remove 2,452 unique titles in 2024, which far exceeded the average of 273 unique titles that were challenged annually during 2001–2020.
Traditionally specific reasons why books have been banned or challenged include: LGBTQ content, sexually explicit language, profanity, racism, violence, religious viewpoint, sex education, suicide, drug and alcohol use, nudity, political viewpoint and offensive language. Recently, Trump and MAGA groups have gone after recorded history.
Significantly, the ALA says data show that the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members and administrators initiated 72 percent of challenges. Parents accounted for just 16 percent. It’s an organized MAGA attempt to control what we read, know and think.
The week is intended to fight that and to promote the freedom to choose what we read. Libraries across the country are sponsoring special events to do just that. My contribution of late has been to list banned books which I have read and to solicit the titles of other banned books from my readers so that we may share them. I am fortunate enough to live in a state that doesn’t go about banning books or deciding what teachers teach based on a few politicians’ ambitions. There’s also a Little Free Library right on Main Street in downtown Pine Bush.
Here’s my list, in no particular order, of banned books I have read. It’s compiled from a few lists I have found on the Internet and includes some books I had no idea were ever the target of attempted banning.
The list:
— The Catcher in the Rye
— To Kill a Mockingbird
— The Lord of the Flies
— 1984
— Lolita
— Catch 22
— Brave New World
— Animal Farm
— The Sun Also Rises
— Invisible Man
— Howl
— One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
— Slaughterhouse Five
— In Cold Blood
— Rabbit, Run
— Moby Dick
— Canterbury Tales
— Captain Underpants
— The Kite Runner
— The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
— The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
— Fahrenheit 451
— Moll Flanders
— A Farewell to Arms
“Captain Underpants” is on my list because I have two sons, now grown. I also think school assignments for one of my sons wound up on the list. Kudos to the teacher.
Please, support your local library and share your favorite banned books with us. Join the fight to protect our freedom to read what we please.
Tags: banned books, Bob Gaydos, books, LGBTQ, librarians, Libraries, MAGA, reading, trump
