I don't know how many of you know this, but it is actually Banned Books Week! Going back through history so many fantastic books have been banned or challenged in different countries, states and schools...this is such a sad phenomenon, I feel that books shouldn't be banned completely. Yes, some books should be censored until they are age appropriate, but totally vetoing them is quite a drastic option.
A lot of people think that banning books is a historical action and doesn't still happen today, but it does. Every year books are challenged or banned. Harry Potter is one of the most frequently challenged books as it is seen to glorify magic and deception, which goes against strong religious principles. In China Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was banned due to the anthropomorphising of animals, giving animals voices and placing them on the same plane of intelligence as people.
It is such a shame that people miss out on wonderful writers and stories, we should live in a free society where we can read whatever we like and form our own opinions. To be honest, seeing a list of banned books just makes me want to read them more. It is often said that the best way to make sure as many people as possible read something is to ban it!
In honour of this I have been reading a collection of poems by Lord Byron selected by Paul Muldoon. It is a stunning collection with some of the longer poems like Beppo, Don Juan and The Vision of Judgement interspersed with some of his shorter works. I thought Byron was the perfect author to read this week, his notorious personal life and ground breaking poems, in their time of course, have been constantly challenged and banned!
What have you all been reading for Banned Books Week? Let me know in the comments below :-)
xoxo
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