Banned Books Library: The Freedom to Read... or Listen
I remember back when I was in school, we were giving all kinds of required reading... books that are now considered classics. The themes of these books, admittedly, were often lost to me so I read just enough to pass the exam. I Neve gave any thought to the societal, racial, sexual, or psychological implications of these books. Titles such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, To Kill a Mockingbird Book by Harper Lee, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding were just books to my classmates and I. Yes, our teachers added them to the syllabus to explore certain literary topics, however, it was never with intent of indoctrination.
With this being my lived experience, I couldn't believe how many news stories I begun hearing these past couple of years around these and other "classics" plus many contemporary titles being banned across the country in schools & libraries. Like what?! How is this real life - fiction & nonfiction books being ripped off of shelves because of themes that were now being deemed inappropriate? While I'd always heard about the practice of censorship around the world, I'd never heard of book banning... which is apparently isn't a very new thing. Do I believe that as we evolve & the world around us changes, our art forms (and our consumption of them) will innately change as well? Yes. For example, if a book from decades ago contains language that is now universally accepted as inflammatory or bigoted, I can understand maybe the inclination to modify it's distribution... and that's heavy on the maybe, because, as I said, I don't recall any of us reading these books and getting to wrapped up in themes that are now being called into question. I sincerely don't think we even noticed or cared... and I'm talking about middle school and high school in the late 90s to early 2000s.
Today, we're seeing books being removed from public libraries, which says to mean the concern is not academic. I won't get into the political, religious, or whatever else motivations behind these banning because that's not my ministry. It being Banned Books Week, however, I found myself curious about what books were being banned & if access to them was still possible. Reportedly started in 1982, Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrated by librarians, bookshops, authors, publishers, teachers, and and bibliophiles, and intended to encourage people to reach freely, without restriction.
This week has been about spotlighting past & present attempts of book censorship.
The other day I watched an interview with FLOTUS Jill Biden, where she was asked her thoughts on books being banned - which books should be banned, I believe was the question - to which she replied that no books should be banned.
“All books should be in the library. All books. This is America, we don’t ban books.”
Everyone should have access to books... with the key word being access. Required? No. Accessible, however... yes. As I scoured the interwebs to learn more about books that have getting banned - books having to do with sexuality, race religious, historical events, political events, and so much more - I realized there are a lot of books out there that I never knew existed, yet would very much be interested in. This felt like a great opportunity to dust off my Audible subscription and explore some of these new-to-me titles.
In case you're new here, I'm an avid Audible listener... well at least I used to be. I found that I never really had could make the time to actually sit down & flip through the pages of a book to read. It's been at least a decade since the last time I cracked open a book. Instead, I discovered Audible, and I've never looked back. Using Audible has become a more convenient way for me to consume literature - I can listen while I'm on a walk, washing dishes, or simple sitting on the deck. I've also really come to appreciate hearing an author read their words to me. When browsing banned books lists, I noticed that so many of em are oder books, so I worried that I wouldn't be able to find audiobook versions of these books. Audible has such a robust catalogue of titles, but y'all... I was legit impressed at how many of these books I was able to add to my Audible library.
The spirit of Banned Books Week is to challenge the notion that some books can be made off limits because they offended someone's sensibilities in some way.
As is the case with any art form, literature is subjective.
I can read a book and feel moved & inspired by the words on the page, while someone else reads the exact same book and finds it offensive in some way. What one person may consider to be a literary masterpiece, I'll read & think it's mediocre at best. To ban books seems like an overreach & extreme reaction to basically just being uncomfortable with the author's words. Do people have this same energy for artwork? I didn't do the research or anything, however, I'm sure there are portraits and paintings and whathaveyou that someone could make for banning from museums because the piece is "derogatory" or "offensive" or whatever. Does this happen? If it is, it's definitely not happening as loudly as book banning; and I think at the core of the difference is where & how it's happening. It's one thing to deem a title as inappropriate for a particular age group, however, I'm gobsmacked that in schools & libraries - two institutions theoretically designed to educate us, challenge us, and expose us to new ideas - are being stripped of the very foundation of how they function. I can't believe I live in an era that includes the sterilization of literature. It feels unreal tbh. And Banned Books Week definitely lit a fire under me to (1) start reading listening again and (2) diversify the titles in my library, starting with the ones that seem to be ruffling quite a few feathers.
Not every banned and/or challenged book is one I'm necessarily interested in - banned or not, not every book is gonna be my cup of tea - so not all of these are titles I'll be listening to. Some I'm familiar with even though I've never read em and others I've never even heard of till I sat down to write this post. It's a mix of fiction & nonfiction, memoirs & autobiographies, classics & contemporaries, young adult & children's... and so many other niches & categories that I don't have time to name. There's something for everyone in this mixed bag of books that someone somewhere decided we shouldn't be reading.
My list is far from exhaustive. A quick search on Amazon alone reveals over a hundred banned books. As I discover more titles available in an audiobook format, I'll be updating my shared reading list, which'll hopefully also serve you as a source of inspiration & encouragement to open your mind & read freely. While I may prefer to listen to books, all of em are available in a paper format; and what's pretty dope is Amazon's new Amazon Book Clubs. This is an opportunity to discover, read, and discuss these banned and/or challenged books as a group... if that's your jam.
Have you read and/or intend to any of these titles? Did you know you know about Banned Books Week? Lemme know here.
