Banned Books

A meme invented by Chaucerian Girl based on the Banned Books Challenge.

Below is the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 - 2000. Read any? Bold them. Any in your personal library? Place a + in front of them. Any you want to read? Italicize them. Which do you plan to read for the Banned Books Challenge? Make them large. Any you just don't want to read? Make them tiny. And as per ChaucerianGirl, it's okay if you don't want to read a book. Just don't try to take it away from others who do want to read it!


Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz

Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

+Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

+Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Forever by Judy Blume - Judy Blume rocks. I read everything of hers when I was a kid.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Add me to the list of "hated this book." I didn't care about a single character in it.

+The Giver by Lois Lowry

It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris

Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine - My little sister had a few of these in her bookcase when she was a kid and I read one of them when I was babysitting her.

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

The Color Purple by Alice Walker - I've seen the movie, but have yet to read the book.

Sex by Madonna - Friend owned it. I read it. Not that big of a deal.

Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

+A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - This is actually one of my favorite books.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard

+The Witches by Roald Dahl

The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein

Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry - Have NOT read the whole series, just one or two book in it.

The Goats by Brock Cole

Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

Blubber by Judy Blume

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier

Final Exit by Derek Humphry

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - MA has strongly recommend Margaret Atwood to me. I trust her, so I'm definitely going to have to read this.

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras

+To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Beloved by Toni Morrison - My mom loaned it to me when I was in high school. I really like it a lot.

+The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard

Deenie by Judy Blume

+Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - Was assigned this in the 9th grade and expected to hate it, but I loved it.

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden

The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar

Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz

+A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) - Yep, this is sort of filthy. By sort of, I mean totally way filthy.

Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole

Cujo by Stephen King

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - Really, they tried to ban this?

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy

Ordinary People by Judith Guest

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - I have no idea why I want to read this because I'm not really into violence and anarchy, but I've wanted to read it since I first heard about it high school. I'll probably hate it.

What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume - My all time ever favorite Judy Blume book.

Crazy Lady by Jane Conly

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

Fade by Robert Cormier

Guess What? by Mem Fox

The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney

+Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Native Son by Richard Wright

Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday

Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen

Jack by A.M. Homes

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya

Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle

Carrie by Stephen King

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume

On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer

Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge

Family Secrets by Norma Klein

Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole

The Dead Zone by Stephen King

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Always Running by Luis Rodriguez

Private Parts by Howard Stern

Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford - Shut up! They banned Where's Waldo?? Seriously?

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher

Sex Education by Jenny Davis

The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene

Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts

The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney

Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I didn't mark any as a "not-interested-at-all," because I don't know enough about them to indicate that. No tagging. Do it if you feel like. Don't if you don't.

Book Meme

ChaucerianGirl tagged me, so I guess I'm it. P.S. This was HARD.

Character you'd most like to have over for tea? Amelia Peabody Emerson. Actually, I'd like to have the whole Emerson clan over for tea (spiked tea!) and then read Mrs. E's journal entry of the occasion to discover first-hand how she changed the event to suit her sense of decorum.

Character you'd most like to have as a sibling? Dy Brougham. See this trilogy by Pamela Aiden, Pride and Prejudice retold from the point of view of Mr. Darcy. Dy is a most excellent character who would be an awesome big brother.

Character you'd most like to be friends with? I'm entirely unoriginal, but I'd love to be friends with Elizabeth Bennett. She's witty, loyal, funny, and good-hearted.

Character you'd most like to have as a cousin? Stephanie Plum. What can I say? She's funny and she knows the value of shop-therapy and the efficacy of junk-food in dealing with broken hearts. 'Course if I was related to her, I'd also be related to her crazy, perverted cousin Vinnie. That would be gross.

Character you'd most like to have an adventure with? Fred and George Weasley. Seriously, they'd be fun. True, there would be more adventury-adventures with Harry Potter, but I'd be more likely to live through one with Fred and George.

Favorite quirky character? I must agree with ChaucerianGirl, who was agreeing with Erin. Luna Lovegood. Simply put, I admire the way she goes merrily about her own way without caring what others think. That takes a kind of courage that is quite rare in one so young.

Favorite love-to-hate character? Again, I'm being unoriginal and agreeing with ChaucerianGirl who agreed with Erin. Delores Jane Umbridge, Hogwarts High Inquisitor. She's such a nasty piece of work. I yelled at her while I was reading the book, for all the good it did.

Favorite bad guy? Snape, Snape, Snape. Although, I'm actually of the opinion that, like Harry, he's Dumbledore's man through and through. But I also think he genuinely hates Harry, and I love that. Honestly, I think Harry hates Snape as much Voldemort now. And why wouldn't he?

And the category ChaucerianGirl added:

Character to whom you've most often been compared? No one has ever compared me to a character in fiction that I know of. At least not to my face.

TAGGING TIME: I tag Spin_Doc. Just because.

Lying Liars Who Lie

So, apparantly a lot of people lie about the books they read, at least according to a survey in Britain. At first I was all judgmental and then I remembered that I did it myself in high school to impress a cute boy. (Wasted effort by the way--he didn't really give a crap about books so much as boobs.) So just for fun and in the interest of full disclosure, I am copying the top-ten lied about books here and will reveal whether I've actually read them. (Ooh, you say sarcastically, you're so excited--too that I say, "Shoosh. Be nice.")

1. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkien
Well, I skimmed it. I have read The Hobbit a couple of times, but I have never, and believe me, I've tried, been able to read LotR all the way through without falling asleep. So I read the interesting parts and skimmed the dull. I'd say that pretty much counts as a not-read.

2. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
I've never even tried.

3. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
I've read it a few times. Heathcliff is not my favorite romantic hero. He's kind of whiny.

4. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus – John Gray
Not read. My ex-husband did actually buy it for me while we were still married. He was into self-help books and really wanted me to be into them too. I wasn't. Perhaps this might partially explain why I'm his ex.

5. 1984 – George Orwell
Read it in high school with the kind of focus I can now demonstrate by telling you I don't remember anything other than the basic plot.

6. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – J.K Rowling
Read it many, many, many times.

7. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Haven't read it. Another one I started and put down midway through.

8. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
I've read it probably 3 or 4 times.

9. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
I've read it and I feel a compelling need to add that it's FICTION and that's why it lives in the FICTION section of the bookstore.

10. Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
I've read it a few times. I love it--how can you not love Anne, with her hopes and her dreams that wouldn't die?

So, there you have it. I guess I'm not as well-read as I thought I was. The valuable lesson to be learned is--don't lie, because someone who really has read it will start asking you questions about it and then you'll look stupid. And that would suck.

Mint & Peanut Butter Don't Mix

I have a candy jar at my desk filled with peppermints given me by a co-worker the week before Christmas. I received a few peanut butter kisses from a theatre buddy and instead of eating them right away, I added them to my candy jar. This morning I thought "mmm, chocolate." So I pulled a peanut butter kiss out of the candy jar and ate it, only to discover the minty goodness of the mints tried marrying the chocolatey peanut butter. Turns out to be a very bad and unhealthy relationship. I'm just saying. There's a reason they don't make Reese's Peanut Butter Mint Cups.

It's really busy at work today. Was busy yesterday too. And yet here I am, writing on my blog. Why, you ask? May I quote Ron Weasley, who when asked by Hermione why he missed Snape's mention of polyjuice potion during class, replied, "Do you think I have anything better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" Hee. That made me giggle. I'm "reading" Harry Potter in the car on my drive to and from work. I used to be kind of a book snob with a firm belief that books on tape is cheating. I've come around to a more flexible point-of-view since then. Someone gave me "Of Mice and Men" read by Gary Sinise, and I absolutely loved it. I'll always prefer reading to being read to, but I'm way nicer in traffic jams now that I have a constant source of amusement. Besides the voice acting on the Harry Potter CDs is wonderful. My sister was just saying the other day that she hates Umbridge even more the way Jim Dales reads her. That's saying a lot because I know for a fact that during her first read-through she yelled at Umbridge and called her many rude names.

Okay. Work. Guess I must. My co-worker's granddaughter is extremely ill and so she hasn't been in the office. This pretty much doubles my workload. I worked straight through lunch yesterday and today looks to be skewing the same direction. Sigh. Could be worse. I actually do like my job.

Aaaaaaaand, I'm Back

But not for long as there's a great deal of work-type stuff demanding my attention. It was nice being off, though. I completely closed out the old apartment, a relief, and I even managed to fit in some fun. Faith and I hit the mall once or twice and watched the movie we've been planning on seeing for the last three months. We saw Eragon--pretty good. I wound up picking up the book at Barnes and Noble and reading it over the holiday. I'm now working on Eldest. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the fantasy genre. Eragon is a good representation of why I don't tend to enjoy it--I have no objection to wordy people (please, I am a wordy people!), but there's word vomit all over Eragon. The story is quite interesting, but the tangents are many and vary from mildly intruiguing to boring-me-into-a-coma. If the movie hadn't invested me in the characters, I doubt I'd have finished it.

I also finished the Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy yesterday. It's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's POV, and overall, it's quite good. Aiden, the author, created some delicious new characters (Dy Brougham, in the vein of the Scarlet Pimpernel) and fleshed out some characters that Austen left bare, most particularly Georgiana and Lady Anne De Bourgh. Good stuff. Not nearly as good as Jane Austen, but the next best thing.

Okay, back to work. I'll be dropping in on the blog buddies later on today when I take another break.