WANTED: Readers of Banned Books

~Post by Julie

On Friday I swung by the Harry Ransom Center for the opening of their latest exhibition, Banned, Burned, Seized and Censored, which discusses the history of censorship in this country, from the Fig Leaf edition of Upton Sinclair’s Oil, to the details of the trial regarding Ulysses, and much more. The exhibition, like all of the exhibitions at the Ransom Center, was thorough and fascinating (and because I had tickets to the opening, I walked away with a goodie bag filled with tasty salsa and assorted other wonders – thanks, HRC!)

As I wandered around reading about the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and taking in the black and white image of Upton Sinclair defying law and wearing his fig leaf sandwich board while selling banned copies of Oil on a Boston street, I shook my head along with everyone else thinking, those silly 1920s Americans, look at them and their prim, Prohibition-era Puritan values and ridiculous restrictions of readers rights. Thank God I live in 2011 when such things are all history and no one’s out there trying to tell me what I am and am not allowed to experience in this life.

Oh wait.

Then of course I thought of Slaughterhouse Five.  A high school in Missouri recently banned this classic Kurt Vonnegut novel, along with Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer, from its library. Slaughterhouse Five regularly shows up on banned book lists. Let’s consider that last sentence for a second:  there are still banned book lists. There are still people out there making decisions about what we should and should not be allowed to read – decisions based upon their moral values, which, while perhaps well intentioned somewhere deep down, restrict our basic freedom to choose our reading material for ourselves.

If there’s one thing I CANNOT STAND, it’s someone telling me what to do. (Just ask my mother, or anyone I’ve ever dated.) Which is why I’m looking forward to Banned Books Week, September 24 – October 1, the national celebration of our freedom to read the books we want to read without anyone telling us we can’t.  This year, for the first time, readers around the world can participate virtually in Banned Books Week.  You, free reader of the world, are invited to join in the Virtual Read Out – send us a video of yourself reading an excerpt of a banned book and we’ll upload it to this YouTube channel (or you can upload it yourself by following the directions on the Virtual Read Out site) where similar videos are already being collected.  Send us your video (via email to alison@bookpeople.com) and we’ll feature it here on our blog, as well.

Here’s an example that’s up on the channel now from a reader in Finland, a review and reading of American Psycho (Or, as you’ll see in the video, Amerikan Psyko. Videos, by the way, do NOT have to be this fancy – a clear shot of your well-lit face and a confident voice will do just fine.)

So if you cherish your freedom to choose your own books, join us in celebrating those books which have been banned – here’s a list of banned literary classics and frequently challenged books.  And the next time you’re in the store, stop by our Banned Books display on the first floor and take a look at those books which have been deemed too violent/sexy/dangerous/vile to be read. Chances are you’ll find one of your favorites there.