Fifty Banned Books

So, while hopping through the blogosphere and looking at so many wonderful posts during Banned Book Week I came across this link from Laura Marcella’s blog.  The next thought I had was how wonderful it would be to read EVERY BOOK on that list as a way of celebrating activism in the first amendment.  Now, I’ve read a few on there already and will not endeavor to reread them but there are plenty I have not read.  If others want to take part in this very cool, last minute challenge then, please, let me know!  For a new twist I thought I’d also review each book while discussing the supposed reasons for the banning.  Fun, no?  Now, just so you know I’m not insane I’m going to give myself a year.  I do so like to have flexibility in my reading schedule dontcha know.  Below is a list of the fifty with links to reviews I did where applicable.

Key:  * = I’ve read it and not going to reread it; ** = I’ve read it and might reread it

1. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger *
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
3. Forever by Judy Blume.
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.
5. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. *
6. The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. *
7. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.
8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.
9. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
10. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
11. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.
12. The Giver by Lois Lowery.
13. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
15. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
16. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe
17. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
18. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown *
    
19. 1984 by George Orwell
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell **
    
21. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
22. Candide by Voltaire
23. Lady Chatterly’s Lover by DH Lawrence
24. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
25. Fanny Hill by John Cleland
26. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
27. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
28. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
29. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossieni
30. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
31. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
32. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
33. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
34. Anne Frank:  Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
35. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
36. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*
37. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
38. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
39. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
40. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
41. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller *
42. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
43. Native Son by Richard Wright
44. Beloved by Toni Morrison
45. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
46. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey
47. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
48. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
49. Slaughterhouse – Five by Kurt Vonnegut *
50. East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Disclaimer:  If I find I don’t like any of these tomes or their authors whilst in progress of reading I reserve the right to substitute said book with another from the really, really, really big list of banned books.