Banned Books Week

It is Banned Books Week this week, 26th September till 3rd October.

There have been a great deal of books that I’ve read that, I am only coming to learn now, are banned or challenged for one reason or other. Books I’ve read that I have found thoroughly enjoyable, or have induced me to think at a deeper level about a certain theme or topic which I otherwise would not have broached.

So to find out that these wonderful books have been banned, so as to limit their access to certain communities in the world is sad news for me. Books have been my road to knowledge, my way of escaping from the boundaries that real life confine me in, and to reveal to myself a world of endless possibilities. Through reading I have managed to visit places I’ve never physically laid foot on, and I’ve found ideas that I would never have thought of myself.

Books that challenge the status quo are books worth keeping and reading. These are the books we should be encouraging people to read, not banning them so that people can’t read.

I’ll try to read at least one book this week from the list of banned and/or challenged books found on the website HERE. But more than that, I know I’ll be making an effort to read as many of these books as I possibly can all through my reading life.

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Postscript: I’ll also be picking books from the lists found HERE and HERE, and other sites that come my way.