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Banning Books
Sometimes I'm so out of touch with media that I have no idea what's going on. Like I had no clue it was Banned Book Week until I asked a friend* if she had suggestions on what I should blog about this week. Her suggestion: books that should be banned**.
I wrestled with my conscience, debating whether or not it was fair to bash books, but that lasted all of two seconds. It's natural to have an opinion about the books you read, and just because I don't like a book doesn't mean I don't respect the author. Anyone who writes hundreds of pages and has the tenacity to get it published automatically gets great respect***.
Anyway, I digress.
It's not often I really can't stand a book, but there are a few. So without further ado...
The 2010 list of Books Banned in Kate's World!
4) Catcher in the Rye
I read it in high school and promptly chastised my English teacher for giving us such schlock to read when we could have been reading something great, like Vonnegut. Or Piers Anthony. A book about a whiny boy? Pass!
3) Anything my Malcolm Gladwell.
For the simple reason that he talked smack about genre writers once. Don't like a genre—fine—but don't put down other writers. (See my argument above.)
2) The Giving Tree
A book about a tree that gives so much to a selfish, self-centered boy it ends up a stump? Call me crazy, but that's not the message I'd want to teach a kid. Giving is good, but giving until there's nothing left of you? No thanks.
And lastly...
1) Breaking Dawn
This is where a legion of people gasp and say "What the hell, Kate? The Twilight series rocks!" Meh. The first two books had good parts, but not so I felt compelled to read the third. I read Breaking Dawn in a moment of desperation, when I had no other books at my disposal.
Worst. Book. EVER. At least, in my world.
To be fair, the Jacob section in the middle was quite entertaining, but it was gratuitous and didn't make sense in the context of the plot. And she never did anything with it.
Okay—lay into me now****. Or tell us which books you'd ban, and why. We want to know.
* Thanks, Jen! Your royalty check is in the mail.
**Sorry, AMT. But I did like your suggestion to write about sand. Really.
***Even if the book is about math.
****Just be gentle.
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Comments
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I'm with you on Catcher in the Rye!
I'd add any memoir written by a talentless celebrity such as Paris Hilton.
I'd even consider adding the last Harry Potter book...I disliked it THAT much. (ducks for cover)Posted by JB Lynn, 28/09/2010 7:15am (2 years ago)
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I read two pages of Twilight and slammed it shut laughing. So badly written... On the other hand, it has gotten a lot of people reading who wouldn't normally read, so you have to give it some credit there... As long as they then branch out into literature of some actual quality...
As far as banning books... I can't think of any off the top of my head. I want to say Can You Keep A Secret, just because I despised the heroine, but that depends on your point of view. I have no tolerance for her compulsive lying and found her completely detestable... Other readers might see her differently.
Years ago, I would have said Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, because I tried so hard to read it and found it dead boring. I recently picked it up again, and I'm totally hooked.
Posted by Karen, 28/09/2010 7:58am (2 years ago)
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Oh, and JB, I have to agree with you on the last HP... It just didn't meet the standards of the beginning of the series. Actually, toss in HP #5 while you're there - Having everything of interest happen in the last three chapters or so left the rest of the book as a torturous slog through thick mud, and made the important events so mushed-together that you couldn't understand what was happening. Also, a-certain-someone dying = Totally not cool.
Posted by Karen, 28/09/2010 8:00am (2 years ago)
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I totally agree with Breaking Dawn. That'd totally be on my list.
If I said The Bear (by Faulkner)....literature people everywhere would kill me, I think. But I really don't like that book. Faulkner pisses me off in general. Learn PUNCTUATION. gah.
Posted by Parisa, 28/09/2010 12:29pm (2 years ago)
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I didn't like the last Harry Potter either, JB. The first four were awesome though.
Karen, my sister and I were talking about an author who writes heroines we don't like. The heroines are always whiny and simpering, and you just want to smack them upside the head. ;)
P, I've gotten flack for putting Salinger on my list too.Posted by Kate, 29/09/2010 10:52am (2 years ago)
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1. Twilight... after I read it, I request the three hours of my life back.
2. Anything in the Guardians of Destiny series.Posted by Bradley, 29/09/2010 12:27pm (2 years ago)
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You're too late--my books have been banned, in a school in Arkansas. You're still a punk bastard though. ;)
Posted by Kate, 29/09/2010 2:58pm (2 years ago)
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hahahahahahhahahah!!! Bradley. That is hilarious.
Kate-yeah. I can see how you would get flack for putting Salinger on your list. You know. Since that book is regarded as a "classic." Just like Faulkner. I hate him. I really do. Well not him. Just his writing.
Also, I really do want to smack whiny, simpering heroines in the head.Posted by Parisa, 01/10/2010 6:11pm (2 years ago)
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