Banned Books discussion
GENERAL BOOK DISCUSSIONS
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What book has given you the most flack?
Satia wrote: "I'm desperately trying to reduce my collection and am "forcing" myself to do a couple of things:1. I have to read three books for every 1 book I buy. this definitely keeps me from acquiring mor..."
Those sound like GREAT ideas. I, too, am trying to shrink my shelf. I have too many books. I will have to use your idea at the beginning of 2011. Thanks!
As weird as this sounds, I received the most flack from reading Harry Potter. My family is Southern Baptist and as far as they were concerned, Harry Potter was the devil. I know if my mom were alive she would not have felt the same way. She was an educator and encouraged her students to read and had Harry Potter on her classroom shelf. I had to explain to them that HP was not a demonic book and that they would know that if they actually read it.
Taneka wrote: "As weird as this sounds, I received the most flack from reading Harry Potter. My family is Southern Baptist and as far as they were concerned, Harry Potter was the devil. I know if my mom were ali..."Many in my family (my mother) felt the same way....that I should not be letting my kids read those books, BUT I did anyway.
jennbunny wrote: "Taneka wrote: "As weird as this sounds, I received the most flack from reading Harry Potter. My family is Southern Baptist and as far as they were concerned, Harry Potter was the devil. I know if ..."I hate to pick on one religion, but...my in-laws are Southern Baptist. You can do drugs, drink, commit adultry, etc. It's all "okay" if you go to church and ask forgiveness. Read "Harry Potter", vote Democrat- evil and Darksided!!!
LOL Shay-unfortunately you are pretty much right. My parents were Southern Baptist for a while, then First Baptist, then stopped going and started studying The Jewish religion.
Mod
That always gets me, if you do "evil" things you can be forgiven if you go to confession, or pray for forgiveness. Another "wonderful" idea is the idea of eternal security, which basically means, once saved, always saved (no matter what you do, if you have accepted Jesus, you are eternally saved). However, if you are skeptical of the Christian religion, or if you are not of the Christian religion, you are supposedly condemned to Hell. What a doubled standard!!
There are a lot of double standards in religion. I am not an advocate for religion. I do not believe in organized religion....now that's not to say you shouldn't get together and talk and learn, but there shouldn't be the every day (Sundays) going to church and giving money. To me, religion is all about money....whoever has the most is in "control".
I've had a fair bit of flack over the years for reading comics. Not any one book in particular just the fact that as an adult the medium itself is seen as off limits by some...to me that's like saying you should only read hardbacks.
When I recently started reading comics as an adult in my 50's, the comics stores would give me flack. They seemed to think that I didn't really belong there, that I couldn't actually be a comic book reader. But that's misconceiving their market, not censorship.
Shomeret wrote: "When I recently started reading comics as an adult in my 50's, the comics stores would give me flack. They seemed to think that I didn't really belong there, that I couldn't actually be a comic bo..."I've found that the more indy the shop the more relaxed. The goth kids in FP being particularly prone to what you are talking about...then looking confused as they discover I have the cant of the geek. As I searched for Planetary no. 27 this recured often.
But yes, "that's misconceiving their market, not censorship". When I get friendly jibes from colleagues as I read
The Goon, Volume 6: Chinatown and The Mystery of Mr. Wicker during break...different.
Mod
Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics home with me to read. That is, until they realised that I was actually readin..."I've kept all my Asteriz and Tin-tin some of which I have in 3 languages. And I have very fond memories of reding Asterix in Latin.
Mod
You were able to read them in Latin, wow, I am impressed (and a bit jealous as well). I've only ever read the Asterix books in German, French and English, I would love to be able to read them in Latin.
Goscinny and Uderzo, geniuses...just don't mention Alesia.Loved those books, haven't read them in ages, time to dig them out.
"These Romans are crazy!"
Mod
Loved those books, haven't read them in ages, time to dig them out.
"These Romans are crazy!""
Or, to say it in French, "Ils sont fous, les Romains." But, you're right, the stories did go down in quality after the death of Goscinny, Uderzo is a wonderful artist, but does not possess the same storytelling ability and humour that Goscinny did.
Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics home with me to read. That is, until they realised that I was actually readin..."Ah! I got flack for reading Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis which is the first book translated into Latin. A snooty guy at Starbucks said if HE could read Latin he'd be studying the great Roman scholars and thinkers like Cesar not reading novelty kids books. It was hard not to spit out my coffee laughing; Cesar's journals are standard beginner Latin but even my professors struggled a bit with translation of Harrius Potter.
Mod
What a funny story, lol!!! And, obviously Mr. Snooty COULD NOT read Latin, he probably just felt insignificant and upset at the fact that he could not read Latin, and you could. And, in my opinion, reading children's or YA literature in a foreign language is a great way to practice the language, I've read the first Harry Potter book in French and I really enjoyed this (much more than when I had to read Les Miserables or Madame Bovary, they are great novels, but not that easy to read if you are not completely bilingual).
Gundula wrote: "Polkweed wrote: "Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics home with me to read. That is, until they re..."Wasn't Winnie the Pooh translated into Latin? I seem to recall using this book to learn it... I think works like this are frequently used because they are familiar. When translating from Latin to English, or any other combination, there is rote word by word translation and there's translation that retains the beauty and meaning of the original. It's far easier to do the latter, which is harder, with a text that is familiar. Because you know when you've done it correctly.
Shay wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Polkweed wrote: "Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics home with me to read. That i..."I own a copy of Winnie Ille Pu. At one time my Latin was decent enough to understand it but alas no more!
Esther wrote: "Shay wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Polkweed wrote: "Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics home with me to ..."Yes, that's what it's called. I remember using it in school. I couldn't translate Latin at all now, verbs were the first thing to fall out of my mind. But, studying Latin really improves your vocabulary and helps with science.
Shay wrote: "Esther wrote: "Shay wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Polkweed wrote: "Gundula wrote: "I was home for a visit a few years ago, and my parents started giving me flack for bringing some of the Asterix comics h..."We learnt Latin with the Cambridge system (like a modern language). I still have the books stuffed in the back of one of my cupboards and I keep promising myself I'll teach myself Latin again one day!
Shay wrote: asn't Winnie the Pooh translated into Latin? I seem to recall using this book to learn it... I think works like this are frequently used because they are familiar. When translating from Latin to English, or any other combination, there is rote word by word translation and there's translation that retains the beauty and meaning of the original. It's far easier to do the latter, which is harder, with a text that is familiar. Because you know when you've done it correctly. That's partially true but it also goes in reverse. Higher level students will often translate a modern work into Latin as a project resulting in an endless amount of poems, kid's books, nursery rhymes, commercial jingles, and even beloved bits of film and tv scripts. My senior class did the bit from Holy Grail with the french soldier for the Latin convention talent show.
Mod
Gundula, I'm far more impressed that you can read and speak three languages than I can (or could) read Latin. It was, however, one of the most useful classes I took as it helped me understand grammar in general better and has helped me endlessly with vocabulary, medical lingo, quotes in books, my SATs, etc.
It is funny that the barista thought a common orator was good Latin. I suppose that it is true that it's always better to read an important work in the native tongue if you have really good comprehension but as for literary value, meh. Virgil was hard, most other stuff we read was not. I can imagine a book of fantasy would be very difficult.
Polkweed, may I ask when you were in high school? Are you talking about the national JCL conventions? I went to two of them, 1984 and 1985. They were so much fun! I did a horrible job in the academic contests (it was embarrassing) but I did win Best in Show one year for my costume of Demeter.
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Gundula, I'm far more impressed th..."
Kelly, I wish I had had a chance to take more Latin than I did. We got a year of it in grade nine and it was one of my best subjects. In grade 10, they discontinued it because one of the loud-mouthed physical education teachers wanted us to take her "modern dance" class instead. Nothing against modern dance, but Latin should have been continued and it should certainly not have been scrapped for modern dance. Oh, and I did get flack because I stated that sentiment to said physical education teacher.
As an underemployed teacher, I feel I can say, schools and their decisions are so weird, sometimes.Modern dance instead of Latin?
I was thrilled to take many years of modern dance as PE in HS. (It meant I could wear my own leotard & tights instead of the awful gym uniforms, and I could escape "sports.") But I don't think Latin was offered in my school, I might have taken it if it were. I was already in German for three or four years and Hebrew for eight, but not at my public school, of course.
(We were talking about children's books in other languages. I read "Yertle the Turtle" at Hebrew High.)
Now I use neither of those languages, but the tiny amount of Latin I've taught myself I use all the time.
Getting back to the original question: I read Gone with the Wind when I was around 11 and boys gave me some greif about it being a romance novel, or one with sex in it. It wasn't this cover, but it was like this.
Mod
Modern dance instead of Latin?
I was thrilled to take many years of modern dance as PE in H..."
Julia,
I have an advanced university degree in German, and I am always happy when I have students in my first year language classes who have had Latin in high school. It means I don't have to do as much remedial grammar instruction when I'm introducing concepts like the direct object etc.
Polkweed, may I ask when you were in high school? Are you talking about the national JCL conventions? I went to two of them, 1984 and 1985. They were so much fun! I did a horrible job in the academic contests (it was embarrassing) but I did win Best in Show one year for my costume of Demeter. I was in high school from '00-'04 and the JCL Nationals were held prohibitively far away so we just stuck to the state conventions. The only thing we ever won was the chariot race because for some reason one of the running backs (now playing pro for the Rams) decided to take Latin for language requirement.
Recently been getting funny looks for reading medieval "romances" from colleagues (it usually says "romance" somewhere on the cover, eg: Arthurian Romances). To be fair to anyone who listened to an explanation though, once they sussed they aren't chick-lit but mainly fan fiction for joust geeks, they tended to chill. One comment: "So it's like really old Tom Clancy type stuff?" I liked that...
Jaime wrote: "Esther wrote: "I got flack from my English teacher for reading 1984. He refused to believe that a 12 year old could grasp the implications. (He had no idea of much we discussed everything in our ho..."I had one who told me I needed to quit reading horror and stop writing it too because both were wasting my time and ability to write.
I get flack for reading the Harry Potter books, Twilight books, and history books. I get a lot of flack from my friends for reading in general.
In my Civics class, my teacher in HS said it wasn't possible to read Das Kapital by Karl Marx. I really did not like him. I chose it anyway. The assignment was to read a book on political theory and at least one of my classmates got away with reading the 30 pages as I recall "Communist Manifesto."(I didn't end up being able to read Das Kapital. It was the one time I used Cliff Notes.)
Elizabeth wrote: "I get flack for reading the Harry Potter books, Twilight books, and history books. I get a lot of flack from my friends for reading in general."Sounds like you need new friends.
Mod
Sounds like you need new friends."
I second that, friends who give you flack for reading, are not friends.
Thats the truth, its not really all my friends its just a few. But oh well, I know I am smarter then them.
Jaime wrote: "Ironically two best sellers : Twilight and The Da Vinci Code ."Oh, yeah. The Da Vinci Code really was a big talker. My family also gave me flack about that too.
I've never had any teachers bother me about my reading choices, but my mom gives me crap about reading fantasy (she thinks it's a silly waste of time).
I vaguely remember one of my fellow students telling my friends and me that reading Harry Potter was witchcraft, but rather than get upset our response was to "cast a spell" on him. You can't tell us what to read!
I vaguely remember one of my fellow students telling my friends and me that reading Harry Potter was witchcraft, but rather than get upset our response was to "cast a spell" on him. You can't tell us what to read!
Mod
Oh, yeah. The Da Vinci Code really was a big talker. My family also gave me f..."
I really did not like The Da Vinci Code, but I would never give anyone flack for reading and/or liking the book. Just like you have stated, you choose what you want to read. However, I have gotten serious flack from a few people because I did not like the book, and that's not right either. We all have the right to read what we like and to like and/or dislike books.
Donegal, I love your response to the student about the Harry Potter series, you probably seriously freaked him/her out (although, it might backfire if the student's parents then tried to get the HP series banned or removed from the library, but I still loved the response). I did something similar once when some religious group kept on knocking on my door (I finally told the canvassers that I was a witch and started chanting in Latin, they screamed and beat a hasty retreat, never bothered me again).
Hi I'm new here. I think the most "controversial" book I've read is Lady Chatterley's Lover. I have always enjoyed reading, since I was child and my parents supported it. They didn't tell me what to read and let me choose my own readings. When I was around 15 years old I found a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover on my parents' library and took it because I had heard it was sexy. I remember picking it up secretly because my father had told me that "I was not ready for it". I remember that book and "Tropic of Cancer" were the only ones they ever told me I couldn't read. I found it boring so I just gave up, but the book stayed on my shelf for years. Later on, while I was studying English Literature in college (I'm spanish by the way) I read something else by Lawrence but I just remember professors reaction of hate toward Lawrence for his misogyny. About a year ago I decided to give another chance to the book, trying to forget my prejudice against Lawrence, considering myself a feminist. The reaction was of dislike to the book as far as Lawrence's writing style, but totally hooked on the story. I could understand why people hate the book, but at same time got deeply moved by the story. But every time I mentioned it to my friends they smiled and got surprised when I said I enjoyed it.
I also remember reading the book on a bus. An old man sitting beside me gave a look to my book cover and told me "young women shouldn't read porn" I got so shocked I could just laugh.
I also remember reading the book on a bus. An old man sitting beside me gave a look to my book cover and told me "young women shouldn't read porn" I got so shocked I could just laugh.
Mod
You know what you should have told the old man on the bus. "I'm actually a vampire and I'm really over 500 years old." I wonder what his reaction would have been then.
But seriously, the fact that you tried to read Lady Chatterly's Lover at 15 and got bored is telling. I'm actually quite certain that many, if not most children and teenagers will not enjoy books they really are not ready for yet, and will often quit reading them. I know that happened to me when I tried to read some of my mother's German historical romances when I was about twelve (even though my mother had warned me that I would not like these books or understand them yet); I was bored and gave up, but when I tried them again at around age 18, I loved them.
Gundula wrote: "Antía wrote: "Hi I'm new here. I think the most "controversial" book I've read is Lady Chatterley's Lover. I have always enjoyed reading, since I was child and my parents supported it. They didn't ..."
haha Gundula, that would have been a good reply, pity I couldn't get a fast and polite way of telling him to mind his own business :)
Yes, I agree with my father now that I read it that I was not ready for it as teenager. I guess what attracted me was the fact that I was not allowed to read it.. and that coming from parents that educated me as liberal and open-minded as possible.
I might be out of topic, but I have been surfing around your previous discussions and it shocked me the children books that are banned! Specially Roald Dahl, but I'd like to comment that I remember reading "The Outsiders", Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Anne Frank's Diary as obligatory readings in school.
haha Gundula, that would have been a good reply, pity I couldn't get a fast and polite way of telling him to mind his own business :)
Yes, I agree with my father now that I read it that I was not ready for it as teenager. I guess what attracted me was the fact that I was not allowed to read it.. and that coming from parents that educated me as liberal and open-minded as possible.
I might be out of topic, but I have been surfing around your previous discussions and it shocked me the children books that are banned! Specially Roald Dahl, but I'd like to comment that I remember reading "The Outsiders", Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Anne Frank's Diary as obligatory readings in school.
Mod
I think there are actually more children's books than adult books that are banned and all for the most ridiculous reasons. As I think many of us have said in this group, you have a right to not read a book, to be offended by a book, and you also have a right to censor your own children's reading (up to a certain age only, in my opinion), but you should never have the right to censor what other children are allowed to read, what is available at the library etc.
Yeah, I also come up with great statements "after" usually I'm too shocked if someone says something like that and cannot think of what to say.
I also get flack for reading books over again. But you know if I like a book. I want to read it again, and then sometimes like "The Giver" I read three times, first time I hated it, the second time I kind of like it, and the the last time I really loved it. Sometimes it is how I make since of a book.
Mod
Almost all of the books I like, and all of my favourites, I have read and reread.
Gundula wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "I also get flack for reading books over again. But you know if I like a book. I want to read it again, and then sometimes like "The Giver" I read three times, first time I hated i..."I am glad someone understands.
Mod
Understand completely, there are some series, like the Anne of Green Gables series, that I think I have read five or six times (and I try to reread LOTR every year).
Elizabeth wrote: "I also get flack for reading books over again. But you know if I like a book. I want to read it again, and then sometimes like "The Giver" I read three times, first time I hated it, the second time..."
I understand you completely. I often re-read books. Mostly my favourites (I think my record is four times Jane Austen's Persuasion) and sometimes books I had the feeling first time I didn't get into and deserves another chance. First time I read "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys I didn't really enjoy it and re-reading it 5 years later I loved it! I just think there are books that are savored better on second (or thrid) try.
I understand you completely. I often re-read books. Mostly my favourites (I think my record is four times Jane Austen's Persuasion) and sometimes books I had the feeling first time I didn't get into and deserves another chance. First time I read "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys I didn't really enjoy it and re-reading it 5 years later I loved it! I just think there are books that are savored better on second (or thrid) try.
Towelhead---- I was carrying the book when I was in the mall and I received so many bad looks that i actually bought something just so I could have a bag for the book. I hardly ever use bags so this was a big stretch for me. I walked into Hot Topic and bought a CD. When I was explaining to the cashier why I was running in to buy the CD she was sympathetic and even gave me a nice reusable bag for free (they usually charge a dollar). She also wrote down the name and author of the book to check it out.
Kathy wrote: "Towelhead---- I was carrying the book when I was in the mall and I received so many bad looks that i actually bought something just so I could have a bag for the book. I hardly ever use bags so thi..."That is an amazing book. So many emotions came from me, because I cared about Jasira even though her parents did not. I never want to meet people like Jasiras' parents or the Dursley (Harry Potter), EVER.
I've gotten flack for reading in general. Isn't that sad? Anyway, I think Harry Potter has given me the most flack. People would call me a loser in middle school for being so devoted to the series. The Da Vinci code as well during high school. That was for religious reasons i'm assuming.
Banned Books
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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We all have people in our lives who challenge our freedom to read. Some of us (speaking for myself here) may have even chided another for their choice in..."
WOW! I am sorry you had to go through that. Whenever I see students reading, I am more intrigued about the literature. I would rather read it before I judge it.