Sheep Shots: Read a Banned Book

Monday, July 16, 2007

Read a Banned Book

From Writer's Almanac:

"On this day in 1951, J.D. Salinger's (books by this author) The Catcher in the Rye was published. Salinger worked on it over a period of ten years, in between writing stories for magazines like the New Yorker. At one point, he had a 90—page version of the novel accepted for publication, but he thought it wasn't good enough and continued to revise and add bits and pieces.

::major snippage of plot and reviews::

"Thirty years after its publication, The Catcher in the Rye was both the most banned book in America and the second most frequently taught book in public schools. The book has sold over 60 million copies around the world. "

So, read a banned book today in commemoration.

**The Diary of Anne Frank is also banned, as is Huckleberry Finn. Go figure.

Read a banned book.

Labels: books

// posted by Ann @ 7/16/2007 04:52:00 AM

Comments:

I must say that my favorite banned book is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I'll confess to never having read The Catcher in the Rye, but it is on my list.

# posted by

Camille : 6:03 AM

funny, both anne frank & huck finn were required reading when i was in high school. anne was required reading for my son in 8th grade language arts, too (i don't know why this wasn't a lit book, but hey, at least he read it. gave him a new appreciation, for sure).

however, my english teacher made us say "servant" instead of the n-word. i thought it was lame then, and i think it's lame now. when in rome, ya know? we say african american now, but 20 years ago? black. 20 years before that? colored. it was what they said in the days the book was written. somehow it seems a perversion of twain's intent to twist the book that way (gee, i get all philosophical at 1130 at night!)

# posted by

dragon knitter : 11:24 PM

I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye in the 8th grade and feeling SO grown up because of the swear words in it!!

# posted by

Lynn : 7:58 AM