The 12 Weirdest Reasons For Banning Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
People are trying to keep great books out of libraries and schools every hour of every day, Diana Biller and Charlie Jane Anders report in io9. And often, people’s reasons for challenging these titles are really, really… outlandish. Here are 12 SF and fantasy books that people have given incomprehensible reasons for banning.
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Reasons: Too many strong women, negative, theologically impossible.
The Wizard of Oz has a good century of banning under its belt. It was widely banned in 1928 for “depicting women in strong leadership roles.” In 1957 the Detroit Public Library banned the series for supporting “negativism and [bringing] children’s minds to a cowardly level.”
Christian Fundamentalist families were concerned about the book’s theology. Arguing that all witches were evil, the group claimed that the presence of Glinda the Good Witch was a “theological impossibility.” Parents also publically worried that their children would be seduced by “godless supernaturalism.”
Read the article
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“if I could wrap her words around myself like a fuzzy blanket, I totally would.”
A delightful review of Random, the first book in my ‘The Were Chronicles‘, from Angela’s Library, the home of a reviewer and blogger who introduces herself:
“As you’ve probably guessed, my name is Angela, and I’m one of those people who can’t go anywhere without a book in my hand. I’ve been known to read while cooking dinner, brushing my teeth, and even walking across a crowded parking lot…”
I hope you’ll read the whole review but she says in part:
…Random isn’t just a story about shapeshifters, it’s a story about humanity. It’s about what it means to be a member of a family, a culture, a race. This is an ambitious undertaking, but Alexander handles it with grace and skill.
…what really made me fall in love with Random is the way Alexander writes. There’s a beauty to her language, an intelligence and insight. Take this line, for example: “I looked at her and I saw an ocean; I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw a suburban fishpond with a couple of tired koi swimming around in circles.” Her voice is comforting and warm, like snuggling up in front of a crackling fire with a mug of hot cocoa; if I could wrap her words around myself like a fuzzy blanket, I totally would.
Something else I appreciated was the humor in the book. Despite the weighty subject matter, there’s plenty of levity to keep you smiling as you read. Much of this humor comes from Jazz’s attitude, particularly towards her parents and brother. She’s funny, passionate, and mischievous in turns, and I found it very easy to like her.
Read the review
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The winner of a signed copy of Random from my week-long stint at The Author Visits is Ewan Macdonald!. Congratulations. The book will be in the mail as soon as copies arrive from the publisher.
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Can You Get Too Old For YA Novels?
The Hunger Games, Divergent, Pretty Little Liars — why do we devour young-adult fiction well past our YA years? John Green, the best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars, explains in Cosmopolitan:
Suddenly, the vast majority of my readers were grown-ups.
Ever since, I’ve been thinking about why stories about teenagers resonate so much with us as adults. I’ve been a passionate adult reader of YA fiction for a decade, and what I find so compelling about the best YA fiction is its unironic emotional honesty. When you’re a teenager, you’re often doing so many important things for the first time — everything from falling in love to grappling with heartache and loss. You also begin to ask the big questions of humanness: What, if anything, is the meaning to all this? What are my responsibilities to myself and to others?
Read the article
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Forty Portraits in Forty Years
1975, New Canaan, Conn – Photographs by NICHOLAS NIXON
2014, Wellfleet, Mass.- Photographs by NICHOLAS NIXON
Nicholas Nixon was visiting his wife’s family when, “on a whim,” he asked her and her three sisters if he could take their picture. It was summer 1975, and a black-and-white photograph of four young women — elbows casually attenuated, in summer shorts and pants, standing pale and luminous against a velvety background of trees and lawn — was the result. A year later, he suggested they might do it every year. “They seemed O.K. with it,” he said; thus began a project that has spanned almost his whole career. The series, which has been shown around the world over the past four decades and a book “The Brown Sisters: Forty Years” will be published in November.
Read the article
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Novelists Who Were Featured on International Banknotes
While American currency features former U.S. Presidents, Founding Fathers, and iconic landmarks, Rudie Obias writes at Mental Floss, many other countries put famous writers, poets, artists, and novelists on their banknotes.
James Joyce // Ireland: The Central Bank of Ireland issued £10 banknotes featuring Ulysses writer James Joyce in 1993. The back of the note features Joyce’s signature and a line from his final novel, Finnegans Wake, which read, “Riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
Read the article
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THIS ‘n THAT
What if you never got into sci-fi in the first place? Where would you start? Hilary Armstrong asks, and offers…
A reading list for newbies
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Homelife.com.offers suggestions on how to create a mini library in your home, no matter how limited your space.
Read the article
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Can you identify the movie from the book’s cover?
Take the quiz
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Quote of the Day
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Alma Alexander
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