Thursday 4 October 2012

In Honour Of Banned Book Week

To those who don't know already, this week is Banned Book Week. Banning books is every bit as controversial as the rise of the ebook, self publishing and the increasing sentience of Furby toys, but for most of us - living as we do in Western democracies - we don't think about it all that much.

Go hunting on the Banned Book Week website, and you might find an awful lot of your favourite books on there. I nearly fell out of my chair with ironic mirth when I realised that most of the books I've been set as school reading throughout the years were on this list . . . and that, when I tried to include the themes they are so frequently banned for, my teachers used to look at me as if I'd just declared myself Field Marshal of the Penguin Armies of Mars.

Some people were sharper off the mark than I was, though, and the lovely Notebook sisters - the frabjuous Cait and Mime, whom you have doubtless met in the comment section of my posts - invited me over to their blog to do a post on the subject of banned books.

You can hop on over and read "Another Banned Guest Post" here. Don't forget to leave comments - the sisters, as I know from experience, will love you forever, and leave you some seriously awesometastic replies. I'll be heading on over to check up too . . . so be there, or be goo-gunned for desertion! 

In the meantime, what about you lot? Are you writing a post in honour of Banned Book Week? What are your views on banning books? Do you agree with what I said in my guest post? Am I talking rot? How many rotten corn-on-the-cobs are you going to throw at me for my foolishness?

And most importantly . . . what's your favourite banned book?

~ Charley R

32 comments:

  1. My favourite banned book? Off the top of my head, The Great Gilly Hopkins, but that was kind of obvious from my semi-review thingy. I love a book where you can both laugh and cry... :)

    Nice to know we're Frabjous. :) Highly comforting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're very welcome - and the honour of addressing you in that manner is all mine. 'Tis the truth, after all.

      Delete
  2. Aww, aren't you awesome!! And for the record, I personally loved your banned guest post. And I'm not so sure about the rise of Furbies either. And if it comes down to throwing corn on the cobs, I won't toss, I promise, but I might laugh. It sounds funny. xD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They're coming for us. It's certain. The new toy packaging even says "The toy with a mind of its own!" on it.
      They're coming . . .

      Hehehe, thank you! I'm glad you liked it :)

      Delete
  3. Hm, I must be out of the Furby Loop, so long as we don't feed them after midnight we should be safe... right? :}

    And now I shall have to go looking at BOTH sites you liked to and see what I can find. I had no idea it was Book banning week, but that explains a post I saw on face book earlier. :}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OKay favorite banned book (on the short list I saw) "To Kill a Mockingbird" - I don't remember the offensive language (but could guess what word they likely meant) and rasism... actually the main character learns not to 'judge a book by it's cover' and HELOOOO people - we were highly racist back in the time when the book was set.*eyeroll* It's a history lesson in fiction form, which can be the best kind... nom nom nom

      (And my teacher totally didn't like my peice I wrote from Boo radly's point of view *pout*)

      Oh and no need to point that goo gun at me, Wholwaski will be in range soon enough. *grins*

      Delete
    2. I don't understand all the hype on To Kill a Mockingbird - I still can't stand that book! It's just so . . . dull. I don't know why, but I've never been able to finish it. It's just bored me so much. And Scout is so profoundly irritating it almost hurts.

      Mwue he he he he he . . . I await his arrival eagerly . . .

      Delete
    3. I don't remember it being dull or Scout irritating, but it's been a while. I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" for school. I suspect it may be a book better 'in context'. Having lived in the 'deep south' of the United States for about 4 years, I probably was more 'in context' that you are. :}

      Delete
    4. Finally, someone agrees with me! :P I was bored by To Kill A Mockingjay...

      Wait. Must. Stop. Thinking. About. The. Hunger. Games. I meant... Mockingbird. xD

      Delete
    5. Nevillegirl . . . you are not alone. CURSE YOU, SUZANNE COLLINS! xD

      Delete
  4. Charley: I know you just did a guest post for the Sisters, and you write at least three of them per day for my blog in comments alone (for which I'm much obliged), but either it was you or it was me who was the 5000th commenter on my blog. Naturally, this is a big occasion, and I'd like to thank you for having authored at least 1500 of those comments by offering you another guest post. If you don't want to, I'll take the post and give it to the first person who comments on the announcement post, providing they haven't already done a guest post. So... if you wish, you could have the chance for everlasting fame. *cough* Not that there's anything wrong with your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You kidding - I'd love to! Any particular theme you'd like me to touch on? Or does my own merry madness run free once again?

      Delete
    2. http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/widgets

      ^Would you be interested in the Word War Widget? I thought it could be fun… I’m asking a few other people as well. I'm definitely participating, since I'm the one pestering people about this. xD Mike of The Zebra Clan (http://laughablog.wordpress.com) is also participating. Liam and Miriam might.

      Delete
    3. Anything you come up with would be great. If you could send that over NaNoMail, it would also be great. Interrupting our conversation thereby would not be so great, but it kind of levels out in the end.

      Delete
    4. Dokie doke! I'll get on it :)

      Delete
  5. I wrote a post about censorship of books a few weeks back, not knowing it was Banned Books Week now. I would've saved it if I'd known. Ehehe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, I only know because the Notebook Sisters told me. Otherwise I'd never have known xD

      Delete
    2. Teens Can Write Too told me ;)

      Delete
  6. Charley? Did you see what I wrote about the War War widget thing for NaNo? It somehow ended up with your conversation with Liam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah! Sorry, yes, I did see that - sorry. I'm afraid I can't download the widgets as I'm at school, and the school internet blocks the transaction from working properly (I'm at boarding school and thus cannot escape it)

      I would absolutely love to wage widget-based war with you, though, and I'm really sorry I can't take you up on your offer . . . can I have your NaNo name though? I would love to buddy-fy you. We could wage our own informal word-war there ;)

      Delete
    2. It's OK!

      It looks like you don't have to download anything though - I just copied the HTML code and it worked fine. I don't know if that's only a WordPress vs. Blogger thing, though.

      Sure, I'm nevillegirl! And yours? :D

      Delete
    3. Heh, it seems the school internet has a thing against the coding - the image won't come up properly. Dipstick thing that it is.

      Totally going to hunt you out now *grins*

      Delete
    4. O.O Hmm. :( I'll let Liam know. xD As soon as he found out that I was asking you, he was like, "Hmm, I should join..." xD

      Delete
    5. I'm going to have another battle with it today . . . hoping it'll work! *grins*

      Delete
    6. Yes, at first the widget didn't work for me either, so who knows?

      Delete
  7. Hello again! ...I forgot something. Miriam says I should imagine Gollum speaking in your voice when I get bored while reading LotR (I'm trying to finally finish the series) because apparently you have a great Gollum impression. Also, I have been informed that you have a vlog (or at least a YouTube account)? *bats eyes and smiles winningly* Can you do an impression and put up a video of it? :D

    Are you 17? Miriam said you were a year ahead of her in school...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello there!
      I do indeed have a YouTube account: CharleyRWriter is the username, and if you flip through my blog archive you'll like as not find a coupe of videos from it.

      I do do a rather marvellous gollum impression. My normal speaking voice also brings her a great deal of mirth because I sound rather posh in comparison to most British teens. I don't know which she means, but I'm flattered nevertheless, haha!

      And yes, I am seventeen. With the maturity level of your average five year old ;)

      Delete
    2. *watches some of her videos* Hmmm. Maybe I don't really know what a posh British accent is. xD But I don't think you sound that posh... Miriam's voice is more like what we silly American teens think British people sound like.

      Delete
    3. Heh heh, tell her that. She'll have kittens!

      Delete
    4. Blimey, I shall, old chap! :P

      Delete
  8. You do do? >:) *also is about five years old at heart*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mwue he he he, I do do as I do, don't you? ;)

      Delete