How Many Have You Read?

[graceanne]

I've read 12 - and with the exception of A Handmaids Tale and The Color Purple, they're all books I read for fun. Beyond that I'm absolutely SHOCKED that A Wrinkle In Time is on there, or How to Eat Fried Worms, or a lot of the books I read as a child.

 

[midwestyankee]

Great mother of god.

Sometimes it's just flat-out embarrassing to be American.

I agree wholeheartedly. I counted somewhere around 50 or 60 books that I'm quite sure I've read, though I cheated and counted as "read" all books by authors that I've read before. Robert Cormier, the author of The Chocolate War, is on the list three times but I've only read The Chocolate War. Taught it in high school many years ago, and loved. Lists such as this make me want to forego my vow to never murder another human being, even when it would clearly benefit the gene pool.

 

[EmpressFi]

WAIT A MINUTE:

To kill a Mockingbird is on the list. OMG, it is one of the most beautifully written books of all times. It was a Pulitzer Prize Winner . And the movie stars Gregory Peck and won three Oscars.

What is wrong with these people??

Who puts out this list?

uptight people with too much time on their hands?

I've only read 21 of the names listed.. more considering some are series

 

[Primalex]

Here is the ALA list of the books most challenged between 1990-2000: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

I've read 53. It's actually a few more since there are several series listed. But they're counting them as individual books so 53.

I've read 2. What does this mean now?

 

[graceanne]

uptight people with too much time on their hands?

The library put out the list, based on what other people had problems with. Some of them didn't surprise me. I might not agree, but it didn't suprprise me to see that their'd been an objection to them, but some I'm still trying to puzzle out. Like Mark Twain, and How to Eat Fried Worms.

 

[ecstaticsub]

The library put out the list, based on what other people had problems with. Some of them didn't surprise me. I might not agree, but it didn't suprprise me to see that their'd been an objection to them, but some I'm still trying to puzzle out. Like Mark Twain, and How to Eat Fried Worms.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been on the banned listed mostly because of the word "nigger" being used in the book.

I have no idea why How to Eat Fried Worms would be banned.

 

[rakess]

A measly 18. And I consider myself well-read. A rude awakening. This is a good list and now I can figure out what I should read next.

 

[Bandit58]

My son read the Goosebumps books as a stepping stone to the huge monoliths of fantasy novels he consumes now - he's read ALL of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time And he also loved the Waldo books, although they were called "Where's Wally" in NZ.

I remember studying Lord of the Flies in high school (centuries ago lol )

Several of the children's books were in the little school library I used to volunteer in - notably Harry Potter (which never stayed on the shelves), Mommy Laid an Egg and James and the Giant Peach. The Roald Dahl books also never seemed to stay on the shelves, and I remember Matilda being read to a class of 9-10 year olds and they were riveted.

 

[GiveawayGirl]

I agree wholeheartedly. I counted somewhere around 50 or 60 books that I'm quite sure I've read, though I cheated and counted as "read" all books by authors that I've read before. Robert Cormier, the author of The Chocolate War, is on the list three times but I've only read The Chocolate War. Taught it in high school many years ago, and loved. Lists such as this make me want to forego my vow to never murder another human being, even when it would clearly benefit the gene pool.

Yank, don't murder anyone. You just wouldn't do very well in jail...

...and they only have books in prison from the "approved" list!

Seriously, I read these lists every year and it gets scarier and scarier.

 

[Incompleteidea]

I was in school during the time that list was compiled. It occurs to me that our English teachers may have used it to put together the lighter of our reading lists. Most of the books listed seem to be classics, and important gate ways to teaching kids about opinions and the larger concepts of right and wrong.

I know personally A Brave New World opened my eyes, and forced the question of what type of world do “I” want to live in and what is really possible. (keep in mind at the type the Genome project was making from page news)

All in all two big thumbs up for any teacher or parent that presses literature that’s actually worth a read.

 

[snowy ciara]

WAIT A MINUTE:

To kill a Mockingbird is on the list. OMG, it is one of the most beautifully written books of all times. It was a Pulitzer Prize Winner . And the movie stars Gregory Peck and won three Oscars.

What is wrong with these people??

Who puts out this list?

The American Libary Association isn't the actual bad guys. They just keep an eye on the bad guys and make a list of what's going on.

I actually read a lot of banned books. As a matter of fact, when I find a reference to a book that's been challenged somewhere, I make a point to find it and read it. Which is why I read the Bermudez Triangle last summer. Incidently, the challenge on that one was totally bogus, as the woman who challenged it hadn't actually read the book. Which happens a lot. People get all stupid about what they've heard the book has inside but they don't bother to READ the book before they start yelling.

I heard yesterday via Maureen Johnson's blog that Princess Diaries VIII has been challenged in South Carolina. Now I have to track down a copy of it and read it. I've read a few of the early series (I love Meg Cabot, but the PD series is a little frothy for me.) but nothing recently.

 

[Chicklet]

huh, only 24 for me.

When I was in grade school we weren't allowed to have The Lorax in the school, but that wasn't on the list.

 

[intothewoods]

I do not think I or most Americans have ever read a label on a can in Danish.

Hey - my hobby is reading Danish labels from canned goods!

 

[nh23]

I've read 45 of them. I was shocked at some of the books on that list. People are just too fucking uptight. *sighs*

 

[Yasashii_Kaze]

I'm ashamed. Only about 20, not counting the series listed. My reading has fallen behind since moving to the middle of nowhere. I need a library that has a service like Netflix. At any rate, I'll have to keep an eye out for some of the books on that list. I'm always up for a good read.

 

[FurryFury]

Not many really, as I look over the list, most are books I'd never pick up unless I knew they were challenged and perhaps not even then because I mostly read for pleasure. I don't read because I should, or as a protest or political statement. I don't read to impress others. I sometimes read to learn, for work or school. I prefer to read something I have a good chance of enjoying.

Reading the why of the challenging of the books was pretty damned hilarious. I want a T shirt from the Unshelved Book site that says, "Read Irresponsibly!"

I'm against book challenging. I'm against uptight people. I believe people can make up their own minds. If they don't bother and only follow others, well that's a choice too.

 

[graceanne]

Not many really, as I look over the list, most are books I'd never pick up unless I knew they were challenged and perhaps not even then because I mostly read for pleasure. I don't read because I should, or as a protest or political statement. I don't read to impress others. I sometimes read to learn, for work or school. I prefer to read something I have a good chance of enjoying.

Reading the why of the challenging of the books was pretty damned hilarious. I want a T shirt from the Unshelved Book site that says, "Read Irresponsibly!"

I'm against book challenging. I'm against uptight people. I believe people can make up their own minds. If they don't bother and only follow others, well that's a choice too.

I hear that. i've never been one to read a book cause someone else said I should. Quite frankly I was suprrised I'd read as many as I did.

 

[Netzach]

That's quite OK, it's not like Danish is a major language anyway. I don't know how many speak it, but it's probably not more than 5½ million or so.

Danish or anything else, I should have pointed out.

Well a rather scary number of us don't read English and were born speaking it.

Yeah it does get me rather up in arms, but so does the fact that lots of people get through the system unable to read a book objectionable or not.

I've read a number of them but not a lot of the main ones. I was never a Judy Blume reader. I think I read all the Toni Morrison ones. Private school was a good thing for me, parents more rarely pay out the ass and then try to override everything everyone wants to do with your curriculum. I was exposed to books and ideas that my family had never heard of and could never have afforded.

We got "The Indian in the Cupboard" when we were in third grade, I'm sure it was really politically incorrect, but I remember a lot more of the non fiction we got about the Algonquin and I can still name the Iroquois nations. I'm sure they've since replaced it and "the Education of Little Tree" with better books and media - there's so MUCH being written and made now from the perspectives of native people - so while I don't believe in banning I do believe that there's nothing wrong with evolving toward the inclusive and the self-representing. And books not by Klansmen, egad.

Without taking out every bit of history in which slurs were acceptable.

 

[Primalex]

A measly 18. And I consider myself well-read. A rude awakening. This is a good list and now I can figure out what I should read next.

This confuses me.

Is a book on this list better than a book not on this list? Why not one of the books that received f.e. the Stonewall Book Award?

"Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel
“The Manny Files” by Christian Burch
“The Night Watch” by Sarah Waters
“Rose of No Man's Land: A Novel” by Michelle Tea
“A Scarecrow's Bible” by Martin Hyatt
“Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights” by Kenji Yoshino
“Gay Power: An American Revolution” by David Eisenbach
“Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships” by William Benemann
“Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir” by Kevin Jennings

No offense, but "Hey, someone didn't like this book, so it must be a good book I should read." is a silly attitude.

 

[snowy ciara]

Long post, grab a drink and get comfy. There is a mild spoiler for the Golden Compass in my second paragraph! If you haven't read it, you've been warned.

This confuses me.

Is a book on this list better than a book not on this list? Why not one of the books that received f.e. the Stonewall Book Award?

"Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel
“The Manny Files” by Christian Burch
“The Night Watch” by Sarah Waters
“Rose of No Man's Land: A Novel” by Michelle Tea
“A Scarecrow's Bible” by Martin Hyatt
“Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights” by Kenji Yoshino
“Gay Power: An American Revolution” by David Eisenbach
“Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships” by William Benemann
“Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir” by Kevin Jennings

No offense, but "Hey, someone didn't like this book, so it must be a good book I should read." is a silly attitude.

Nope, a book on the list is not necessarily better than a book not on the list. Many of the books you've listed have been challenged; the two lists above were simply the most challenged in a certain time period. Several of the ones you've listed weren't out when the ALA list was compiled.

No offense taken at the last comment, but I think some persons are misreading my reasons for reading challenged books. I don't read them because they're good for me, or because I think they're better than books not on the list (several of my favorites weren't listed either), or because "someone didn't like it so it must be a good book I should read." I read challenged books for several reasons: First, given my tastes in books (what I choose to read myself) most books on the list are by authors I like and read anyway. There's a good chance if it makes the list, I'm going to like it. Second, I believe in supporting the authors I like, especially when they're facing a challenge. It can be an expensive proposition to defend your work. What better way than to buy the book? Also, in the realms of support, I'm not a "yes woman". I'm not going to defend a book just because it's written by someone I like. I'm going to read it, make my own opinion and defend it on it's own merits. For example, the whole "OMG Lyra and Will kill God in the Amber Spyglass! OMG!" thing. People are all up in arms about it. Guess what. They don't. But if you didn't read the book, you wouldn't know, as the many sheeple who are screaming for Pullman's blood don't know. I don't have a lot of respect for someone who challenges a book based on what they think is in it, and when you ask them if they've read it, they say "No". The reason I'm teaching the Bermudez Triangle is not because it was challenged in Bartlesville, Ok. Because it's a good book dealing with teenagers and love and growing up and other issues kids face today. And no, there's no explicit sex in it, as the woman who started the challenge down there claimed. Once again, if she'd read the book, she would know that. The reason I'm not teaching any of the Golden Compass novels is because I didn't like them. I felt they were a dreadful slog and if I weren't on the library committee at that school (which recommends the books that are bought for the library) I wouldn't have bothered to finish them. In this case, reading the Golden Compass books doesn't count as reading for pleasure, it was reading for my job. Did I recommend them? No. But not because of content. Because of lazy narrative style, literary cliche, bad storytelling and the message was too obvious. If you're going to write a parable about anything, you have to be subtle with the parable and not beat the reader over the head with it. The first book was pretty good, but the second two were dreadful. If we had had bottomless pockets, I wouldn't have passed on them. But we didn't and there were a lot of better books out there that we could spend the money on. If I was doing the knee jerk "it was banned so it must be good and we must read it" I would have demanded we buy the trilogy. We ended up voting for a fantasy series by a lesser known author that was much better.

The last reason that I read and teach challenged books is that I'm a contrary bitch. Nothing pisses me off more than someone I don't know telling me I can't do something for no good reason. The police can tell me to slow down when driving through a school zone and I'll do it. I can see the safety issues involved. But telling me that I can't or shouldn't read a book because I might get ideas makes me angry and I take action. I also don't think that metaphorically, Parent A should be allowed to tell Parent Y what their child is allowed to read. It should be a parent's choice to decide what their child can read. If I had kids, I wouldn't allow anyone to make a decision what my kid can read or watch or listen to except for me and spousal unit, if there was one. To that end, I have made a list of alternate books for everything I'm teaching this year. It was passed out at the beginning of the year and will be passed out again when school starts up again next week. I will not take a book away from the whole class based on one parent's objection, but I will let the parents decide for their individual child. If a parent doesn't like a book, then they can select an alternate book from the list and the kid goes to the library during in class discussion days. It's not an ideal solution, but it's better than the alternative.

 

[Primalex]

Nope, a book on the list is not necessarily better than a book not on the list. Many of the books you've listed have been challenged; the two lists above were simply the most challenged in a certain time period. Several of the ones you've listed weren't out when the ALA list was compiled.

Well, thanks for the effort, but I was replying to the poster I quoted, who said (s)he would use the list to determine which book(s) to read.

 

[snowy ciara]

Well, thanks for the effort, but I was replying to the poster I quoted, who said (s)he would use the list to determine which book(s) to read.

I realize that, but I also said something very similar in post 36, where I mentioned seeking out several books because they were challenged somewhere. My reason's are somewhat different, I think. So I felt some elaboration was necessary.

 

[Chris_Xavier]

People are just too fucking uptight. *sighs*

I agree.. nothing wrong with the books on that list..
I've read 35.

 

[myinnerslut]

ive read thirty three of them.

 

[rakess]

huh, only 24 for me.

When I was in grade school we weren't allowed to have The Lorax in the school, but that wasn't on the list.

I loved the Lorax. I can't believe it was banned. Some of the books, I don't understand why they are on the list. Like Beloved? Mostly, it was just a horribly sad story.

Oh, and the other Dr. Seuss book I loved was "Oh, the Places You'll Go."