Library of the banned
Judging by the sheer number of books sold every year, as well as the number of films, television shows, and stage plays — not to mention the countless fanfics — inspired by literary titles, it’s fair to say that books are mankind’s best invention. And why not? Books, after all, these objects crafted from thought and ink and paper, not only build worlds, but also, explain the unknown and teach lessons, as well as fire up one’s imagination — something best encapsulated by acclaimed author Stephen King in his book On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft, with the author noting that “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
It’s disheartening to note then that throughout the world, books are still being banned from reaching their target readers, a practice that Banned Books Week — an annual awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International that celebrates the freedom to read — aims to stop.
In celebration of everyone’s freedom to read, we here at GIST have come up with a list of some of the most frequently banned books — just so you could add them to your bookshelves.
The Catcher In The Rye, J.D. Salinger
A modern classic in every sense of the word, Salinger’s
The Catcher In The Rye —a book which centers on an adolescent boy’s feelings of alienation and angst — set the bar by which most YA novels are being compared — and with good reason: its protagonist, the sarcastic and caustic Holden Caulfield, resonates well with the book’s target readers, largely due to his biting honesty.
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
Considered by many literary scholars as a definitive example of dystopian fiction, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale explores a future from the perspective of Offred, the titular Handmaid who is forced to bear children for the privileged elite of Gilead, a male-dominated totalitarian society that values females for their fertility alone.
First adapted into a film in 1990 starring Natasha Richardson in the titular role, The Handmaid’s
Tale is set to debut as a series on the streaming service Hulu sometime in 2017, with Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss as Offred. Animal Farm, George Orwell A biting satire on totalitarianism, Orwell’s
Animal Farm revolves around animals who, after fighting back against systemic oppression, start to turn into oppressors themselves.
Owing mainly to its beautifully clear — if blunt — prose, Orwell’s allegory of the Soviet revolution remains as compelling as ever, with the book showcasing a vivid gallery of characters and telling a fable that conveys the horrifying truth about how societies are manipulated through language and fear.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Revolving around the concept of Utopia — or at least, a twisted version of it — Huxley’s 1932 novel discusses reproductive rights, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning and their potential to change society.
Already adapted into two made-for-television movies, Brave New World is set to be developed into a scripted series on the SyFy Channel, according to an announcement by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
The series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling, chronicles the life of young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . The series’ main story arc concerns Harry’s struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).
Known for creatively interspersing fantasy with elements of social justice and other political subtexts such as diversity, acceptance, political tolerance, and equality, Rowling’s series has been praised by critics, with acclaimed author Stephen King even noting that the series is “a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable.”
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
A dystopian novel by English author George Orwell published in 1949, Nineteen Eighty-Four (often stylized as 1984) is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania during a time of perpetual war.
Revolving around the themes of omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation through propaganda, Nineteen Eighty-Four tells the story of one man’s nightmarish odyssey through a world ruled by a power structure that controls not only information but also individual thought and memory. A haunting literary piece, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty
Four was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. Two cinematic adaptations currently exist, with another one set to be developed following Imagine Entertainment’s acquisition of rights from Orwell’s estate.
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
A 2002 novel by Alice Sebold, The Lovely
Bones tells the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death.
The Diary of A Young Girl, Anne Frank
An honest, gripping account of what it’s like to get caught up in the throes of war, The Diary of
A Young Girl is a collection of journal entries written by Anne Frank detailing her experiences, as well as that of her family’s, during their time as refugees during the Second World War.
Its popularity inspired the 1955 play The Diary of Anne
Frank by the screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version.
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The message of Bradbury’s 1953 book is clear: knowledge should not be censored.
A classic dystopian novel chronicling a postliterate future, Fahrenheit 451 — which takes its title from the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas — stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave
New World as a prophetic account of what looks to be mankind’s unfortunate enslavement by the media, drugs and relative conformity.
Blending together powerful and poetic prose with uncanny insight, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit
451 has been adapted in other media, including François Truffaut’s 1966 film adaptation of the novel and a 1982 BBC Radio dramatization, as well as a stage play version published by Bradbury in 1979.
Lord of The Flies, William Golding
A 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding, Lord of The Flies tells the story of a group of well-educated British boys who, after getting stuck on a paradisiacal island far from modern civilization, regress to a primitive state — with disastrous results.
The Giver, Lois Lowry
A 1993 American young-adult novel by Lois Lowry, set in a society which has eliminated pain and strife by erasing emotion from their lives,
The Giver tells the story of a boy who is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the memories of the past.
The novel, which won a Newberry Medal in 1994, forms a loose quartet with three other books set in the same future era, known as The Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. A film adaptation starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and Brenton Thwaites was released in 2014.
The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
A coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky,
The Perks of Being A Wallflower revolves around an introverted teenager known as Charlie, who describes his experiences in a series of letters to an anonymous stranger. An exploration of the teenage psyche, the novel addresses themes prevalent in adolescence, such as introversion, sexuality, and drug use.
Despite being banned in some American schools for its content, the book was adapted into a film which starred actors Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson. The film boosted the novel’s sales, causing the book to reach The New York Times Best Seller list.
Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan
A story chronicling the lives of seven young men as they traverse the road to self-discovery and narrated by a choir of gay men lost to AIDS, Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing is funny, heartbreaking, and altogether realistic in its portrayal of boys dealing with relationships, coming out, gender identities and, ultimately, life and love.
Altogether a powerful mix of voices, generations, pains and fears, Two Boys Kissing is not only a modern classic, it’s also one that should be in everyone’s bookshelves.
Howl, Allen Ginsberg
The subject of a much-publicized obscenity trial when it first came out, Ginsberg’s Howl — part of his 1956 poetry collection Howl and
Other Poems — is a treatise on freedom and a raging middle finger to gross materialism, social slavery and intellectual oppression.
Powerful, raw, and striking, and at the same time, frantic, and near incomprehensible, Ginsberg’ s Howl remains an important example of how words can give a voice to those who feel alienated and different, with the poem acting as an anthem noting the importance of acceptance, diversity, and freedom.
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
A 1963 science fantasy novel by American writer Madeleine L’Engle, A
Wrinkle In Time revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract.
Noted for blending together spirituality and science fiction, L’Engle’s book — the first in what would eventually become a literary series — won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
A live action made-for-television movie of the same name was released in 2003.