Read a Banned Book!

Have you ever had someone look at the cover of the book you are reading and say something like, “Oh, honey. You don’t read those kinds of books. Do you?” That was when I bought a book cover back in the ’80. So nosy people on the train in NYC and on the subway could not see what I was reading. That was before my eReader made such efforts unnecessary. Still in angers me that my reading choices (mostly popular fiction heavy on romance) consistently draw such criticism.

Romance is often undermined. I think that is because it is popular among women, speaks of committed relationships instead of war and death and is largely written for and by women. So it can’t be important. This happened to my mother at her bookclub. She had out my latest release on the coffee table and a member lifted it and said, “Oh, Peg! You are not reading this! Are you?” My mom looked her dead in the eye and said, “My daughter wrote that book.” Well you can imagine the stammering, justifying, placating and back peddling that ensued!

Photo by San Jose Public Library: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanjoselibrary/

Lots of books suffer from being discounted, diminished, marginalized and outright banned.

I looked up a list of banned books on GoodReads and was happy to see how many I have read and enjoyed. Most recently, I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and recommend it highly.

I hope you include BANNED BOOKS in your to-be-read pile! They are proof of the words of Oscar Wilde.

“There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are either well written or badly written.”