Banned Book Week-Spotlight on “Catch-22″
In case you didn’t know, this is banned book week. The point is to address the issue of censorship in books and remind us of an important part of our democracy that we should not take for granted.
My personal favorite, that has been banned in certain places and times is “Catch-22.” It’s such a great piece of literature and can be applied to just about any war (and most definitely Iraq). It’s also probably the funniest book I’ve ever read as it bitterly slams the farce, bureaucracy and mismanagement of wars.
When I think about Iraq and all the contradictions that this war entails I can just imagine Yossarian, Milo and Colonel Cathcart type characters running about the place doing their respective things.
Thank goodness for great writers and war veterans like Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut for shedding such great light on war and doing it in such a humorous way.
Catch-22 image from this place.
10 Comments
My favorite banned book has always been To Kill a Mockingbird.
[...] Hey, it’s Banned Book Week. [...]
Mary Jo, I never knew that was a banned book!! My two favourites are 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Though I did enjoy Catch 22. What can I say I’m a sucker for banned books
I’ve never gotten around to reading “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Somehow that one skipped by me in high school and college.
And yeah 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are two very good examples of things we truly need to protect our society from. Unfortunately, there are too many people in this country who want to rob us of our freedoms and call people un-American for standing up for the constitution.
I was looking at books banned and this is just too funny it’s from http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
Where’s Waldo? Martin Handford. Little. Challenged at the Public Libraries of Saginaw, Mich. (1989), Removed from the Springs Public School library in East Hampton, N.Y. (1993) because there is a tiny drawing of a woman lying on the beach wearing a bikini bottom but no top. Yes, but did they find Waldo?
Stuff like this makes me think of Janet Jackson’s wardrode malfunction during the Super Bowl and how everyone went nuts about it. But footage of graffic war violence is still kosher.
My favorite banned book by far is 1984… how foretelling indeed. I just re-read it last week, and it is just creepy to read now. Back in high school when I read it, I didn’t understand what I do now.
I am going to check out that link to the forbidden list. I also wouldn’t have guessed To Kill a Mockingbird would be on there; curious to see what else…
The American Library Association has put together a list of the top most challenged books from 1990-2000:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm
To Kill a Mockingbird is number 41 on the list.
As I was reading through the list, I had to stop and shake my head all too many times.
I don’t get some of the books on that list. “Daddy’s Roommate?” What’s wrong with daddy having a good male drinking pal that shares living expenses and health insurance?
[...] Alex at Sirened, a post on banned book week, a favorite topic of [...]