underdogishere

Here we are three days into the event, and I haven't even wished everyone Happy Banned Books Week! Yes, it's Banned Books Week 2008! Time for all of us to read a banned book. Or more than one. You have lots of great choices: Just from the list of those suffering banning or attempted banning in the past year, there's the entire Harry Potter opus; Alice Walker's The Color Purple; that perennial favorite among censors, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (number four on the top-ten list, and I suspect old Sam Clemens would be tickled pink); John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men; Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird; and Richard Wright's Black Boy.

My personal recommendation for 2008? Felice Newman's The Whole Lesbian Sex Book: A Passionate Guide for All of Us. Because even if you aren't a lesbian, you are one of "All of Us."

In any event, Banned Books Week runs through next Saturday, so stand up for freedom of expression! And stand up to the censors.

Labels: Banned Books Week, Gender Issues