It amazes me that people have banned a book about book banning. Such is the case with Fahrenheit 451 (Simon & Schuster, 1951) by Ray Bradbury.
This was my first time to read it. I wasn’t even sure what it was about until I opened it. The title comes from the fact that 451 degrees F is when book paper catches fire and burns.
While this is a work of fiction, the premise is alarming. The fact it was published 72 years ago, well, it’s almost like the author was clairvoyant.
To me, this is must reading. It paints a horrific picture of what happens to people when there aren’t books, when there isn’t free thought, when the powers that be control us in more ways than a free, democratic society should ever allow.
If you don’t think the United States is on a scary path, you aren’t paying attention.
There are so many categories of books that I want to read, with banned books a recent edition. I’ve now read six of the books mentioned below. Clearly, I have more work to do, especially since this is only a partial list of banned books.
The following is from Barnes & Noble:
“Top banned and challenged books you should probably read immediately:
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- They Both Die at The End by Adam Silvera
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
- New Kid Jerry Craft
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Thank you for the list. I’ve read several and now going to seek out others
I am stunned by how many books on this banned book list were part of my required class reading lists from my Catholic high school! Good for you, Norte Dame High School in Salinas, CA! Kae, you’re so right that we should be concerned – or perhaps terrified! Lisa (Class of ‘82)
what about Charlottes Web? clearly another ‘dangerous journey’. The movie “Idiocracy” also fortold the future we now live.
And how did we get here? Why our ‘best thinking’ of course.
Except we forgot – we are all mud, that’s right, the root word for Human=Humus/Humis=mud.
We are earth cells having a human experience, coded by DNA – Direct Nature Access, but prefer Gatorade (its got electrolites 🙂
and bombs bursting in air…Imagine if we just banned ‘stupidity’, nah, too much thinking required and its all part of the spectrum, the points of view that make the diverse-ity that forgot it was uni-versity
OMG! Are you kidding me? I’ve read a lot of these books on the list and to ban them makes no sense to me! I’m definitely putting the ones I haven’t read on my list if books to read.
This is a perfect list for our many book clubs in Tahoe and around the world! Most were required reading for me and they continue to be ones that I recommend to others. You can never read a book too many times. Thank you Kae!
I thankfully have read quite a few of these. But Maurice Sendak?! Really?!? Wow. It’s worse than I thought…..
I am Starting the ones I haven’t read! Thank you for sharing Kae. Scary times!