I don’t think books should be banned at all. Wow, that’s the first time I’ve consciously thought (or claimed) such a thing. It’s for no one to decide but the reader what book is appropriate (save parents of minors, of course). I want no one telling me content isn’t right for me. That’s for me to determine, given my own factors and weights.

There are times when controversy gives me a heahache, and I want to hide from it. Other times, it draws out the talk – like you said – and the feeling, the connection. I think it’s important, controversy.
.-= Janna Qualman´s last blog ..Don Your Armour: Safety in Writing =-.

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By Janna Qualman on 10.02.09 9:19 am | Permalink

Hmm. No, I probably wouldn’t get too controversial. I’m a genre writer and want to play it safe at this point in my career! Maybe when I’m older and feel like taking risks.

But you’re right…controversy can really sell some books!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

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By Elizabeth Spann Craig on 10.02.09 2:13 pm | Permalink

I don’t think it’s right to ban books… I think that’s something that should be up to parents & the individual. As for writing controversial material, I can’t really see myself doing it unless I had an excellent idea and knew I could carry it off well. I’m glad some people tackle the Big Questions though… someone has to do it
.-= Faith´s last blog ..Book Review: ‘Homer’s Odyssey’ =-.

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By Faith on 10.02.09 3:20 pm | Permalink

I am pretty conservative. But Tom Sawyer was banned and burned. People would ban the Bible. Who says what the public should read? It is our right to say. And as a parent, I decide what is suitable for my children. I don’t want someone telling me I can’t read something, whether religious or not. We need to respect the rights our Forefathers fought for and allow people read what they will.

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By Sarah on 10.02.09 4:08 pm | Permalink

I don’t think that books should be banned. People will only read what they are interested in…

Ceylan
.-= Ceylan´s last blog ..25 September 2009 =-.

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By Ceylan on 10.02.09 8:37 pm | Permalink

I absolutely don’t think books should be banned.

Certainly I believe some books would be best avoided by most children – just like movies, they could scare, confuse, or even just bore them. It depends, of course, on the child, and the business of sorting out what’s right for each kid is up to that kid with, hopefully, the help of a caring parent/teacher/librarian, who respects the kid’s ability to form opinions and make informed decisions.

That’s the problem I have with a lot of book-banning. It often isn’t about keeping children from unknowingly picking up books that could upset them, but about simply preventing them from being exposed to material that parents don’t want their kids knowing/thinking about. Then, too, there’s no consensus on what that material should be.

In a way, it’s much like the separation of church and state. It’s for the protection of everyone that we don’t allow anyone to decide what we all should believe and follow.

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By Anica Lewis on 10.08.09 1:33 pm | Permalink

A Friend sent this to me. Have a read.

AN AXE TO GRIND

By NY Times Best-selling author Steve Alten of “The Shell Game”

QUESTION: How does a tall, bearded radical Muslim living in a cave in Afghanistan divert the most powerful Air Force in the history of mankind from the most guarded air space on the planet on the very day of the worst terrorist attack…an attack that will lead to the invasion of Iraq, a country that has nothing to do with the events of 9/11?

ANSWER: He doesn’t.

On September 8th, 2009, my publisher released the mass market of The SHELL GAME, a thriller about the end of oil and the next 9/11 event – an event that will be orchestrated by Dick Cheney and the neoconservative war machine to get us to launch an invasion of Iran. The book, which is really a Trojan Horse designed to inform Americans what REALLY HAPPENED on 9/11, features shocking facts offered to me by police investigators and members of foreign intelligence services who KNEW the attacks were going to happen months in advance of September 2001…and were ignored!

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By twan on 10.17.09 12:40 pm | Permalink