Random Facts: Top 100 Banned/Challenged Novels of the 20th Century

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from librarians, booksellers, publishers, teachers, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the United States. The goal of the OIF is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries. The ALA compiles lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools. The ALA condemns censorship and works to support free access to information. Below is the ALA’s list of the top 100 banned/challenged novels of the 20th century. For more information on why these books were challenged, visit challenged classics.

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son, by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
38. All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
41. Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
52. Howards End, by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz, by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor
62. Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
68. Light in August, by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time, by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise, by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians, by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles
94. Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie

New in Non-Fiction:

Take Heart: Poems from Maine, selected by Poet Laureate Wesley McNair.  Down East Books, 2013.

Each week for the last several years, Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair offered a previously published poem by a Maine poet in his weekly newspaper column, Take Heart. These poems, along with a brief introduction of the poet’s background and their connection to Maine, were published in newspapers across the state with help from the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Designed to bring Maine Poetry to Maine newspapers, the Take Heart anthology was recently published in April, National Poetry Month.

The collection “will inspire tears, laughter and help you to carry on, poems from the heart,” says a press release from the publisher.

“It is my mission as Maine poet laureate to find new ways of bringing poetry to the people, reminding them in the process that it is not only for special occasions, but for every day of our lives,” McNair said.

 

Wesley McNair is the fourth Poet Laureate. He is the author of 20 books, nine volumes of poetry and two books of nonfiction, and he has edited five anthologies of Maine writing, including three that feature Maine poetry. He has won grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. Among his other honors are the Robert Frost Prize, the Theodore Roethke Prize, the Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal for “distinguished contribution to the world of letters. ” A professor emeritus and writer in residence at the University of Maine at Farmington, he lives in Mercer, Maine.

Most Loved Children’s Books Infographic ~

Random Musings ~ The Anatomy of a Librarian:

Author Lecture Series presents Layne Witherell : Wine Maniacs : Life in the Biz

Join us on Sunday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. Pasco Author Lecture Series presents Layne Witherell : Wine Maniacs : Life in the Biz at Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library.

If you shop at Trader Joe’s in Portland, you might know the very friendly, very helpful gentleman in the Wine Department. After spending 30 years in the business, Layne knows his stuff.  This is an irreverent, readable memoir by a man who has experienced all aspects of the business for over 30 years; from retailer, wholesaler, writer, teacher, radio-commentator and judge at wine competitions. Wine connoisseur, Layne Witherall will read from his book ‘Wine Maniacs: Life in the Biz’ and talk about his experiences of buying and tasting wine all over the country as well as the hype, the heroes, the forgotten pioneers and more. Topics will also include wine dinners, restaurant lists and direct shipping.  If you like wine and like to learn in an understandable vernacular, join us for what promises to be a highly entertaining talk.  Refreshments will be served following the lecture. FMI Contact Louis T Graves Memorial Public Library at 967-2778 or visit our website at http://www.graveslibrary.org.

Children’s Book Week – May 13-19, 2013

Children’s Book Week is the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading. Children’s Book Week, established in 1919, is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, and homes to encourage a love of reading.

Children’s Book Week is administered by Every Child A Reader, non-profit literacy organization dedicated to instilling a love of reading in children. The Children’s Book Council, is an anchor sponsor and a national non-profit trade association for children’s book publishers.

Each year, the Children’s Book Council enlists illustrators of beloved children’s literature to design the commemorative Children’s Book Week Poster and Bookmark. Visit the Children’s Book Week website to Download the 2013 Book Week bookmark by author-illustrator, Grace Lin and order your free 2013 Poster by Caldecott winner, Brian Selznick!

Visit the Children’s Book Week Website where you can download a variety of activities for children and teens. It also includes official Children’s Book Week events, as well as resources for teachers, librarians, publishers and booksellers. And don’t forget to visit your local Library and celebrate the joy of children’s books with your children!