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Banned Book...or Books...
Continuing the Book Meme from yesterday...
Banned Book - apparently this book made #48 on 50 Most Banned Books in America during the 2021-2022 school year.
How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi - I listened to it as an audiobook - and the man does a good job of reading his own book.
This is the book that people were throwing at me on social media throughout the summer. I listened to the audio book version read by the author.
The author is very good at reading his own book, and instills in it a passion and fervor that may or may not be missing from the print version. Kendi's voice is deep and rich, and beautiful to listen to.
It's excellent in some respects, and at its best when Kendi entwines his own experience with his ideals. Utilizing examples from that experience to hammer home a point or provide a historical and personalized take on racism, and how racial policies, beliefs, and the racialization of behavior have affected our society, much to our detriment, over time.
Where it falls flat is - Kendi has a tendency to fall into the trap of preaching or sermonizing, which works better from the bully pulpit than from the pages of a book. This happens more towards the end of his book though, than in the beginning and middle, and to be fair he does make his case.
I agree with 98% of what he states, but I think he may be generalizing a little on capitalism, and this could turn off some readers. Slavery, unfortunately, predates capitalism. It existed with theocratic states back in Biblical times. That said, he's not wrong that capitalism does in some respects encourage slavery or the need or desire for it.
That said, he makes a strong point about how we all have a tendency to view the behaviors of others based on racial identity. Instead of seeing individuals, we see their race. And this tendency is universal and not limited to any one race or color. That in truth race has nothing to do with behavior, intellect, or personality of an individual. And people should not be judged on their race, and policies should not be based on race. He lays out a game plan on how to combat racism, stating that first and foremost, we most all confront our own racism, and to become an anti-racist, is to first acknowledge one's own racial views and combat them. Bravely and honestly, he examines his own racist views, include transphobic and homophobic and sexist - and breaks them down, confronting them as he goes, but by no means defining himself or others. If anything he says that people should not be grouped together and should be treated as individuals in their own right. And not judged on one specific set of behaviors alone. But should constantly confront those behaviors and question them, along with the instiutionalized behaviors and policies that further racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobic agendas - which hurt us all. Racism, Kendi states, hurts everyone - racist policies and procedures are to the detriment of all humans.
It's a book that I think everyone should read and discuss. And wholeheartedly recommend. We may not have much control over what is going on in our world at the moment, but we can control how we choose to react to it, and what we wish to focus on. This too, is proclaimed through Kendi's book.
Kendi is a cancer survivor and he equates racism to cancer, stating clearly in the final chapters, that both can be overcome.
Now I want to see how many of the 50 Most Banned Books in America that I've read. Every time I see those lists, I feel compelled to read all the books on them.
During the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1,600 books were banned from school libraries. The bans affected 138 school districts in 32 states, according to a report from PEN America, an organization dedicated to protecting free expression in literature.
And the number of bans are only increasing yearly.
Texas and Florida lead the nation in book bans — a revelation that recently spurred Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to call her city a "book sanctuary."
But what are the most commonly banned books in America, and why are they considered controversial? Here are the 50 most commonly banned books in America from the 2021-2022 school year, with data supplied by PEN America.
That list is impossible to reprint without giving myself a headache. Dammit.
I found another list. Top 50 Banned Books in America
And here's an abbreviated version of the Pen American List:
The Most Banned Titles in the 2021–22 School Year
The most banned book titles include the groundbreaking work of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, along with best-selling books that have inspired feature films, television series, and a Broadway show. The list includes books that have been targeted for their LGBTQ+ content, their content related to race and racism, or their sexual content—or all three.
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (41 districts)
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (29 districts)
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez (24 districts)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (22 districts)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (17 districts)
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison (17 districts)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (16 districts)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (14 districts)
Crank by Ellen Hopkins (12 districts)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (12 districts)
l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle (12 districts)
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (12 districts)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (11 districts)
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin (11 districts)
Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier (11 districts)
Looking for Alaska by John Green (11 districts)
Melissa by Alex Gino (11 districts)
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (11 districts)
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (11 districts)
Pen America On the Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools
Banned Book - apparently this book made #48 on 50 Most Banned Books in America during the 2021-2022 school year.
How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi - I listened to it as an audiobook - and the man does a good job of reading his own book.
This is the book that people were throwing at me on social media throughout the summer. I listened to the audio book version read by the author.
The author is very good at reading his own book, and instills in it a passion and fervor that may or may not be missing from the print version. Kendi's voice is deep and rich, and beautiful to listen to.
It's excellent in some respects, and at its best when Kendi entwines his own experience with his ideals. Utilizing examples from that experience to hammer home a point or provide a historical and personalized take on racism, and how racial policies, beliefs, and the racialization of behavior have affected our society, much to our detriment, over time.
Where it falls flat is - Kendi has a tendency to fall into the trap of preaching or sermonizing, which works better from the bully pulpit than from the pages of a book. This happens more towards the end of his book though, than in the beginning and middle, and to be fair he does make his case.
I agree with 98% of what he states, but I think he may be generalizing a little on capitalism, and this could turn off some readers. Slavery, unfortunately, predates capitalism. It existed with theocratic states back in Biblical times. That said, he's not wrong that capitalism does in some respects encourage slavery or the need or desire for it.
That said, he makes a strong point about how we all have a tendency to view the behaviors of others based on racial identity. Instead of seeing individuals, we see their race. And this tendency is universal and not limited to any one race or color. That in truth race has nothing to do with behavior, intellect, or personality of an individual. And people should not be judged on their race, and policies should not be based on race. He lays out a game plan on how to combat racism, stating that first and foremost, we most all confront our own racism, and to become an anti-racist, is to first acknowledge one's own racial views and combat them. Bravely and honestly, he examines his own racist views, include transphobic and homophobic and sexist - and breaks them down, confronting them as he goes, but by no means defining himself or others. If anything he says that people should not be grouped together and should be treated as individuals in their own right. And not judged on one specific set of behaviors alone. But should constantly confront those behaviors and question them, along with the instiutionalized behaviors and policies that further racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobic agendas - which hurt us all. Racism, Kendi states, hurts everyone - racist policies and procedures are to the detriment of all humans.
It's a book that I think everyone should read and discuss. And wholeheartedly recommend. We may not have much control over what is going on in our world at the moment, but we can control how we choose to react to it, and what we wish to focus on. This too, is proclaimed through Kendi's book.
Kendi is a cancer survivor and he equates racism to cancer, stating clearly in the final chapters, that both can be overcome.
Now I want to see how many of the 50 Most Banned Books in America that I've read. Every time I see those lists, I feel compelled to read all the books on them.
During the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1,600 books were banned from school libraries. The bans affected 138 school districts in 32 states, according to a report from PEN America, an organization dedicated to protecting free expression in literature.
And the number of bans are only increasing yearly.
Texas and Florida lead the nation in book bans — a revelation that recently spurred Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to call her city a "book sanctuary."
But what are the most commonly banned books in America, and why are they considered controversial? Here are the 50 most commonly banned books in America from the 2021-2022 school year, with data supplied by PEN America.
That list is impossible to reprint without giving myself a headache. Dammit.
I found another list. Top 50 Banned Books in America
And here's an abbreviated version of the Pen American List:
The Most Banned Titles in the 2021–22 School Year
The most banned book titles include the groundbreaking work of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, along with best-selling books that have inspired feature films, television series, and a Broadway show. The list includes books that have been targeted for their LGBTQ+ content, their content related to race and racism, or their sexual content—or all three.
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (41 districts)
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (29 districts)
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez (24 districts)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (22 districts)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (17 districts)
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison (17 districts)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (16 districts)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (14 districts)
Crank by Ellen Hopkins (12 districts)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (12 districts)
l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle (12 districts)
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (12 districts)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (11 districts)
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin (11 districts)
Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier (11 districts)
Looking for Alaska by John Green (11 districts)
Melissa by Alex Gino (11 districts)
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (11 districts)
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (11 districts)
Pen America On the Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools