Banned Books Week

by Thom Milkovic/Unsplash

Today’s the last day of Banned Books Week, which was started by the American Library Association to bring “national attention to the harms of censorship.”

The ALA’s website lists the 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books from 2010 to 2019. Also, Goodreads provides a list of Best Banned, Censored, and Challenged Books. A nasty irony that books about restrictive societies are included among these restricted books.

I picked several books from both sources, and am including quotes to show just a sliver of the wisdom within these books. Of the lists, I chose books that I’ve read, heard the audio version, or seen the movie version.

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“Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

“The longest way must have its close — the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning.”
― Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“Well, I’d rather be unhappy than have the sort of false, lying happiness you were having here.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories

“To love is to be vulnerable; and it is only in vulnerability and risk—not safety and security—that we overcome darkness.”
― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

“There’s a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep ‘em all away from you. That’s never possible.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“The community of the Giver had achieved at such great price. A community without danger or pain. But also, a community without music, color or art. And books.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.”
― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give