It's that time of year...

September 26 - October 3 is Banned Books Week.

Visit the American Library Association to read about the Who, What, and Why of Banned/Challenged Books. After that, check your personal shelves, head to a library, or purchase an ebook/book of one that intrigues you, then realize how lucky you are to be able to make your own choices. A new site to me, the Illinois Library Association, has a great brochure up [free pdf download] of the 2008-2009 challenged/banned books. After going through it and noting the various reasons for their being on the list, I chose to read Mark Bowden's "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War", removed from a Louisiana High School for cursing.

Did you know Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet On The Western Front" was banned by Hitler and burned, banned for Austrian soldiers, Czech military libraries, in Italy for ani-war propoganda, and during this time in the US, what did they do? Banned it in Massachusettes for obscenity and in Chicago seized by US Customs. All this happened from 1929 to 1933.