Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Books That Should Be Challenged Instead of '50 Shades of Grey'


Every year, we hear about the hugely depressing spectacle of books being challenged and removed from American libraries and schools because someone out there objects to their content (usually on the grounds of depictions of people enjoying themselves in bed.) 

This week it was hugely successful erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey, which has been removed from the shelves of libraries in parts of Florida for its depictions of, y’know, people having sex. Absurd as the whole situation is, it did get us thinking about some books that are far more deserving of being removed from library shelves than EL James’s sexual exploits. 


Obligatory disclaimer: we’re of course not in the market for banning any books, but we’d much prefer to find the kiddies reading 50 Shades of Grey than any of this lot.

1 comment:

Mark Hubbard said...

I stopped reading this one where the reviewer's summary of Atlas Shrugged was 'it's all poor people's fault'. Trite. And the reviewer would rather children read 'Fifty Shades of Tripe' than be challenged by reading philosophical writing such as Ayn Rand.

The only thing this piece evidences is proof of generation airhead, and why the West has been turned by Keynesian Statism into police states presiding over our gulags of good (misplaced) intentions, all of which are bankrupt morally, as well as economically.

And I'm not saying to read Rand is to agree with her, hell, I'm reading Erdal's wonderful philosophical novel 'The Missing Shade of Blue' which is built upon the anti-reason of Hume, an immoral philosophy I'm implacably opposed to, but I'm still enjoying it, it's making me think about the world I live in, both physically and inside my head.

But this reviewer - whoever, I've forgotten - prefers to serve up the lowest denominator of erotica over thinking: I hope they're not teaching children.