Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Share and discuss book ideas for
Task 15: Read a banned book and complete a task on Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides.

I'm probably going to read Another Country by James Baldwin

Monday's Not Coming
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I'm thinking about Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Heavy, or All Boys Aren’t Blue.

I keep saying I will read This One Summer for a task like this one like every year and I continue to have not read it. I stg I will read this book this year, like damn.

All the Canadian members here shouldn't have any issue with the portion of completing a task from Book Riot’s How to Fight Book Bans guides, as these pretty much always include "vote" and there's a federal election this year. I do recommend checking out these tasks for real though, fuck censorship.

I'm going to finally read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

I always struggle with these. I’m Canadian and we don’t ban books! I’ll read a book that was banned in the States, but I can’t exactly write to my congressperson as we don’t have them.

Oh you’re right! I do always vote and I forgot that there will be an election in October of this year.

Not sure how to approach this as I live in a country that doesn't ban books. I can pick something from lists of banned books in the USA, and recommendations here, but I cannot do much regarding the task in the guide.
I know this is important, but it would be nice if they found a way to include instructions to approach the task differently if you don't live somewhere where books are banned.

I'm going with "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

Jillypenny wrote: "I always struggle with these. I’m Canadian and we don’t ban books! I’ll read a book that was banned in the States, but I can’t exactly write to my congressperson as we don’t have them."

This is a misconception, unfortunately. Book bans/challenges do happen in Canada, and they're on the rise just like they are in the US. Our number of bans/challenges is much smaller still, but it's important to be vigilant. Fortunately, they do seem to be less successful, but the idea of increasing book bans has been a conservative talking point, which does make voting that much more important.

Here is an article about how book bans are on the rise here (along with a couple of recent examples): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/freedo...

And an article of examples: https://www.cbc.ca/books/29-books-tha...

And since the selection is smaller for banned book reads here, you can also check out this list of books by Canadian authors that have been banned/challenged outside of Canada: https://www.freedomtoread.ca/resource...

It's also worth noting that forms of "quiet" censorship are more likely to happen here, but action can still be taken. My local library had a middle grade nonfiction comic about Black history shelved with the adult books, and by contacting the library via email I was able to get it moved. Plus if you notice that a book that is sometimes featured on banned books lists is not available at your library that it may have been a deliberate purchase exclusion, but you can usually request that your library purchase the book (they also often allow you to include any additional notes on your request, which means you can explicitly say something like "this is a frequently banned book that I think would add value to our library, represent our community, etc").

Australia has banned some books, but most of these happened in the early part of last century. I'll read Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence. I do remember there was a furore here about American Psycho by BE Ellis, and it had to be sold in plastic wrap, like some porn magazines here. This is not the case anymore. Australia hardly ever bans books. The most recent example was a council in a Sydney suburb banning same sex parenting books. The ban didn't last for long! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-1...#

Always wanted to read Slaughterhouse-Five

The wonderful thing about living in the US is this means you can read almost anything, and rest assured it has been banned somewhere for some reason. This might be the year I finally read And Tango Makes Three

My project for 2025 is to [at least start] the banned book list from 2021, from A to Z by author. The first item is Ace of Spades, which would also qualify for assignment 3. Anyone want the list, or want to follow me?

If a book is banned than I definitely want to read it! Sadly, I feel like almost everything I am reading for the other challenges has been banned somewhere in the U.S. so I'm just assuming for a double-dipper! Here's an interesting list and the reasons: https://loutit.bibliocommons.com/list...

The one good thing about all these book bans is that there are some new titles on the list. I'll probably wait until some new book angers someone this year.

For anyone who dares to accompany me in this endeavor, the banned list issued in 2021.
https://pen.org/book-bans/banned-book...

I'm waiting until Banned Books Week, in September, iirc, to choose a book.

I think I'm going to go with Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.

It's banned in my state, as well as a nearby school district. Amazingly, on the list of 100 books, our school district isn't listed at all.

Been meaning to read Slaughterhouse-Five so that's my choice.

I decided on Speak: The Graphic Novel for this one.

Just saw a BR article about Utah banning two more titles - they sounded interesting to me: Damsel by Elana K. Arnold and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. The latter may also fit the Moral Panic prompt.

Here is the American Library Association's list of the most banned books https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequently...

I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I read Ban This Book by Alan Gratz and just today sent letters to 2 Senators and House Rep in response to PEN America's "Don't Censor America" campaign.

3/21 update: received a lovely worded (but somewhat vague) response from the House Rep and crickets from the senators (one from each party.)

I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

In scanning all the banned book websites I found that THE BOOK THIEF has been banned in a number of school libraries and I’ve been meaning to read that forever, so that is my choice.

I read This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson - 6/4/25.

I read

sorry for the truncated comment. I read Heartstopper for this task.

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I read The Milkman's on His Way by David Rees for this one - it's not banned in the UK now, but was one of the four books particularly targeted to be removed from school libraries under Clause 28.

And Tango Makes Three because I always heard about it, but never read it.

I read The Cruel Prince by Holly Black