No, it’s not December 2023 yet, but once the holidays begin, I find there is little time to pause and look back at the year that has passed by.
One of the events that has gotten everyone’s attention this year is book banning across the country. The American Library Association (ALA) has regularly celebrated “Banned and Challenged Books” week in October in school and public libraries. This annual event celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment ALA explains the differences between a challenged book and a banned book. “A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.” Here are their ten most challenged books going back to 2001 ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. This unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubled the 729 book challenges reported in 2021.
The September issue of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar thought it was newsworthy enough to feature this list compiled by PEN America. It is a list of every book Banned in America by state. Massachuttes has only had one banned book on its list. I also don’t see any other New England states listed.
In a reflection on this past year, read a book that you meant to read or is still on your to-be-read pile. Here are some suggestions from the reviewers at Five Books for the best book of 2023 They are in several genres, both fiction and non-fiction. All are available in a CWMARS library.
Lastly, here is a list of other books you might have missed. They are all “debut” novels. You can read them as books, e-books, or audiobooks on Libby. I like how some of them are matched with read-alikes. If you read and liked one, you might enjoy the other one.