By Niall McArdle
This is Banned Books Week in the United States. Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2013 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 22-28. Banned Books Week 2014 will be held September 21-27.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported.
To celebrate Banned Books Week, here is a list of some titles, both fiction and non-fiction, that have been banned in various places.
Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence
Reasons: Mysticism, sexual inferences, profanity, racism, references to tobacco and alcohol, and claims that it promotes disobedience, drugs, and communism.
Reasons: Sexually suggestive, despressing
Reasons: Depraved, immoral, psychotic, vulgar, and anti-Christian
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
The Fluff Is Raging 
Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” was just banned last week from the school libraries in Randolph County, North Carolina.
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