You know me, I like to live on the edge a little… or not, probably, but I’d say reading dangerous books is the safest way to do it! As such, I’m joining in on the My Year of Reading Dangerously challenge and sticking to banned/challenged books that I’ve been meaning to read forever.
The goal is to read 12 books over the whole of next year. Here is my preliminary list of books I think I might read, though we’ll see how that goes. Please give me suggestions!
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
Books I’ve actually read:
1. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Review)
2. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood (Review)
3. Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling (Review)
4. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (Review)
5. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle (Review)
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (Review)
7. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier (Review)
8. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman (Review)
9. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (Review)
10. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (Review)
11. The Bermudez Triangle, by Maureen Johnson (Review)
12. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (Review)
I can’t believe you’ve never read Huck Finn. It’s a tragedy. I think The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is on challenged books lists and it is excellent.
I agree, Poisonwood Bible is great.
You’ll read Perks in an afternoon… that was my favorite-favorite at age 14.Banned books are fun!
Snow Falling on Cedars is painful. It’s not. . .badly written if you like eloquent descriptions of winter *gags*, but it’s very tedious and I couldn’t finish it.
Also, I just noticed Who Slashed Celanire’s Throat on your lists. I had to read it for that Women Criminals in Francophone literature class I took. It’s AMAZING.If you like it, you should read Kamouraska by Anne Hebert. . .it’s a little hard to follow, but it was by far my favorite thing we read for that class.
Mary — Hmm, that might be why I put it down the last time I tried to read it. It's been so long I couldn't remember. But I did also have to put aside the other Guterson work I tried to read over the summer. Boo. That probably won't get read, then. 🙂Also, you're the one who recommended the Condé to me! I hope its as awesome as you say.
Hahahaha wow, I can’t believe I don’t remember that. . .although. . .I’m not entirely sure who else could have recommended a book translated from French that nobody’s ever heard of. Knowing me, I probably also recommended Kamouraska when we had that conversation and forgot 😛