It’s a shame to think that a text like Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years would be banned anywhere—but it was, by the Tucson school district. Thankfully, the book has remained popular elsewhere. Rethinking Columbus is a collection of primary sources, lesson plans, poems, essays, stereotype checklists, and interviews not only intended to help young … Continue reading Banned Book: Rethinking Columbus, ed. Bill Bigelow
PLOT: The mysterious palace of dreams stands at the heart of a vast empire. Inside, workers sift, sort, and interpret the dreams the empire’s citizens. They search out Master-Dreams that will provide clues to the destiny of the empire and its Sultan. Mark-Alem, scion of a noble family that has provided viziers to the Sultan … Continue reading International Banned Book Pick: The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare (Albania)
SUMMARY: The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of political persecution and despite the challenges she has faced raising a family while pursuing her work. Best known … Continue reading International Banned Book: Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi
Plot: In the twilight days of Japanese power in his country, an Indonesian army officer sparks an insurrection against the occupation army but is forced to flee into the jungle when he is betrayed by one of his own comrades. Challenge: Banned in Indonesia in 1950, for containing "subversive" material, including an attempt to promote Marxist–Leninist … Continue reading International Banned Book: The Fugitive by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Indonesia)
"Bambi, a Life in the Woods, originally published in Austria as Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde is a 1923 Austrian novel written by Felix Salten and published by Ullstein Verlag. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of … Continue reading International Banned Book: Bambi by Felix Salten
I hadn’t read a literary work with such care for the characters and a narrative that weaves humanity’s impulses, tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses with everyday forces of nature. Mien, Hoan, Bon, Xa, and the communities in which they reside are written richly and compellingly. Their often unpredictable actions build layers of smoke, and their relationships … Continue reading International Banned Book: No Man’s Land by Duong Thu Huong
Andrea Lingenfelter’s translation of Mian Mian’s Candy is like reading Kathy Acker—it’s disgusting but also accessible in the sense that it’s like reading the work of a rock star. It’s unwilling to be understood, but the questions it poses about conformity and overindulgence makes for a rewarding read. Hong, the protagonist, narrates her story with … Continue reading International Banned Book Review: Candy by Mian Mian
All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit. 'In the West Nothing New') is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these … Continue reading International Banned Book: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Although it contains passages written in the 1910s and 1920s, Doctor Zhivago was not completed until 1956. The novel was submitted to the literary journal Novy Mir ("Новый Мир"). However, the editors rejected Pasternak's novel because of its implicit rejection of socialist realism. The author, like Zhivago, showed more concern for the welfare of individuals … Continue reading International Banned Book: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Dai Wei, a PhD student and protestor in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, was caught by a soldier's bullet and fell into a deep coma. But as the millennium draws near, he begins to emerge from unconsciousness, and to sense the massive changes in his country. At once a powerful allegory of a rising China, … Continue reading International Banned Book Pick: Beijing Coma by Ma Jian
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 