Banned Books Week is going on right now (September 24th–October 1st). Over at Salon, Laura Miller is asking: "What book did you have to read in elementary or middle school that you wouldn't mind seeing vanish from the reading lists of children everywhere?"One of my favorite replies:
" . . . surely the most egregious tale of recklessly required reading comes from Life section editor Sarah Hepola, who at the age of 14 was assigned Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, a novelist regarded as unreadable by most adults. 'It was my freshman honors English class,' Sarah recalled, 'and it was the first book we read that year. English had always been my favorite class, a refuge for a kid who felt out of place and loved words, and that pretty much put an end to all that.'"
I would love to expunge "Catcher in the Rye" from our collective memory, not for any offenses against decency (which wouldn't bother me in the least), but for its unbridled narcissism and shallowness.
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