When I was younger, I was a voracious reader. While I had my favorite genres and writers, very few things could drive me toward a book with more conviction than it having been banned in some fashion or other. “Catcher in the Rye,” “Invisible Man,” “Brave New World” — the list of books I would likely have otherwise never read, had someone not told me I shouldn’t, was long.
For every “To Kill a Mockingbird,” though, there was also a “Jude the Obscure,” whose biggest transgression seemed that it’s kind of a slog. I continued to seek them out, regardless.
Which is why I reluctantly smile every time I read a headline about a new book being banned by Utah school libraries, as it translates in my head as “another book most would just ignore jumps to the top of many ‘must read’ lists.” While the only title on the current list of 18 banned books I’ve read is Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake,” and even though I quite liked it, it’s certainly not the type of book I’d expect the average teen to pick up without otherwise being told he or she shouldn’t.
In this world of screens and entertainment overload designed to only hold your attention for seconds at a time, I kind of have to begrudgingly applaud any move that inspires children to read. Even if it’s the opposite of the intent of our elected leaders’ self-righteous virtue signaling.
Enjoy the books, kids.
Matt Palmer, Sandy