September 2015 Book Club Nominations
 

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for September, 2015.

The nominations will run through midnight EST August 26 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

Book selection category for September is: Banned or Challenged Books

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.


Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (UK title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) by J.K. Rowling
Goodreads

(2) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Goodreads | Amazon US


(3) The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Goodreads | Amazon US


(4) The Golden Compass (UK title: The Northern Lights) the first volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US


(5) Candide by Voltaire
Goodreads


(6) Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce
Goodreads


(7) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US


(8) Beloved by Toni Morrison
Goodreads


(9) The Castle by Franz Kafka
Goodreads


(10) Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Goodreads | Amazon US


The nominations are now closed.

Wondering if a particular book is available in your country? The following spoiler contains a list of bookstores outside the United States you can search. If you don't see a bookstore on this list for your country, find one that is, send me the link via PM, and I'll add it to the list. EDIT: Also, if you find one on the list that is no longer in operation, let me know and I'll remove it from the list.



*** Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (UK title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) by J.K. Rowling [JSWolf, Rbneader, PandathePanda]
Goodreads

*** The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky [PandathePanda, John F, Hamlet53]
Goodreads | Amazon US


*** Beloved by Toni Morrison [John F, Nyssa, HomeInMyShoes]
Goodreads


*** The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler [Hamlet53, Dazrin, WT Sharpe]
Goodreads | Amazon US


*** The Golden Compass (UK title: The Northern Lights) the first volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman [BenG, treadlightly, Nyssa]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US


*** Candide by Voltaire [issybird, sun surfer, Almamida]
Goodreads


*** Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce [issybird, Hamlet53, bfisher]
Goodreads | Patricia Clark Memorial Library: Kindle | Amazon US / Amazon UK


*** The Castle by Franz Kafka [issybird, sun surfer, Dazrin]
Goodreads


*** One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn [sun surfer, bfisher, fantasyfan]
Goodreads | Amazon UK / Amazon US


*** Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler [PandathePanda, caleb72, fantasyfan]
Goodreads | Amazon US


The nominations are now closed.

You need to double check that list of shops to make sure they are updated and that all are still operating. Some are no like BooksOnBoard and when the link is clicked, you get a warning about it (at least in Firefox).

This is another category I am not sad to see disappear for 2016. In looking at my books for the last few years the titles I have read that have been banned/excluded somewhere at sometime include: The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games series, Anne of Green Gables, Ender's Game, etc. No real surprises. ;)

I don't have any nominations yet but here are some links that may help others find things that are interesting too:
100 Most Frequently Banned Books - Lists for 1990-1999 and 2000-2009
Banned and Challenged Classics
Goodreads lists of banned books
Wikipedia list of books banned by governments
Most surprising banned books
Banned "children's" books

This title made me laugh: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

At this point, I am leaning towards nominating Winnie the Pooh but I need to look a bit more.

I'm currently on vacation until next week so the links for what shops carry this will have to wait.

I'm nominating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or as it's called in the UK Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Second this.

Me'll Third Harry Potter

And I'll Nominate:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

http://www.amazon.com/Perks-Being-Wa.../dp/B003TSEEDY
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...g_a_Wallflower

I'll nominate Beloved by Toni Morrison.

From Amazon:

A quick search for "Beloved banned" turned up:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...e79_story.html

Available at libraries everywhere.*

I'll second The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

See the edit.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler was banned for sexual content and profanity by Carroll County Maryland superintendent Charles I. Ecker. If you want to nominate it, I'll second it, as it has some pretty good ratings at Amazon and Goodreads.

I just saw the edit and it's still not edited. The list of shops is still not double checked and the ones that need to be removed removed.

What are you waiting for?

Harry Potter? Banned by whom and when and where?

I'll nominate it. :D

I'll third The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Although it isn't my normal type of book and I haven't checked availability from my library, which would be a per-requisite for me to actually read it, I will first it/third it, whatever. Part of the reason I try to participate is to get myself out of my comfort zone, this ought to be sufficient. I will try to get some links and a description later unless someone beats me to it.

As for Harry Potter, they were banned or at least challenged all over the place because ... reasons.
Here is one link about it, there are many: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-harry.html

Thirded.

I'll 2nd Beloved.

I actually tried reading it either in Jr. High or Highschool, and remember being haunted by the imagery to the point that I couldn't continue. I only read a few chapters at that time, so it'll be interesting (should it win) to see if I can finish now - oh so many years later.

I was thinking of adding a vote to Beloved, but I see Sun Surfer rated it only two stars at Goodreads, so I think I'll pass; at least for now.

Oh! Oh! Oh!
I have just seen "Harry Potter" with 3 nominations in this thread, thanks to the news on the frontpage.
As I'm reading this one, but don't know what it means. I didn't participated in a book club but as far as I understand, you chose some books, read them and discuss about it, right ?
I'll happily participate if the fact I already started reading it doesn't exclude me. :)

Welcome!

You aren't too late at all, right now we are still deciding what to read for September. The theme is "Banned or Challenged" works and Harry Potter is the most commonly banned or challenged work of the last couple decades (and lots of people here have enjoyed it!). This book club is rather informal, you can join in any time you like and participate in as many or as few discussions as you want to.

You can read the first post for more detailed information but basically how this works is on the 20th of the month prior to a discussion we start getting nominations. When we have 10 nominations we vote and choose one for the next month. On the 20th of the month we start discussing. That gives us about 3 weeks to read the book before we discuss it and we can all discuss it at one time. Faster readers can just start later and try to time completion with the 20th.

Thanks :)
I reread after posting and understood the rules : You nominate up to 10 books and after there is a poll to determine which book is selected.
That can be a great chalenge for me and in other hand a good way to choose a book and read it/discuss about it.

By the way, I didn't know Harry Potter Series was banned, that's why I think I didn't understand the first post entirely. After a search on the web, I had a confirmation... :inquisiti
I'm in :book2:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/693779.stm

quote]A primary school head teacher is banning pupils from reading the best-selling Harry Potter children's books because she says they go against the Bible's teachings.[/quote]

And Harry Potter has been challenged as well.

I'll nominate The Golden Compass (The Northern Lights in the UK), the first volume in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Sometimes banned or contested because of a perceived anti-religion bias, though that's almost entirely in the later books. It's sort of the anti-Narnia. (Plus it has armored bears! I loved the armored bears. :) )

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Compass...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Northern-Lig...orthern+lights

Edit to add summary:

A few years ago he was the second most banned or restricted author in the U.S.

Beloved would be interesting, but is not a light read. I'm not sure I'd be up for it immediately after Dhalgren.

I'll second The Golden Compass.

Third! It's a very interesting trilogy.

I hope Tom doesn't mind my quoting him from a different thread. I agree with this. Banned books at this point are a well-worn list of books that people mostly have read (because, Ooh! Banned!) and there's no point in even feeling superior, as people are all agreed that it's just silly. YA books, and so far three of the four nominated books are YA, are even more tedious in the context of being banned. Parents will be parents, even if everyone agrees they're wrong-headed.

So I thought I'd nominate three books that at least are for adults and might not have been read by everyone and are mostly free or cheap (depending on translation) and I won't provide links (except in one case) since all but Kafka are PD everywhere and Kafka most places, and choices will also depend on whether to get a paid or a free translation for Voltaire and Kafka.

Candide, by Voltaire. From Goodreads:

Can Such Things Be?, by Ambrose Bierce.

The Castle, by Franz Kafka.

This translation, based on the restored text, looks good but there are cheaper options.

Darn, I wanted to third it.

This is an excellent read. Something we need after this month's.

I'll put forth One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. I haven't read anything by the famous Solzhenitsyn and this short book would be a good introduction.


From Goodreads:

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury


Book Extract:

As usual, at five o'clock that morning reveille was sounded by the blows of a hammer on a length of rail hanging up near the staff quarters. The intermittent sound barely penetrated the window-panes on which the frost lay two fingers thick, and they ended almost as soon as they'd begun. It was cold outside, and the camp-guard was reluctant to go on beating out the reveille for long.

The clanging ceased, but everything outside still looked like the middle of the night when Ivan Denisovich Shukhov got up to go to the bucket. It was pitch dark except for the yellow light cast on the window by three lamps - two in the outer zone, one inside the camp itself.

And no one came to unbolt the barrack-hut door; there was no sound of the barrack-orderlies pushing a pole into place to lift the barrel of nightsoil and carry it out.


Goodreads / Longer Extract / Amazon UK / Amazon US


I'll also second Candide.

It's well-written and evocative. I wouldn't have minded that it was so dark and disturbing or confusing and difficult to follow if it weren't so heavy-handed.

Yes I tend to agree with this. Though it's two books intended for children or young adults that I had not read or even heard of that received two of my votes. It's been a long time since I as a child or YA.

I've read the Castle and Candide already, actually multiple times, but I've never read Can Such Things Be? So it gets my final vote as a second. I've read Beloved so don't care to third that. It is a heavy read that I don't believe would be a popular choice.

I've read all three YA books, with a niece or nephew of the appropriate age (theirs); I have no interest in revisiting them and one of them is terrible. I also have no interest in rereading Beloved. I think Morrison's Nobel was motivated by considerations other than an abstract assessment of quality, as with most awards.

I've read Candide but would enjoy reading it again and it's short. Although I've read Kafka's other major works, I must confess to never having read The Castle, hence my nomination.

ETA: Oops, I didn't realize that The Earth, etc., is YA. So all four nominated books are YA. I haven't read that one.

I third Candide.

I will third Can Such Things Be?

I admire your choice of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, but does "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" count as a banned book, since it was actually published in the USSR in Novy Mir. Perhaps Cancer Ward or The First Circle would be more appropriate, as they were not published in the USSR but only circulated as samizdat. It was after he wrote Cancer Ward that he was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union.

I'll fourth Can Such Things Be.
Whoops Sorry, It doesn't need a fourth. I think it is a good choice though.
.

Thanks bfisher. :) It's been banned and challenged, and not only in Russia. It was initially published in Russia, but banned after a change in power. Here's the relevant paragraph from an article on the book:

If the link works correctly, here's a google books preview of the book "Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds" open to the section on Ivan Denisovich. It talks about various U.S. school libraries challenging and sometimes removing the book, often for "vulgar language".

Relatedly, the film version was banned in Finland for many years too.

I think it'd be a great selection for the last banned/challenged month. :)

As I was tallying things up just now I was going to give it one of my votes. We were both beaten. Bierce was an interesting writer. I wonder if we'll ever know what happened to him? Probably not. His body's probably in a shallow grave in Mexico if the vultures didn't get it.

I'll second "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

After this month's disaster, we do need something lighter and more enjoyable. YA means these books are for adults because you are either an adult or not. There is no in between.