BookFinder.com takes the (what should be) relatively uncontroversial stand that people should be able to read, write, and exchange ideas freely. We've been members of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression for several years, and responded to the US Copyright Office's call for comments on orphan works in 2005, helping draw attention to the role of unreasonable laws in preventing access to books. Like most organizations associated with books in America, we're joining the ALA, ABFFE, Amnesty, and other groups in celebrating Banned Books Week this week.
Over the past few days, I found myself repeatedly going through my bookshelves, and realizing how many banned and challenged books I've enjoyed reading over the years. Living in relatively uncensorious societies, we still grapple with issues of censorship all the time.
I remember how Cody's Books in Berkeley was firebombed in 1989 for carrying copies of The Satanic Verses, at a time when many large American chains stopped selling it; after the attack, the staff unanimously decided to keep on carrying the book. My local public library had a copy, which I checked out, but didn't really enjoy. It wasn't until years later that my uncle reintroduced me to Rushdie's work, and I really fell in love with his writing. It depresses me that the staff of one of my favorite bookstores was attacked for selling one of my favorite novels.
A few weeks after 9/11, almost exactly five years ago, Charlie and I were flying to Canada for a friendly visit with the folks at Abebooks. As a a young man with brown skin and a goatee, I was subject to quite obviously heightened inspection at the airport. I remember a security agent in Seattle very carefully leafing through my copy of Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. (This was just days after a man was prevented from boarding a plane because he was carrying a copy of Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey.) While I was standing there having my reading material scrutinized, it dawned on me that there were good books and bad books in the world, and that in the days ahead, it would serve me well to carefully pre-screen the books I would carry on planes to avoid being caught at the airport with a suspicious novel. (Five years after 9/11, I still feel the need to self-censor some of my airplane reading, particularly when traveling internationally.)
Our freedom to read is not absolute. As we celebrate Banned Books Week and the struggles that won us our right to read relatively freely, we should keep in mind that we can win real freedom to read by not only working to challenge censorship (which is alive and well around the world), but also addressing issues like illiteracy rates, embattled library budgets, changes in attitudes toward print culture, the rising cost of books, barriers associated with copyright law, etc. As a community of bibliophiles, we have work to do.
Banned Books Week resources from:
Posted by Anirvan
