There are a variety of reasons for why books are banned--racial issues, damaging lifestyles, sacrilegious dialogue, sexual situations, violence, witchcraft, etc. You get the point.
Literature is art. Art is freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of life, freedom of religion. As artists, authors cannot please everybody. Someone will almost always be offended by something written, so we should not attempt to please everyone. It's a ridiculous goal. If something offends you as a reader, you can put the book down and walk away. You don't have to challenge it and ruin reading society for everyone. So just...be considerate. Come on!
Interested in reading a Banned Book (as you rightly should be? Bannedbooksweek.org has this cool list of the most challenged books of 2015:
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/about
What about classics that have been banned?
1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
Challenge yourself this week and read a banned book. Practice your freedom to read 'em. Sorry, that was a bad joke. :D Let me know what banned books you're reading this week!
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