Last week, I started my project of reading through our banned book list – including the rereads of classics that I haven’t encountered since my school days – to report on them as I make way through the list.

(I’m reporting a bit late today – early Saturday morning – as this infernal flare had me at the doctor’s office for injections earlier on Friday and then napping like a hibernating bear some more. Crossing fingers and toes that the meds help break this one.)

That said, one thing about working through this list is that I will be taking books as library holds are available and according to what I already have – and, of course, reading some books that I wouldn’t have ordinarily have chosen. It will be good to branch out though.

However, my first “branch out” came in the form of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover – and it certainly was an eye-opening experience.

While I can see clearly that the content would have been stunning to polite society in 1928 – and unlike anything most people had read for sure, I can’t help but think that – were it not for the controversy and shock value of this book at the time it was written – it would not have lasted as a “classic” and we would not still be discussing it. There was just nothing about the quality of this writing or story that made me feel invested in the characters or the outcome. I rarely don’t finish a book – but I only endured to the end of this one because it was a part of this project (and I am sad that two more of Lawrence’s works are on my list – so I am putting them off for a bit and praying they are better).

Whew.

From there, the other classic I read this week was vastly different. It was a reread from my school days – and an absolute delight: George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Honestly, having read it during the 90’s in school, it was a wonderful allegory addressing totalitarianism and communism – but, at that time, it seemed as though the larger governments that ruled in that manner were weakening (or at least farther removed from our teenaged worlds).

Now it feels even more fresh and relevant than it did then as the shape of the world is so different.

(As such, his 1984 is also on the list and I’ve added it to my reading for this upcoming week to revisit.)

If you haven’t read it since your school days either, it is worth picking up again. ❤

Banned Books From List Read (to date):

1. The Great Gatsby (3.11.24)
2. The Awakening (3.13.24)
3. Lady Chatterley’s Lover (3.20.24)
4. Animal Farm (3.21.24)

I’ll be sharing again over the weekend after some more rest. Wishing you all a happy Saturday. ❤

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.