Stuff About Books and Literature

Stereotypes? Image by Imagaday In Anita Brookner's novel, Hotel du Lac, the attitude and narrative of romantic novelist, Edith Hope, correspond with society's stereotypical view of women. For Edith Hope, the romantic novelist of Hotel du Lac, writing offers a form of self-expression through escapism. Through this medium Edith exposes the limits of her experience and imagination. A woman unequipped psychologically to fight against tradition, she complies with and supports social norms through the content of her work. Edith's Novels Support Cultural Prejudices Edith’s narratives of love and romance disregard women in positions of power; instead, they fuel gender role socialisation by reinforcing societal myths. Through her novels, Edith recreates the ideal world she craves for, an environment overflowing with love and protection: “[Edith’s] idea of absolute happiness is to sit in a hot garden all day, reading, or writing, utterly safe in the knowledge that the person...

The Catcher in The Rye. Image Lesley Lanir Did you know that each year hundreds of attempts are made to remove contemporary and classic books from school reading lists and libraries? When books are removed this restricts the access of these crafted works to others. Each year, the The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from library shelves and from classrooms. The ALA publish an annual list of those books which have received the most reports. They also publish a list of the most challenged classics , many of them you have read, here are the top 20: 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....

Books - challenged and banned. Image Lesley Lanir Did you know that libraries and schools in the US receive requests to have undesirable books removed from their shelves or even banned. Every year banned book lists are complied by The American Library Association. The ALA has released its annual " State of America’s Libraries Report 2013 " and one of the topics covered in the report is the "Banned Books Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books." This lists the top ten books that people have requested not to have on their library shelves or on the school curriculum. The top 10 banned book list is put together annually by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). OIF collects reports on book challenges from librarians, teachers, concerned individuals and press reports. Regarding banned and challenged books the ALA state that: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the remova...