The Hunger Games made the banned books list. Did any of your other faves? | Source: WENN.com

Most books are banned because the people banning them completely miss the point the author was making, so Banned Books Week sort of has an underlying, winking irony to it. Chances are at least one of your faves made the list at some point–and if you haven’t read all of the titles on our banned books list, we bet you’ll find a new go-to novel for a rainy Sunday right here. Here are our favorite banned books–most of which we seriously can’t understand why were banned in the first place!

1. The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Part of why we heart the Alice McKinley series is because she’s, well, a lot like us–she curses once in a while (though not as much as her big brother, Lester, does), she questions her BFFs choices in religious and sexual situations, and she’s really human. So the fact that it was one of the most commonly banned book series in 2012 both makes us giggle and bums us out at the same time–because if she’s so awful, what the heck are the rest of us?

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird was banned for its offensive language and racism. This drives the point home that the people who ban these books are freakin’ clueless, because the book denounces racism. Talking about something doesn’t mean you’re promoting nor encouraging it.

3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A lot of schools banned The Catcher in the Rye because it was laced with profanity and sex. Because, you know, real life is nothing like that. Next!

4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A lot of people tried to get Tolkien’s works banned because they were “satanic.” Funny thing about that? Tolkien was BFF with C.S. Lewis, the Christian author of the Narnia series–and it can be argued (easily) that Gandalf is a Christ-like figure. The more you know.

5. The Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Is it sexy? Yes. Are there drugs? Yes. Does that mean you’ll automatically go out and engage in both? Probably not.

6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The geniuses who banned Brave New World don’t seem to understand that the author was warning against almost all of the behaviors (sex, drugs, mindless consumption) depicted within the novel. Seriously, is anyone home?

7. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
This book pissed people off because it had a gay protagonist. Naturally, that means if you read it, you’ll catch a case of the gay. And that’s like, the worst thing ever.

8. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
This book scared the crap out of people because it was one of the first pieces of American feminist literature. Heaven forbid the protagonist of a book want to live her life for herself and not for her kids and her husband.

9. 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell
Chances are you had or will have to read these books in school. When you do, keep in mind that both of these works were banned books because people who clearly didn’t get it assumed that George Orwell was promoting communism. It’s pretty obvious to just about everyone who’s actually read these that he’s doing the complete opposite of that.

10. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games made the banned books list for its violence, offensive language, “insensitivity”–the very things it’s clearly criticizing.

Are any of your favorite books on the banned list? What’s your favorite book? Do you agree with banning certain books for their content? Tell us in the comments!

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