Freedom to Read Week is just around a month away, and before it arrives you might want to check out (or even read) some books that have been challenged, removed from shelves, and even shredded in Canada.
There are some extremely interesting, provocative, and even surprisingly familiar titles on the list. The list compiler(s) also did an excellent job of providing dates, contextual background, and case-specific details about the "objectionable content" in each book.
And now (for your amusement), Buttercup's Gut Reactions:
Most dubious disbursement of police spending:
Friday, Nancy. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Sexual Fantasies.
In brief: Several metropolitan libraries were searched for this book in two different police raids in two different provinces after the complaint of an anonymous radio talk-show caller makes its way to the Crown attorney’s office!
Unread title that inspired the most "unhealthy" curiousity (for this blogger, in any case):
LeBlanc, Pierre, and Robin Konstabaris. Scrambled Brains.
In brief: “The book includes recipes such as “Exploding Jesus Cake,” a section called “Cooking with Weed,” and one illustration in which a semi-naked man displays an intimate interpretation of roulade, a rolled meat dish usually stuffed with a pickle.”
Suspected of the “censor first, read later” approach:
Sernine, Daniel. Les envoûtements.
In brief: Although the narrative exposes the “bewitchments” as fraudulent, the book is charged with “promoting occultism.”
Most ironic challenge:
Dworkin, Andrea. Pornography: Men Possessing Women and Woman Hating.
In brief: The very book referenced by the Supreme Court of Canada in its interpretation of the landmark Butler/Obscenity case is detained by Canada Customs due to the conflicting interpretations of the judges.
Source: Buttercup, MLIS student
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