Banning

For once, not burning but banning.  But we know how swiftly one can turn into another.

The news that And Tango Makes Three is the most-banned book resulted in a Beaker Person asking whether we have ever banned books from the library.  Naturally we need to ensure that no Beaker Person reads anything that they may find disturbing to their faith in any way.  We can't build a religion on feeling good and thin air by letting people get worried at the drop of a hat.   And Tango Makes Three has cute penguins and a feel-good attitude, so we're fine with that.

So here is a list of books which aren't particularly banned but aren't particularly... well, welcome.  Let's put it that way.

Hardy's Jude the Obscure - too depressing.

The Epistle to the Romans  - too exclusivist

Autobiographies by current or former Man Utd footballers.  Obviously.  Apart from Giggsy.  Whoever he is.

Von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods - even Beaker People aren't that gullible.

The Revelation of John - everyone's dead by the end.

Ladybird Book 1A Play with us (with Peter and Jane).  In these troubled times you can't be too careful.

Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic - for its analysis of why women might claim divine inspiration.

Richard Dawkins, The Bod Delusion - A book all about how a 1970s cartoon character doesn't exist - is that really necessary?  It's particularly scathing about Aunt Flo.

Jane Austen - Emma - for obscenity

Karl Barth - Kirchliche Dogmatik.  We don't approve of this kind of lightweight theology.

Anything by Jordan.

The Left Behind series - Christians have enough trouble with other people claiming they're dim, without actually going out and proving it.

To save everyone the trouble of pretending, we've got Hawkins's A Brief History of Time in the library, but only the first 20 pages.  We figured we'd get more use from the rest of them by giving them to the Guinea Pig Folk of Stewartby to use for bedding.