Korean Job Discussion Forums

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Where's Ulysses?

i_teach_esl · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Location: baebang, asan/cheonan

my count is 10. i read two as assigned reading for school, but at least 20 of them were in the school library. i graduated high school in 1994.

cdninkorea · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Location: Seoul

I can understand why American Psycho would be banned (good book, but definitely not for children), but why is The Catcher in the Rye banned? Do parents find the character's aloofness that offensive? What?

ChopChaeJoe · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: Seoul

Catcher in the Rye has the F-word, even though the main character is totally angered by seeing it in an elementary school.

Doogie · Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Location: Hwaseong City

To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye and Brave New World are all standard curriculum novels in North American high schools these days. The only one of these I really loved was The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger's book of 9 short stories was great, as well. It's too bad he threw himself into seclusion and stopped writing. There have been rumors all over the internet that he's written one last, great novel that remains unpublished. There's been a couple of movies with characters based on Salinger. Field of Dreams and Finding Forrester are the ones that come to mind.

ChopChaeJoe · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: Seoul

From what I heard, Salinger never stopped writing, he just stopped publishing.

I can't wait until he dies and someone decides to make some money off him by publishing all that stuff.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I'm curious about how many schools ban each of the books on the list. These are the 25 most frequently banned, but what does that really mean? Harry Potter and Huck Finn are not banned for the same reasons that Catcher in the Rye is banned.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

I've read about 75% of the books...a good number while in highschool, (but then, the HP books weren't available then!). To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorites. Probably banned because it uses the word "nigger".

IMHO it's SOOOOOO stupid to ban books because of so-called profanity! All kids have to do is turn on the TV, listen to music or open their front door to hear it!