According to Random.org, Virginia C. is our random book winner from the banned book blog post.  Virginia please email me at sbrown at sandrabrown.net with your selection (one autographed book from my backlist).

One of my long-time favorite books is Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence is on the list of previously banned or challenged books.

Here’s a little tidbit I found for you:  Lawrence’s novel, which tells the story of an adulterous love affair, used sexually explicit language that was banned in the United Kingdom. Unable to have the book printed in England, Lawrence published it in Florence in 1928. All 1000 copies of the private edition sold out. It has been suggested that Lawrence specifically included language to provoke the censors, and indeed, precisely because of its outlaw status, the book gained notoriety and made a good profit. Most English and American readers had access to either a pirated version of the original edition, or, more likely, a copy of the expurgated edition. But in 1959, the Grove Press attempted to print the original edition, complete with the offending words, to test American obscenity laws. After several court trials here and in England, the work was successfully defended on the basis of “redeeming social importance.” Afterwards, when the British publisher Penguin brought out a new and now legal, uncensored edition, it was dedicated to the jury that had approved it.

One year for Christmas Michael gave me an autographed first edition, which I will always treasure.  While I will agree that Lady Chatterley is not a book for children, I also believe that censorship should be left to parents.  It’s a part of their job to guide their children until they’re old enough to make reading decisions on their won.  My take is that even if a child is reading comic books, it’s better than reading nothing at all.

Cultivate a love of reading and books and you’ll have a reader for life.

By the way, there’s a great interview here with multi-banned author, Judy Blume.

Speaking of Reading….I thought it might be fun to share a few more of our “Get Caught Reading” Entries with you!  We’ll be announcing the next winner tomorrow.  All entries that haven’t been selected are still eligible–including the ones featured below.  I just wanted to share with you!  Keep ‘em coming gang!  We still have two more weeks.

Jennifer will apparently read anywhere!

Look what Melinda's son sent us?! He insists his mom is my biggest fan!

Jannie says,"I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read Sandra Brown books.. I have read them all, and look forward to the release of her next BESTSELLER.....that is a given. "