Mal WoodApr 20, 2023
Neil Gaiman

I learned today that 5 of my books are among the more than 1600 books banned in some schools right now.

https://pen.org/index-of-school-book-bans-2022/

For more information
https://pen.org/issue/free-the-books/

Banned Book List: 1,648 Books in 2021-2022 - PEN America

PEN America's fall 2022 Index of Banned Books found 1,477 instances of individual books banned, affecting 874 unique titles. This searchable banned book list includes each documented book ban in the first half of the 2022-23 school year.

PEN America
Apr 20, 2023 at 6:23pmMastodon for Android
Show threadSylvhemApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself I’m sorry to hear that :/.
Show threadKelli 🐝🍄🍀🌈🍸🩵Apr 21, 2023
@Sylvhem @neilhimself No way, he’s doing shit right! Congrats Neil.
Show threadnotsoloudApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself
You should've called it God's American
Show threadWe Should Bury ThisApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself congrats!
Show threadZanzíbarApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself so sad😔
Show threadFrank BartonApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself So... how do we get more copies into folks hands?
Show threadMollyNYCApr 21, 2023

@fbarton @neilhimself

Buy them and give them to kids. Encourage them to lend the #Books out when they’re done.

(You know those Little Lending Libraries some people maintain in front of their homes? Not a bad vehicle for distributing #BannedBooks.)

#USPolitics

Show threadFrank BartonApr 24, 2023
@MollyNYC @neilhimself ohhh... good call... there is one of those in my neighborhood
Show threadThis is HellApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Badge of honor?
Show threadMadagascar_SkyApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Congratulations! Your writing has now been certified to have mattered!
Show threadjimbodonApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself congratulations! you must be doing something right.
Show thread⸘not at all Rich‽Apr 20, 2023
@neilhimself in a twisted sort of way, that's a badge of honor: your writing makes people think, and that scares the holy bejesus outt some people.
Show threadMechawattsApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself NEW HIGH SCORE
Show threadColin aka ManiacalVApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Kind of bittersweet, but at least it's the baddies that don't like you, cause I work in a library and everyone around here thinks you're the crow's nose!
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 21, 2023
@ManiacalV @neilhimself Your idiom has been stolen.
Show threadMegApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself You’re very threatening to the “Think as I Think” crowd.
Show threadUrsaApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself

I'm surprised there aren't more from you on that list. Obviously I'm not suggesting I *want* your books to be banned, but they are provocative enough to rub book banning types that way.

Show threadAffieniaApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself how the heck is The Ocean at the End of the Lane banned? That just breaks my heart.
Show threadMI6007Apr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Think of it as a badge of honour and keep up the good work. Cheers!
Show threadJensi ‎​Apr 20, 2023

@neilhimself i can"t even fathom why people give congrats. This is absolutely horrifying.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

Kind regards from Germany.

Show threadLaurens 🐐Apr 20, 2023
@yaenntz They "congratulate" @neilhimself in an ironic manner.
Show threadgrinApr 20, 2023
@yaenntz @neilhimself Because it is an honour to be banned by people against education, it shows that these books had something really important to teach which was considered to be very dangerous by bigots. You cannot easily fix stupid, you may as well laugh on them.
Show threadMollyNYCApr 21, 2023

@grin @yaenntz @neilhimself

Yes. No books get banned because they’re dull, badly written, or a waste of the reader’s time.

They get banned because they’re so good they might change the reader’s opinions, or open up his or her worldview.

Damn right it’s an honor.

Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 21, 2023

@yaenntz @neilhimself It's an ironic honor because all the greatest authors have books banned somewhere in the US.

It places you in the company of Mark Twain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger, J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison...

Show threadAnaCarlosApr 21, 2023
@yaenntz @neilhimself
We stopped banning books in Portugal in 1974, when we abolished our dictatorship. Any further attempt to ban a single book has been met with outcry and a rush to bookshops to see what the buzz was about! But in the US, as I see it from my own European perspective, books are banned because they are thought-provoking. I will always congratulate an author who leads people to think. Bonus if they lead children and young adults to think!
Show threadZalasur 🐸🇺🇦Apr 20, 2023

@neilhimself On the one hand... congratulations?

On the other, that is really infuriating. It's getting really out of hand, unfortunately. 😭

Show threadTon ChrysopraseApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself The book banning is horrible, and history will judge it for the fascist move it is. Robbing kids of the opportunity of reading American Gods and Anansi Boys is a tragedy.

But that being said, I'd be proud to be in the company you find yourself in and would take antagonizing the people banning the books as a badge of honor.

Show threadTon ChrysopraseApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Well, I guess some company is better than other...
Show threadJeffreyApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Neil, I wouldn't get too upset by this. First, any state that supports Trump and elects DeSantos has a population that can't read, and as for Missouri, they're still allowed to marry their sisters, aren't they?
Show threadArtlogApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself

I'm quite illiterate ( frenchy ) so sorry to not know you, but fact your are banned reallt make me want first to follow you but then perhaps to read your Books.

Bad things happen, but this shoyld trigger an antagoniste positive response too.

I this toot IS weird, well, i drink a glassfull of italien wine a'nd then it rised my capacité to toot , inhibition... Not sure it is a good things, will sée.... 😉

Show threadVirginia MurrApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself

Texas and Missouri. Of course.

Show threadOran MagalApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself A badge of honour for you, a badge of shame for jurisdictions who ban books for political and bigoted reasons.
Show threadRRBApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself You should be proud to be in such illustrious company.

I would think you would feel sad if they thought your works feeble enough to not worry about them.

To be in the same league as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, the Handmaid's Tale, and Satanic verses is winderful.

Consider it a mini-Nobel prize.

Show threadRRBApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself

In my youth, parents were happy when their children read books.

Show threadgrinApr 20, 2023
@rrb @neilhimself well not THOSE parents....
Show threadRRBApr 20, 2023

@grin @neilhimself

True.

My parents read.

I did read the bible once. That might have been what made me an atheist.

Show threadRRBApr 20, 2023
@grin @neilhimself I liked the Koran better. English translation which is blasphemy. Did not like the Bhagavd Gita (sp?). Zen and Taoist books made the most sense to me. Particularly like Chuang Tsu. Have yet to try the Book of Mormon.
Show threadRRBApr 22, 2023
@grin @neilhimself
https://www.gocomics.com/johndeering/2023/04/22
John Deering by John Deering for April 22, 2023 | GoComics.com

GoComics
Show threadJ Lam 👩🏻‍💻👩🏻‍🎨Apr 20, 2023

@neilhimself that means you’re doing something right ;)

But also sad that book banning is still a thing in this day and age…

Show threadMelissamc1Apr 20, 2023
@neilhimself I am not surprised. Your books give readers the space to think and that is anathema to conservative evangelicals.
Show thread(((Jann Gobble)))🏳️‍🌈Apr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Let me guess: "Good Omens" is one? That like my FAVORITE! (I checked out the hardback WAAAAY back when - and bought it when they sold off their older hardbacks. Still have it!)
Show threadMichael PorterApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself At first I thought, “hey, badge of honour,” but it worries me that this also puts you on the list of people the brownshirts would throw in jail if the march towards fascism continues. All the more reason to push back, and hard, against these pinheads.
Show threadPointlessSpikeApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Could you look yourself in the mirror if they weren't?
Show threadTerra FieldApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself @donmelton as a category of person they’re trying to ban in schools, I sympathize.
Show threadWikked Storm (DJ Drewcifer)Apr 20, 2023
@neilhimself i'm using #RedState #bannedbooks lists as a must-have guides to expand my home library.
Show threadJaycieApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself It feels like congratulations are in order, weirdly?
Show threadLibra MonkeeApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself more books to add to my collection of banned books. My library is growing quite large now.
Show threadCollin EdwardsApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself as infuriating as the situation is, do you see that as a bit of a badge of honor?
Show threadStefan SchollApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Congratulations.
Show threadPastor AgnosticApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself
Moronic maroon morans.

We should start a club, celebrating all banned books, and promoting book exchanges and more.

I just do not understand how banning something is conducive to any growth, education, knowledge or experience.

Show threadD WilsonApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself I haven’t read The Ocean at the End of the Lane yet. I expect if it’s banned it must be very good. I’m buying it next! Thanks for sharing.
Show threadD WilsonApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself I'll give it to my son to read.
Show threadD WilsonMay 7, 2023
@neilhimself
#bookstodon It finally arrived at my local bookstore. Got it!
Show threadD WilsonMay 7, 2023
@neilhimself I will read it next Saturday then give it to my son.
Show threadD WilsonMay 17, 2023
@neilhimself
#bookstodon
Wow, I truly enjoyed this book! The narrator's voice is very well done - simultaneously wise and childish. The compassion and objectivity of the heroine(s) with respect to people and other creatures is refreshing and inspiring. The imagination used in creating the characters is wonderful. My only complaint is that it is not 200 pages longer. Well, not really, it is the correct length but you know what I mean. Thank you for a beautiful story.
Show threadVincent WaciukApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself I would consider that a badge of honour. Your work makes the right uncomfortable. Stupid twats.
Show threadAxel GschaiderApr 20, 2023

@neilhimself
Stephen Hawking, Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, Jules Verne, Homer, Kurt Vonnegut,...

you are in VERY good company

Show threadgrinApr 20, 2023
@agschaid @neilhimself Oh My Fscking God! I have not browsed the list, and now searched it and... that is absofsckinglutly unbelievable! In the 21st century? What a shameful place. 😣
Show threadJPSApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Handmaids Tale too, you're in good company.
Show threadMichael CritzApr 20, 2023
@neilhimself Scratch “Declared dangerous and amoral by the state of Texas” off the bucket list