Looking for Alaska, a book about loss and grief, frequently taught in Canada (and Alberta), one of the most banned books in the USA, and almost certainly about to be banned in Alberta now.

I’d give the book shop owner mad props for recommending this to me if i asked for some good porn!

Warning: May offend easily offended people. (edit: just changing to an image of the whole page)

::: spoiler spoiler :::

How did it go again… “I know pornography when I see it.”, wasn’t it?

Which, honestly, is actually rather impressive as far as non-answers to things in general go in that it not only made the speaker simultaneously sound both like a condescending prick AND some sort-of super creepy dude who is waaaay too into porn, all while assuring us that these qualities gave them the necessary authority to… Identify porn, I guess? Ya know, like that wood book fellow

I’m actually surprised they haven’t done something like that.

We’re republishing Looking For Alaska, as it’s now a holy text that teaches our disciples about loss and grief.

Lolita, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, IT. All books I read as a teen with explicit sexual content…

Ezekiel 23:20-21

She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse. And so, Oholibah, you relived your former days as a young girl in Egypt, when you first allowed your breasts to be fondled.

Good thing they have clear standards!

All David Gemmells books.

Pretty much any book that is going to have useful information for sex ed, which is taught at around ages 10 to 12, is either going to be useless or sufficiently graphic for hormonal pubescent kids. Back when I was a kid, the go-to source for accessible nudity was National Geographic. Also, there were kids who would read the National Geographics to learn about the world (which included places with different taboos than us). Should the education of some be hampered for the sake of the ignorance of others? Alberta says yes.

And you borrowed these books from your school’s library?

To clarify: You borrowed fucking Lolita from your school’s library? And you want other kids to be able to do the same?

Yeah. A couple of years after I first read it, I wrote a coursework essay about the unreliable narrator, using Lolita and Pale Fire as my primary texts (the latter also by Nabokov). What’s the problem with that? I’m assuming you’ve not read either if you’re getting this outraged, lol

I can see where the censors are coming from, and how they might see these as pornographic, but I think they’ve responded to the surface appearance rather than what’s actually going on in the book.

These excerpts are fairly explicit and describe sex acts and being turned on. In that, they resemble porn. But they also tend to be describing teenage sexual discovery in a realistic way, showing how the development of sexual feelings can be tender and complex. If you remove teenagers’ access to these books, what are they left with to help them understand what they’re experiencing? Internet porn and the manosphere? It can be helpful for kids to have access to more nuanced and sensitive materials, even if they are somewhat explicit.

So I can see how the censors see this, but I still wouldn’t ban these books just because they contain sexually explicit scenes, and I still think it’s a mistake to classify these as porn.

Ah. We clearly had different experiences of high school. Lmao.

So is it or is not explicit btw? Does it contain ‘detailed and clear depictions of sexual acts, including’? Because you seem to lean into whatever is the opposite of what I say lol. But we’re taking about OP.

Ah. We clearly had different experiences of high school. Lmao.

So is it or is not explicit btw? Does it contain detailed and clear descriptions of sexual acts? Because you seem to lean into whatever is the opposite of what I say lol.

I mean it’s pretty graphic when he compares her ring to a football pump before going into licking it, but it’s also hilarious

Is Trump still talking about the annexation thing because the US can have Alberta.

The bible is still not removed, which has incest, adultery, more incest with rape, prostitution, more prostitution. I can list more. My question is, what is wrong with regular books, with sex in them?

My brother an I came up with ‘Gemmell theory’ which breaks down all his characters by archetype. Female archer, strong willed, ‘manly’ in some regards, yet sexy. Warrior. Has seen some shit, probably had a deal with a demon and/or has a destiny. Bard. Light comic relief. Probably a mate of the warrior. May know a little light magic. You get the idea. I think there are only about 5 archetypes in Gemmell theory.

I don’t know what to tell you. If this metaphor qualifies as a ‘detailed and clear’ depiction of sex for you, sure I guess? I see what you’re saying in that case.

Maybe I’ve just been exposed to more clear and detailed written depictions of sex lol.

The word of god.

They had to explicitly exempt religious texts, lol.

oh fuck not here too. ‍️ we really are just old america aren’t we?