Read Banned Books

Its quite an irony that every year attempts are being made to ban/challenge several of the literary classics. Be it George Orwell's 1984 or J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, or Heller's Catch 22 or Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind - these books are being challenged/banned for several reasons (mostly stupid). And the primary reasons for being challenged/banned are::

• Institutions (Schools/students/community etc.),
• Initiator (Parents/Religious Organizations/Government etc)
• Type (sex/adult content etc.)

For e.g. few of my favorite books being banned for stupid reasons are:

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language

ALA (American Library Association) is celebrating 25th year of Banned Books Week (Sep 23-30, 2006) and Google Books has joined their hands to bring some of these banned books to people. Get the list of available banned books on Google Books here. Read ALA's president post in Google Blog | Learn more about the banned books here

iLounge Reviews the New iPod Nano

iLounge was quick to snatch up the newest iPod Nanos and pump out a great review. It’s probably the most comprehensive iPod review ever published, with comparison pictures from every angle, pictures of the new software features as well as Nano accessories. The verdict: they love everything about the new Nano and have confidence that it is fairly scratch-resistant. If you still worry about scratches, a new Invisible Shield for the Nano should be in stock this Friday. Update: It seems like iLounge has been busy; they also reviewed the new iPod with video (the so-called 5.5G iPod).