An AACC student is starting a club to discuss banned books.
Second-year film studies student Daira Rodriguez was inspired to start the Burned Book Society after learning about Banned Books Week in her communications class.
Unlike a typical book club, whose members all read the same book and then discuss it, Burned Book Society members may read any book they choose and bring it in to discuss.
“I didn’t want to feel like I’m constricting everyone,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t like the idea of just reading one simple book and then making everyone read it. … I want everyone to explore these interesting topics within the club.”
Banned Books Week started in 1982 as a way to recognize freedom of expression and show the damages of censorship.
“I found it really fascinating how a lot of these books have really interesting topics, but they’re all banned,” Rodriguez said. “It would be a really cool idea of just having a main focus on banned books … and talking about all these topics whether they’re explicit or not.”
Typically, a school will ban books that feature issues involving sex, race, violence, religion, witchcraft or LGBTQ characters.