As a young man, the concept of banned books was fascinating to me. As Prohibition proved, oftentimes the more you try to protect someone from something, the more they want to do it anyway. As it seemed like most of my favorite books had been banned by someone somewhere at some point, I began to assume that if a book wasn't blacklisted, it wasn't worth my time. If the content is so intellectually inoffensive that no one's ever had a problem with it, why would I waste my time reading it? Isn't one of the hallmarks of great literature its ability to challenge our beliefs and provoke some kind of reaction, even if it's negative? And if nothing else, a couple of good spicy sex scenes sprinkled throughout a novel can make the medicine go down so much sweeter, know what I mean? Sure you do, pervert.
Well, this Wednesday, you can have the opportunity to join your fellow literary renegades for the meeting of the Banned Book Club at the Huntington Beach Barnes N Noble. The book of discussion this month is D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover, which I have not read as such, but I've been told it's good and literary and concerns the relationship between a rough, salt-of-the-earth type and a woman of some class and taste, and the romantic shenanigans that ensue—including a scene in which the gamekeeper . . . uh . . . well, let's just say he does some things with Lady Chatterly that would have certainly made D.H. Lawrence's mother weep. So it's about 400 pages, which means if you get started right now and don't take any bathroom breaks, you should be able to finish it by the time the club meets. Just try to come up with something more interesting to discuss than Lady Chatterly's badonkadonk.
Banned Book Club discusses Lady Chatterly's Lover at Barnes N Noble, 7881 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach, (714) 897-8781. Wed., 7 p.m. Free.
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