Conference season boosts books...

They have filled the newspapers for weeks and pitted brother against brother, but the party conference season is finally drawing to a close. However, the end does not seem in sight for the political memoirs which have been pouring out of Westminster this summer. Here, the Guardian examines the influence of these books, and uncovers some new reads

Banned books...

This week sees the American Libraries Association celebrating Banned Books Week. Designed to celebrate the freedom of speech of which Americans are so proud, the event highlights the harms of censorship by detailing the most challenged books of the year. The ALA reports that there were 460 attempts in 2009 to have a book withdrawn from a library or classroom, accompanied by angry emails from parents such as 'What gives you the right to take away my child's innocence?'.

The 10 top most challenged books of 2009 include some old classics as well as new releases. They are:

• •ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle: Drugs, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson: Homosexuality

• The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: Anti-family, drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group

• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Offensive language, racism, unsuited to age group

• Twilight (series)by Stephenie Meyer: Religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult: Drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexism, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group, violence

• The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier: Nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

People never believe you...

A book, banned for advertising itself as the sequel to J.D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye', is being allowed to appeal the decision. '60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye', written by Swedish novelist Fredrik Colting, was banned in July last year for too closely mirroring Salinger's 1951 masterpiece, including the use of protagonist 'Mr. C' - an easily identifiable reference to antihero Holden Caulfield. Yet despite permitting the appeals process, the courts appear to believe that Salinger's estate will win out, declaring the case 'readily established in his favour'.

On this day...

Gustave Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary' was published in 1857. The novel had first been serialised in 'La Revue de Paris' the previous winter, sparking obscenity charges and resulting in a trial in January 1857. The plot follows Emma Bovary, as she embarks on numerous adulterous affairs to escape the triviality of life.

As so often occurs with banned literature, the case only increased the interest surrounding the novel, and following ita acquittal in February, the book went on to become a bestseller. Yet despite its success, five years of writing, and a label of one of the most influential novels of all time, the work only made Flaubert about 800 francs. Indeed a 2007 poll of contemporary authors, found 'Madame Bovary' to be the second greatest novel ever written, second only to Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina'.

Brokeback Mountain inciting crime...

The Texan authorities have banned a wealth of famous and influential literature from their prisions. Inmates will now not be able to read works by Pulitzer Prize winners John Updike and Alice Walker, as well of novels by John Grisham, and Annie Proulx's 'Brokeback Mountain'. Even Nobel Laureates have been blacklisted, and a prisoners appeal has done little to abate the action. Any novel detailing drugs or weapons manufacturing, criminal schemes, racial insensitivity or escape aids has been cut, as, according to officers, 'what may not be judged inflammatory in the public at large can be inflammatory in prison'. The Conservative party has suggested a similar censorship for British prisons, however, it is likely to received in a similar manner to this; one of bemusement.

On this day...

One of the most important works of modernist literature, James Joyce's 'Ulysses', was published in 1922. The novel was first serialised in American magazine 'The Little Review' between 1918 and 1920, but it was not until two years later that the work was published in its entirety. From a young age, Joyce was infatuated with Ulysses, otherwise known Odysseus, writing a school essay in which he described him as his 'favourite hero'. Calling Ulysses the only all-round character in literature, this fascination continued into Joyce's literary career. The name was originally thought of as a title for the popular work 'The Dubliners', but later transferred to Joyce's epic novel. The novel itself, of over 265,000 words, is narrated in stream-of-conciousness form, ensuring its place as first in the Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Yet its journey has not always been smooth. Joyce himself said that he 'put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant' and indeed such seemed the confusion, that the novel was banned for obscenity in the United States and later in the United Kingdom. Since then, eighteen editions are thought to have been published; each an imitation on the last.

Ulysses drinks life to the lees...

This day also saw a infamous court ruling over James Joyce's novel, 'Ulysses' in 1933. The novel, written over a seven year period, had been serialised in the U.S. magazine 'The Little Review' in 1918, but following the publication of a particularly lewd passage for the time, the New York Society for the Supression of Vice took action against it. A trial declared the magazine obscene in 1921, leading to the book being banned in the U.S; mirroring a similar scenario in Britain. However, in 1933, a federal judge ruled against the original verdict; a decision that was confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 1934 and led to the book being reinstated in both countries. Joyce's novel, written using a stream of conciuosness technique, contains approximately 265,000 words from a 30,030 word vocabulary. It is based on Greek mythological hero Odysseus, and is often described as one of the most important works of modernist literature.

Elementary, my dear Watson...

This day also sees the first publication, in bound form, of Sherlock Holmes. 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', by Arthur Conan Doyle, consists of twelve stories, each first induvidually published in the Strand Magazine over the span of a year. Formalised into a book in 1892, becoming the first Holmes collection, the stories include 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' and 'A Case of Identity'. The book was banned in 1929 by the Soviet Union who mysteriously cited occultism as its logic. Doyle wrote a further four collections of short stories and four novels revolving around the fictional detective, who is once again to be adapted for the screen; 'Sherlock Holmes' will be released on December 25th 2009.

On this day...

The George Bernard Shaw play, 'Mrs. Warren's Profession', was performed in the Garrick Theatre, New York, in 1905. All participants, cast and crew, were arrested for obscenity, yet only the house manager was ever convicted. The play had caused outrage in the reserved society of Victorian England, and was banned due to its confrontation of prostitution, and implications of incest. Shaw himself, however, noted that he wrote the play, 'to draw attention to the truth that prostitution is caused, not by female depravity and male licentiousness, but simply by underpaying, undervaluing, and overworking women so shamefully that the poorest of them are forced to resort to prostitution to keep body and soul together'. Therefore, as opposed to writing a morally skewed play in order to shock both authorities and public alike, he wrote it for didactic means, attempting to educate and open eyes to the society around them. The play wasn't legally performed in Britain until 1926.