Banned Books Week 2025: 1984 VibesLike this list

20 items

• We

  a Novel

  Zami͡atin, Evgeniĭ Ivanovich, 1884-1937

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  In this glass-walled city-state, citizens are numbered, privacy is nonexistent, and rebellion is punished with psychological “recalibration.” The state doesn’t just suppress dissent — it eliminates imagination itself, leaving conformity as the only…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• 1984

  Orwell, George, 1903-1950

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  Perhaps the most famous portrait of censorship ever written. In Oceania, truth itself is unstable: newspapers are constantly revised, history is rewritten, and even memory is outlawed if it conflicts with Party doctrine. Surveillance is total,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fahrenheit 451

  Bradbury, Ray, 1920-2012

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  In this vision of America’s future, books are burned and intellectual curiosity is treated as subversive. People are lulled into passivity by endless screens and shallow entertainment, while the few who dare to read are hunted down. Bradbury shows…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Unknown Americans

  a Novel

  Henríquez, Cristina, 1977-

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  Through interconnected immigrant stories, Henríquez shows how personal truths are often ignored, erased, or misrepresented by those in power. Also available in Large Type.

• Every Man Dies Alone

  Fallada, Hans, 1893-1947

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  Based on a true story, this novel follows ordinary Germans living under the suffocating grip of the Nazi regime. Surveillance is constant, propaganda is relentless, and even small acts of truth-telling are dangerous. When one couple begins leaving…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Memory Police

  a Novel

  Ogawa, Yōko, 1962-

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  On a small island, things begin to disappear — not just physically, but from memory itself. Roses, ribbons, birds, boats… all vanish, enforced by the authoritarian “Memory Police.” Those who remember are punished.

• The Handmaid's Tale

  Atwood, Margaret, 1939-

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  A theocratic regime strips women of language, autonomy, and identity. Books, education, and speech are denied to them, and their voices are silenced. Search our catalog for other editions available, a graphic novel, and the TV series adaption on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Red Clocks

  a Novel

  Zumas, Leni, 1972-

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  Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, which imagines a totalitarian regime overtly controlling every aspect of women’s lives, Red Clocks is set in a near-future America where laws quietly restrict reproductive rights and limit personal freedoms. Zumas…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Brave New World

  With the Essay "Brave New World Revisited"

  Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963

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  Censorship here takes the form of indulgence. Truth is buried not by fear, but by pleasure: drugs, casual sex, and consumer distraction keep citizens docile. The result is a society where individuality and genuine thought are drowned in a flood of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Circle

  a Novel

  Eggers, Dave

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  Unlike traditional censorship, The Circle depicts control through forced transparency. A tech corporation sells the dream of sharing everything online, but “sharing” quickly becomes mandatory. Privacy is equated with secrecy, secrecy with guilt,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Little Brother

  Doctorow, Cory

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  After a terrorist attack, a teenage hacker witnesses his city turned into a militarized surveillance state. Cameras watch every move, phones are monitored, and dissent is silenced under the banner of “security.”

• Never Let Me Go

  Ishiguro, Kazuo, 1954-

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  At first, it seems to be the story of students growing up at a secluded boarding school, their lives filled with art, friendships, and quiet routines. But something is missing — the truth. Teachers speak in half-explanations, secrets hang heavy in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• V for Vendetta

  Moore, Alan, 1953-

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  Most know V for Vendetta as a 2005 movie, but its original form is this groundbreaking graphic novel in the 1980s. Set in a future England ruled by propaganda and fear, every broadcast is censored and every act of dissent is crushed. A masked…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Clockwork Orange

  Burgess, Anthony, 1917-1993

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  To curb violent behavior, the state imposes a radical “rehabilitation” that strips a young man of his free will. Burgess’ novel presents censorship in its most unsettling form: not the suppression of words, but the erasure of choice itself. Search…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blindness

  Saramago, José,

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  A city struck by a sudden epidemic of blindness. Authorities quarantine the population and suppress information, leaving citizens to navigate fear, chaos, and moral collapse. Search our catalog for the adapted 2008 film on DVD.

• Parable of the Sower

  Butler, Octavia E.

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  Set in a near-future California unraveling under climate collapse, economic disparity, and authoritarianism, this novel follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who creates a new belief system, Earthseed, to guide humanity toward survival and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland

  Murakami, Haruki, 1949-

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  In this surreal, dual-narrative dystopia, one world is a hyper-controlled city where information is carefully manipulated, secrets are weaponized, and the mind itself becomes a battleground. In the parallel “End of the World,” a walled town erases…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Blue Fox

  Sjón, 1962-

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  Set in 19th-century Iceland, this short novel blends folklore, myth, and historical detail to explore the boundaries between knowledge, power, and perception. Through the mysterious pursuit of a rare blue fox, Sjón examines how communities suppress…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Trial

  Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924

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  In Kafka’s unsettling masterpiece, an ordinary man, Josef K., is arrested and prosecuted by a mysterious and opaque legal system — though he is never told the nature of his crime. Every attempt to seek truth is met with confusion, delay, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Red Azalea

  Min, Anchee, 1957-

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  This autobiographical fiction follows a young woman during China’s Cultural Revolution, confronting a society where thought and expression are tightly controlled.