Dear Commons Community,

A law touted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts the kinds of books that can be available in public schools has led teachers in the state’s Orange County to remove hundreds of books from their shelves — including some that are widely considered literary classics.

The Orlando Sentinel has compiled a list of all 673 books pulled from the shelves in the county, and it shows that Florida’s law resulted in the removal of books that go well beyond often-targeted titles such as “Gender Queer” by author Maia Kobabe.

Below are ten literary classics that you will no longer find in school libraries in Orange County.

1.) Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Although published back in 1667, John Milton’s epic poem about Satan, Adam and Eve is apparently still too risqué for Gov. DeSantis and his allies in the Florida state legislature.

2.) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

An epic satire of the American military set during the closing months of World War II.

3.) Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust.

This infamously dense French prose does not seem like a likely destination for innocent young minds to seek titillation.

4.) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy.

This tragic 19th century portrayal of working-class life in England is considered a Hardy masterpiece, but has nonetheless run afoul of Florida’s censors.

5.) The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.

The great Spanish playwright was assassinated by Spanish in 1936 by fascists, who apparently still target his work for censorship even to this day.

6.) The Quiet American by Graham Greene.

A prophetic novella that warned about the growing dangers of American involvement in Vietnam back in the 1950s.

7.) Beloved by Toni Morrison.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece of Black American literature, Morrison’s tale of slavery in pre-Civil War America has not escaped the watchful eyes of Florida’s book banners.

8.) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

A cautionary tale about what can happen when a teacher gets a little too enthusiastic about the glories of fascist dictators.

9.) East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Being an American classic loaded with allusions to the Bible apparently isn’t enough to pass muster with some conservative Christian literary critics.

10.) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Huxley’s dystopian tale of a society that genetically engineers itself to the point of mindlessness has no place in Orange County classrooms.

For shame!

Tony