This week on the bookish internet

Aram Mrjoian explains, patiently, why we need to read books that challenge us for Book Riot, in response to the students at Duke University who protested their university’s choice for summer reading. This piece has gotten even more relevant since it was written. In the last week, it was reported that:
- A student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrote an article for the student paper about a class on 9/11 literature, claiming that the books were pro-terrorist and anti-American.
- A mother in Tennessee called for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to be banned from schools because it’s pornographic.
Marta Bausells reports for The Guardian on the flood of books that arrived after teacher Mary Jones asked for donations to a library for refugees in Calais, France.