![My dad taught high school English for 42 years. Now that he's gone, I'm left with boxes of books from his classroom.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9a39ddd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2717x2443+0+0/resize/1200x1079!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd0%2F45%2F0be6ae2e40afbb7c4930e7e2d298%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-1.jpg)
![Shelved side by side, some of these classic books make up a genre all their own: banned or challenged.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/78e0424/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2730x2424+0+0/resize/1200x1065!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7c%2F41%2Fd9d201504403885bd230168f1e69%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-2.jpg)
![One of my favorites, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, starts with Billy Pilgrim unstuck in time. I also feel this way.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e5a035e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2719x2472+0+0/resize/1200x1091!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2F7f%2Fcad4c2324826b803652148365fd1%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-3.jpg)
![Billy is abducted by aliens who can see past, present and future. We humans can only see so much.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bc6b512/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2723x2433+0+0/resize/1200x1072!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F38%2F4b%2F826642384ac4a367f9572df72a3e%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-4.jpg)
![When we restrict access to books or entire subjects, we remove a way to see in new dimensions.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/246f004/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2704x2504+0+0/resize/1200x1111!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fde%2F00%2Fff5b7d6b45ed84787a1b1b34172a%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-5.jpg)
![It took Vonnegut 23 years to write about the firebombing of Dresden in "Slaughterhouse-Five." The least we can do is listen.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8c67b6a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2730x2540+0+0/resize/1200x1116!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F64%2Ffd%2Fa4e75faa45178821ddb009ce9110%2Fvonnegut-banned-book-la-times-image-6.jpg)
Bryn Durgin, a writer in Florida, is the director of programming at Bookstore1Sarasota and leads its Banned Book Club. Navied Mahdavian, a cartoonist and writer in Utah, is the author of the graphic memoir “This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America.”
Opinion: Forget new habits and resolutions in 2024, find joy in rituals
Column: How to have a meaningful conversation with your MAGA dad
More housing, fewer murders and other New Year’s resolutions 2024 that we would like to see
Plant a Native Garden to See Real California Wildlife at Home
Nikki Haley dodged the slavery issue, just like America does