If you have to qualify anything with “it’s great if you just ignore…” it’s not great. Whether it’s a person, a book, a relationship, etc.

I think a books quality is subjective. I don’t care how a book ‘should’ be considered, I care if I want to to read it. I mostly don’t have the patience for homophobia, sexism, etc in anything I consume. I used to make more exceptions than I do currently but right now I’m so spoiled for choice I don’t see the point in settling

No. This is the beauty of books. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time.

If I want to read only about what I think it’s moral, I wouldn’t read.

I think it’s about the approach. Are those elements being used as a narrative tool to enrich the world? Or am I being preached at by an author who thinks they know better?

Yes, but I still read them, that’s how you possibly broaden your horizons

I like them, as they usually show me a side of life that i don’t interact with. What i don’t like is a superficial approach to it, one that doesn’t let me understand it’s way of thinking and logic, it’s reasons, like the person or way of action were of an animal and not a sentient being.

I really like Ian Fleming’s bond novels, but they were written in the 50s and they have aged poorly. I would not read or enjoy a new product released today with that much overt sexism, classism, or racism.

I really love the harry bosche books, and the first few are some of my favourites. But the black echo is so casually homophobic and transphobic I found it very uncomfortable to read through.

Connolly got better with this as the series went on, but some other books in his collection have this problem. I won’t deny it’s a great book and the language could have the benefit of the doubt of being “of its time” but nevertheless I still found it uncomfortable.

For the duration of Lord of the Rings, I am a monarchist and want Aaragorn, son of Arathorn, to inherent yh throne or Gondor

Not literature. At all. I might not agree with it but I’ll read it to see if I can understand where they’re coming from, or try to recognise the context. I love James Ellroy, for example, but I find some of his language jarring. It’s debatable as to whether it’s necessary, but it certainly does add a distasteful sort of depth.

Non-fiction that I fundamentally disagree with, such as Harari’s definition of liberalism in Sapiens, gets right up my nose, and I get grumpy. But I’ll tend to read on to see if they have anything interesting to say.

All of Ender’s Game is an ethical and moral nightmare but that’s like the whole point to me. You aren’t supposed to like any of it

No. If a book has a philosophy or worldview that I disagree with yet can make me think and question my deeply held beliefs I will find it fascinating. I tend to dislike any book that I consider to offer surface level depth and analysis even if it would contain the same belief system that I hold.

This is my thoughts on “the Ninth Gate” by Leigh Bardugo

I’ll answer with a specific example. I tend to be turned off by books that have characters that espouse cultural feminism. This is because it’s a philosophy many in my life have followed, and I personally(as a feminist myself) feel that it’s an extremely harmful form of feminism that creates many more problems than it solves. So when I encounter it in a book, that’s an immediate red flag, warning lights flashing, what is this? Does it have an agenda? Critical reading engaged!

There’s three ways it can go from that initial surge of repulsion and alert:

1. While a character holds these beliefs, they’re shown(or implied) to be untrue. The philosophy is subverted, rather than reinforced. These are good books that I will recommend, albeit with a warning that it might seem dodgy there for a while but trust.

2. Or maybe these beliefs go unchallenged. Maybe their truthful status is central to the plot, part of the thesis of the book. I do not enjoy these books, and I can’t recommend them.

3. Or, the third option, is that these beliefs seem to be present in the material, but aren’t central to the plot or premise. The author’s bias is seeping in, but their thesis is in another castle, so to speak. These books are…eh. Complicated. I may or may not like them. It depends on how egregiously it offends. I might even recommend them, but with a caveat.

Honestly no. I disagree with casual racism, for example if someone said in a book “better not to marry outside your race” I’d absolutely disagree with the sentiment, but if it’s a throwaway comment in the context of the story I’m not going to throw the book away (I’m basing this on one of my favourite books Miss Pettigrew lives for a day). It’s like people who get outraged when a woman is told to smile more or some vaguely inappropriate sexist remark; but seemingly overlook the fact that there’s a tonne of porn on the internet; freely accessible; of women being subjected to the most degrading treatment imaginable.