Biased reading

What’s called prejudice or bias when it involves other people is more likely termed taste or preference when we’re talking about anything else, even when our discriminating tastes and preferences happen to give us negative thoughts about people with quite different tastes and preferences.

We all like certain kinds of music and certain performers while detesting others. The same with movies and actors, restaurants and foods and, of course, books and authors. It is the latter which I choose to address.

Most readers prefer certain genres while avoiding others. Some even read only mysteries, or thrillers, or romances, whatever. Some read only fiction or only nonfiction. As a longtime book reviewer, I read a diverse assortment of books. Still I have my biases.

James Lee Burke

I read mysteries but avoid those that are too violent (I stopped reading James Lee Burke novels for this reason) or too cute (if there's a pun in the title, I avoid it even if I enjoy the pun). I have little interest in horror stories. If a book is a bestseller I am more likely to avoid it than grab it up. I ignore most political books (unless they are by somebody like P.J. O'Rourke), most war novels (unless they are about submarines) and most thrillers (unless they were written by David Baldacci -- see my next post). I am unlikely to ever read a book about playing tennis, drinking wine, crocheting sweaters, growing vegetables or hunting big game.

Even certain book titles can turn us off, as in the case of those mysteries with puns in their titles. I usually pass on novels with the words girl or daughter in their titles. Some titles are just too bland, too forgettable. If the title is unimaginative, will the book be any different? I think this even though I know the title is not necessarily the author's choice.

And so it goes. Some discrimination in the books we choose to read, while it can prevent us from reading some really good books we might actually enjoy, can even be a good thing. After all, so many books, so little time. We need some way to narrow the choices or we could never decide what to read next.