Books We Love To Hate

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It is good when a book promotes critical thinking (and that includes books that you think handled a topic wrong) because it opens up discussion.

But you can't have discussions while blocking out other points of view. The important part of discussing books critically is that the discussion happens. Converting others to your view is nonsense. Conversation is the important factor. You can't browbeat someone to understand you or agree with you, but you can have a conversation that exposes people to new ideas.

When a book is considered harmful to youth or a community or a people, it's easy to attack the work and the writer and the fans of that work. But who is that helping?

I do not accept, and will never accept, that writers or readers of a problematic, troubling, or controversial work are automatically terrible or stupid or deserve hate. That is not okay. Different people create and consume different works for different reasons. Making assumptions about people over a piece of fiction is foolish and cruel, and I am never okay with it.

If you feel a book is giving the wrong impression, you can offer up alternative works. Fans get defensive when you say the book they like is bad, but people like getting suggestions for similar things to read. Be a cheerleader for better books. Word of mouth is highly effective, so get some metaphorical pompoms and go for it.