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Do you let an author's personal views affect your reading choices?

perzephone said:
For me it depends on if it's fiction or non-fiction. For fiction, if it's a good read, I don't care what the author is involved in.

For non-fiction, the author's personal opinions and views often play a big part in how the material is written. I wouldn't read a book on paganism written by Pat Roberts, or a book on animal rights written by Ted Nugent.
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I'd definitely read a book on animal rights by Sweaty Teddy. i can see the title now: Animals Have The Right to be Tasty.
 
Peder said:
How can one not read outside one's comfort zone!?
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Reading stretches one's comfort zone. Or should. And what IS a comfort zone anyway? If we think of it as a fence, a good fence has to be checked on a routine basis. If our comfort zone is not being 'checked', that is checked for faults and tested against new ideas, what good is it when the storms howl?
 
well,glimpse of author's personal views are always present in his work but it always depends upon the reader how he takes them,to get influenced or not depends upon the reader so i think an author's views should not hinder the reading interest of the reader
 
Litany said:
But often they'll let their personal views stray into the story. I was doing ok with Stranger in a Strange Land until it started beating me over the head with Heinlein's dodgy personal philosophy. No more Heinlein for me. Some personal politics is ok, and to be expected, but getting the female characters to tell me about how all women want to be raped? No thanks.
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Yes normally I dont care about the authors personal beliefs but some books are too coloured by the authors beliefs. The worst example i have read is probably Ayn Rand. The good guys agree with her beliefs and the bad guys has another point of view. Its good to be a individualists as long as your individualism is exactly like hers.

Knut Hamsun had some Nazi sympathies but when reading his books he does not try to convert you. I read and love many of his books even if I dont agree with the way he acted during the war as it does not influence his books that much.
 
Vince Flynn writes the Mitch Rapp series, about a CIA agent battle the evil forces of the world. I have only read one book but he uses the main character to project his own political views on abortion. I disagree with his view on abortion, but that is not why I'm reluctant to read any more of his books. I don't like the fact that he is using the hero to espouse his views. Even though I'm not a published author myself, I can say with 100% certainty that I would never use a character in my novel to promote my opinions.
 
The only difference I make is between christian and non-christian books/authors. Christian fiction is too much for me. I can't stand the Bla. (No offense to anyone meant, just personal prefeence)
 
Mostly I do not care about author's political views, except in detective novels when they try to be all politically correct. Working in actual law enforcement, I never actually met anyone who is really that way, although I have met plenty who pretend to be, for the sake of their careers. It is not that I am offended by this, it is that it is just not realistic. I also can understand why people do not care for preaching of Christian fiction. Same way I do not care for those writers who preach anti-Christian and anti-religion.
 
All that write a bit of themselves is left in the written story, there is no avoiding that. However some write purposely their views interwoven in the story.

That is why if I disagree with the authors personal views and his views are overtly present in his writing I will probably not read his/her work.
 
Ever heard of an author named Anne Perry? She writes historical detective fiction set during Victorian times. I went through a stage or reading her novels when I was in my early twenties. Later I found out that she had been convicted of murdering her own mother (or it might have been her best friend's mother) and I was never able to read her again. Peter Jackson made a movie out of her story called Heavenly creatures that starred Kate Winslet. I think this author had to change her name and move elsewhere, but it just gave me a bad taste in the mouth.

So in answer to your question, I suppose it's not necessarily the author's views, but the author herself that affected my continuing to read her books.
 
scribeswindow said:
Ever heard of an author named Anne Perry? She writes historical detective fiction set during Victorian times. I went through a stage or reading her novels when I was in my early twenties. Later I found out that she had been convicted of murdering her own mother (or it might have been her best friend's mother) and I was never able to read her again. Peter Jackson made a movie out of her story called Heavenly creatures that starred Kate Winslet. I think this author had to change her name and move elsewhere, but it just gave me a bad taste in the mouth.

So in answer to your question, I suppose it's not necessarily the author's views, but the author herself that affected my continuing to read her books.
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That is shocking.

Is her writing any good? And the stories? If it's about murder she at least has the experience to write about it. Still it's disconcerting, it's not common for people just to murder without apparent cause.

I can imagine knowing can hinder the enjoyment of her written words.
 
I was really shocked too. I won't say her writing was particularly fantastic, but at the time I was following one of her series. She's written quite a lot. I should probably look her up again and check what she's written recently because it's been some years since she's been on my radar. I remember looking back and thinking that some of her ideas were a bit disconcerting. I think it may have to do with the actions of some of her characters. But also, finding out about her may have coloured my memory of her work.
 
scribeswindow said:
Ever heard of an author named Anne Perry? She writes historical detective fiction set during Victorian times. I went through a stage or reading her novels when I was in my early twenties. Later I found out that she had been convicted of murdering her own mother (or it might have been her best friend's mother) and I was never able to read her again. Peter Jackson made a movie out of her story called Heavenly creatures that starred Kate Winslet. I think this author had to change her name and move elsewhere, but it just gave me a bad taste in the mouth.

So in answer to your question, I suppose it's not necessarily the author's views, but the author herself that affected my continuing to read her books.
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Yes, it was Anne Perry, before she was Anne Perry, and it was her friend's mother. The story is here:

Anne Perry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazing, but the full story is more interesting than one might suppose.
 
what makes it so shocking in my opinion is that it's not clear why they did it. They claimed insanity...is she insane.
 
Yes, it's all coming back to me now. Thanks for the link Peder. I think I had read about the first ten or eleven books of the Thomas Pitt series before I found out who she was and I just couldn't read her after that.
 
I'd have to say no. As with music or film artists, I can't restrict my enjoyment of books to only writers with whom I agree politically. Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favorite writers of all time---he was just unhinged---but I agree with very few of his assertions.
 
not unless they express their views in the book other wise it has no effect on wheather i read it or not it just has to be a good book
 
Nope. I find that I choose books on sight..... so it has to be that... If I'm at a bookstore, I usually just browse and browse... I don't even go online first to check out the reviews. found a few gems this way, and some really bad ones too!
 
Peder said:
Yes, it was Anne Perry, before she was Anne Perry, and it was her friend's mother. The story is here:

....

Amazing, but the full story is more interesting than one might suppose.
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Eerie. What would drive two girls to actually commit a gruesome and brutal murder is beyond me. Maybe they think it's fun?

Were they lovers?
 
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