Reading things you hate is good for you, I swear

Laura Miller wrote an article in Salon, encouraging us to record what we read and look for our reading blind spots. People are creatures of habit, and we tend to gravitate to the same genre (and to accept the subtle cues of covers in said genres).

And hey, just because you think you hate something doesn't mean you really do. Remember when you were seven and tried brussels sprouts (yea, I looked it up, that is actually how it is spelled), and thought they were terrible, but as an adult realize that they are super delicious? Substitute your own food choice, if you are of the terrible heathen persuasion that b-sprouts are not d-licious.

In the vein of tolerance, I'm going to find and read a thriller and try not to hate it. Suggestions (and similar professions of tolerance so I don't have to be principled alone) are welcome.


  1. I don't know about thrillers; but this is why I force myself to read Dickens. Ugh.

  2. I'm the only non-thriller junkie in my family so I've got nothing to offer by way of suggestion.

    Brussel sprouts still suck. And I still hate books where the dog dies. Some things just never change.

    I don't like emotionally uplifting/socially conscious/moral in the story books where the MC's life totally sucks the whole way through but they learn to be happy anyway. Sure, it's a valuable life lesson but I can troll my dad's Reader's Digest for stories like that.

    My mom keeps foisting these books off on me after she reads them. Maybe I'll read the next one. (But I kind of doubt it.)

  3. But I'll miss all that blood and those guns and knives on the covers of my favorite genre.

    Love those "Clinch Covers," though. Maybe I'll pick up a romance novel and force myself to read it. Who knows. I might like it.

    Or maybe I'll just put it on my shelf and admire the cover.

  4. Not sure if his work is the "Thriller" type you seek but I enjoy Ross Thomas' "Cold War" novels.

    I don't have time to read every book I want to read, why should I read a book I don't want to read? How does reading a book you hate make you better? I have been reading for over fifty years. Why waste my time with a type of book I have not enjoyed in the past when I am buried under a sea of books of a type I enjoy? Having time to discover new treasures and new authors is more important than wasting my time on a book I don't want to read.

  5. I believe that I completed my pre-requisite of reading hated books when my mother tried to convince me that I should read Kathy Reichs books because I like the tv show Bones.

    Also Twilight.

    And Brussels Sprouts taste like pennies. But that's just a genetic thing ;)

  6. This morning I started a started making my way through a dreaded self-help title. It's How to be Useful by Megan Hustad, and so far it seems like it might be... well, useful.

    I used to think Mary Higgins Clark was an excellent choice in thriller authors. But then again, I also used to think that clown-hair red hair dye was an excellent choice. So take that with a grain of salt.