Have you ever paused to peek at the contents of a bookcase at an open house?
I know I have.
In a brief glance I form a picture of the owner of that book collection. Their fiction choices might give off a whiff of their personality and tastes. Their nonfiction selection may furnish clues about their beliefs and ideals.
I’ve sometimes wondered what conclusions would be drawn about my beliefs and ideals if all someone knew about me were the contents of my home library.
The makeup of my library has evolved over the years but some things remain constant–among them, the fact that I always have a few books by authors who hold views with which I vehemently disagree.
This is especially apparent in my Christian spirituality and theology section.
There are roughly 130+ books (and counting) in this section of my library. The number of books by authors whose views I find problematic has varied over the years, shrinking as my collection grows and my total available shelf space shrinks, but there remains a notable presence.
Judging solely from the books on these shelves, you would be hard pressed to suss out what I believe about a range of issues. You might wonder if I’m reformed, progressive, or something in between.
I have certain books by authors with whom I vehemently disagree on many issues (John Piper, anyone?). I even have a couple books by authors I truly despise (that one John MacArthur volume is ringing a bell). And of course, there’s a plethora of books and authors I have mixed feelings about.
The classics section of my library also houses a few volumes I don’t particularly like or find unpalatable in some way (usually because of sexism…those old guys from the nineteenth century, you know?).
Book Chat: Do You Hold on to Books You Hate?Click To TweetThe majority of my shelf space is filled with books I love by authors I respect but I read and hold onto these outliers for a couple reasons.
First, I want to understand how people (especially people within my own faith tradition) who believe very differently than me came to those conclusions. Second, this information allows me to skillfully challenge some of the more harmful and/or discriminatory philosophical and belief systems within and outside of my religion.
I recently did a major purge of my bookshelves out of pure necessity. (Space was becoming a serious issue.) In the process, I rid my collection of quite a few books that hold ideas contrary to my own. If forced to choose between the books I love and the books I hate, I will [obviously] choose the books I love and respect. Still, I value the chance to interact with and challenge books and authors whose ideas run counter to my own.
Someday I will probably chuck that lone remaining John MacArthur book (there used to be a second–a gift I dropped off at Salvation Army long ago), a couple of the John Piper volumes, and others that have had their fair turn on my shelf. For now, though, they’re sticking around.
Do you hold on to books by authors you vehemently disagree with? If so, what are your reasons?
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This reminds me I once got a gift from my brother a nonfiction book by Bart Gellman on the Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney. Ugh! Granted I think it won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, and he thought it was a good idea to know one’s adversaries. Still I didn’t want to waste one iota of my time reading about dumb Dick blanking Cheney. So I tossed it without even opening the cover!
Ugh! If I wanted to understand people like Dick Cheney (and other sundry conservative politicians) I don’t think I would read biographies like that. I’d go for more general political books and read up on some of the philosophies, etc. that influence their beliefs and policies.
Two or three years ago I received a Bill O’Reilly book. That one had to go.
I don’t tend to read non-fiction books that I disagree with. However, I’ve read quite a few memoirs that I’ve hated. I had to take a break from reading them for a while because I was not choosing good ones for some reason. I don’t keep the ones I hate. I’m back to reading memoirs now and have done a better job at picking them out.
I know what you mean about memoirs. I’m SUPER picky about which ones I read because I’ve had so many bad (or at best mediocre) experiences with that genre. I never keep memoirs I hate. To me memoirs are more like fiction, but true. Different that more academic nonfiction.
When I first saw the title of this post, I thought it was going to be about fiction, haha. I don’t think I have any non-fiction books that presents views I vehemently disagree agree. I imagine if I did, it would be largely for the first reason you mention – for the purpose of trying to understand another a point of view. If I bought a book that I didn’t realize I disagreed with until later, and had no purpose for rereading, then I probably wouldn’t hold onto it.
I realized after posting that most people would probably assume I was referring to fiction. I don’t really hold on to books I disagree with if I don’t think I will reference them in the future but I do keep them if I think I will ever find them useful as a reference again.
Great question. I first thought you meant just books (fiction say) that we didn’t like, and do we keep them? The answer to that is mostly no. But books on subjects where we disagree w/ the author- that’s trickier. I have a few books that hold views that are challenging to my beliefs. Now I’m curious though. 🙂 But I do like to read stuff that I might not agree with, just because I think it’s good to question.
Good point though about when there is a shared faith but certain differences within that faith. It’s nice to understand diverging views.
Yeah, I realized after I published this post that most people would probably assume I was talking about fiction. My fiction collection is pretty small (especially when compared to my nonfiction collection). I don’t enjoy saturating my brain with a bunch of authors I don’t agree with all the time, but like you, sometimes I feel the need to read something that really challenges me that way or that’s just interesting but not necessarily something I see eye to eye with.
Ahh, this is such a great question! You know, I probably don’t; I’ve never given this much thought, but I certainly will from now on. I love that you have held on to such a wide, diverse collection; while I do believe that it’s important for me to become/stay informed on the issues that are relevant to those who hold different religious beliefs than I do, I can’t say that I have made a concerted effort to purchase reading material to that end. Thank you for sharing this; what a great perspective!
I get that. I mean, I’ve made an effort to read diversely within my own religious tradition, but I haven’t read that much about other religions. That’s something I’d like to change in the future.
I usually donate the printed books that I don’t love; the finished ones, that is, because I keep the ones I haven’t been able to finish to pick them up again at an uncertain point in the future. Unfortunately, I can’t do the same with Kindle versions, nor would I want to. 🙂
Unlike you, I have very little in the religion category, because though I’m not a practicing Christian, I like to read some religious texts from time to time. I don’t anticipate in advance if they hold my philosophical views or if they upend them; I’m OK with reading books contrary to my opinions depending on the validity of their authors’ points.
I do that with fiction but I often keep nonfiction I don’t like (if it’s an academic, theological, or sociological book in particular…memoirs and creative nonfiction I treat more like fiction).
I think it would make sense not to waste shelf space on religious/theological books that espouse blatantly illogical if you’re not a practicing [insert religion of choice here] or a scholar. I mostly hang onto those books because it helps me when I’m formulating a response to a particular viewpoint that I think it invalid.
Interesting question. I applaud your wish to engage with books and authors whose views you disagree with — that is important in forming a rounded view of any subject. My tendency would be to get those books from the library and not have them on my permanent shelves, but if it were an important volume that I needed to refer to often, it would behoove me to hang onto it. Since I’m long out of school and not engaged in an academic discipline the need for me to do that is rare, but if I decided I wanted to become an amateur expert on something (as you seem to be with theology) I would certainly want to amass a diverse collection.
It does make more sense to get those books from the library. My problem is that I like to underline and highlight my books to death. I think sometimes I mark up books I don’t like more than books I do. (Lots of “no No NO” in the margins, you know? ?) I don’t do that as much with fiction though (except for classics) but nonfiction I like to own (especially theology).
Good point – I do sometimes feel the urge to mark up nonfiction (never fiction). And it would not be good to do that in a library book!
I’m currently quite restricted in terms of shelving space, so before I can bring new books in I actually NEED to purge my shelves. I tend to donate any books I’ve finished and didn’t absolutely love. If a book isn’t going to be read more than once, it goes. If it’s something I didn’t enjoy but that I know a friend would like I pass it on, otherwise it’s donated to the charity shops I support.
The slight issue here though is I also have a few books I’ve started but not been able to finish – these I hold onto because maybe one day my tastes in literature would have changed and I’d enjoy it more then, there’s a reason I picked it up to begin with so will keep those.
That makes sense. I started having space issues last year, which is when I decided to donate a bunch of books. I don’t hold onto as many books I don’t like as I used to, but there are still a few…
I don’t know about you but I find it MUCH easier to pass a book onto a friend than drop it off at the Salvation Army. So many books just seem to sit on thrift store shelves for eons before anyone picks them up.