Read What You Want to Read

I read an article in the NY Times this morning about the expanding market of LGBTQ romance books. The article didn't really bring any new insights for me, but why, oh why, did I wander into the comments section? Too bad they closed the comments before I could put one in. There were the usual complaints about a lot of M/M romance books being written by and for women. Hey, that's where the market is, kids! But one comment that made me roll my eyes was someone who mentioned the book Loss by Andrew Sean Greer and recommended this book as a gay romance book written by a gay man. Now I loved Loss and I was a Greer reader before Loss won the Pulitzer. What annoyed me about the reader's comment was that Greer also wrote a book called The Story of a Marriage some years ago and the main character is a straight black woman. (Also a great book, I should add.) Should he not have written this book because he's a gay white man? Did the reader happen to mention this book in his praise for Greer? Of course not. (Had the comments not closed by the time I read the article, I would have mentioned it!) My point is that Greer is a great writer and I will continue to read his work because he IS a great writer. 

I don't pigeonhole the writers I read based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, whatever. I read writers whose work I like. It's as simple as that. It's a shame some people can't do the same. People should certainly read what they want to read, but I hate to see writers dismissed because they write about people who are different from themselves. Isn't that what fiction is about anyway? The last time I checked JK Rowling wasn't a little wizard boy!