What is your personal e-reading philosophy? Buy(from where?)or Borrow?

[hildea]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Did any of these reviewers take a look at some gay writers' books who write romance and critique them as well?

I've read romances written by authors I've known are queer -- both men, women, and nonbinary people. I can't remember any truly cringeworthy depictions of characters of any gender in any of those.
I learnt to read in 1974 or thereabouts, so I have, of course, read about a lot of characters which were stereotypical and/or terrible in ways that came across as gendered. But these days, those are much rarer -- authors have improved, and I've become better at vetting books, probably.

[haertig]

I don't really need "fresh off the press" books. They're all new to me when I read them.

My current books that I'm reading (switching between) are not all that new, but still new to me:
Harry Potter #5 - 2005
Sigma Force #11.5 - 2016
Murderbot #3 - 2018

Next up (currently planned) after these will be:
Dresden Files #3 - 2001

I've got a ton of half-finished series in "next book TBR" status. More than enough for the rest of my life. Just finishing the Dresden Files will be a years long project for me. And some day, I hope to finally get over the hump (stuck on the 4th book for several decades now) for the Clan of the Cave Bear books and find out what happens to Ayla.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Most writers who write gay romance are women.

But not all. Alexander Elliott is a writer of gay romance.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by hildea

I've read romances written by authors I've known are queer -- both men, women, and nonbinary people. I can't remember any truly cringeworthy depictions of characters of any gender in any of those.
I learnt to read in 1974 or thereabouts, so I have, of course, read about a lot of characters which were stereotypical and/or terrible in ways that came across as gendered. But these days, those are much rarer -- authors have improved, and I've become better at vetting books, probably.

Agreed.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by Gormagon

And since there are things like sensitivity readers in recent years I doubt that I really need new, watered down books published after sensitivity reading.

Originally Posted by hildea

I'm pretty sure that you can find plenty new books with offensive content, stereotypes, and bias, if that's what you want to read

I briefly browsed the throw-away paperback aisle at the grocery store, and there were sensitivity warnings on the page after the copyright page. Seems like murder doesn't require a "sensitivity warning", but an in passing mention of suicide require the warning, and the suicide hotline number.

An explicit sex scene might warrant a warning, but when an interracial kiss between a couple requires a warning, things have gone insane.

[Sirtel]

I absolutely detest trigger warnings all romance novels seem to have these days, and always delete them without reading. They spoil the plot. Fortunately those abominations haven't yet reached other genres, not for most books at least.

I have a couple of triggers myself, but I don't want them spelled out for me before reading. Because I'm capable of enduring them to a limited extent when the book is good otherwise, but I would not read the book at all if I knew beforehand.

As to sensitivity readers, I don't mind it as long as they don't overdo it and try to make everything squeaky clean and 100% politically correct. I mean, people in real life can be assholes and do shitty things to one another; everyone has prejudices. And usually no one gets any just deserts for the shitty things they do or say, except for extreme cases. I don't want to read a book where everything and everyone is totally politically correct and free of prejudices, or if not will always either get punished or see the light eventually. Because that's not how people and relationships are in real life.

And I'm absolutely against modifying older books for having things in them not considered acceptable today. Let past times reflect the opinions and prejudices of their time, not the present. If every time period modified older works to reflect current trends, very soon there would be nothing left of the original.

[DNSB]

This discussion reminded me that, a short while back, I ran into a new edition of a Booth Tarkington book. The publisher was very proud that they had removed questionable language and situations from it. Sadly the book was almost unreadable since Tarkington wrote about his ~1900 environment and most of it was unacceptable to these more "enlightened" times. Thomas Bowdler would have been very proud of them.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I absolutely detest trigger warnings all romance novels seem to have these days, and always delete them without reading. They spoil the plot. Fortunately those abominations haven't yet reached other genres, not for most books at least.

My spouse seems to feel that many of those trigger warnings are more advertising than warning. One book she read had 2.5 pages of warnings. After that book, I was told to remove that content. SWMBO has spoken.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by DNSB

This discussion reminded me that, a short while back, I ran into a new edition of a Booth Tarkington book. The publisher was very proud that they had removed questionable language and situations from it. Sadly the book was almost unreadable since Tarkington wrote about his ~1900 environment and most of it was unacceptable to these more "enlightened" times. Thomas Bowdler would have been very proud of them.

I read A LOT of mystery novels from the "Golden Age" and the publisher who is reprinting most of them, Dean Street Press, often includes a brief "we don't endorse the attitudes and expressions common in books of the time, but because they are of that time, we're have left them as is" kind of notice. A sensible approach I feel.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I read A LOT of mystery novels from the "Golden Age" and the publisher who is reprinting most of them, Dean Street Press, often includes a brief "we don't endorse the attitudes and expressions common in books of the time, but because they are of that time, we're have left them as is" kind of notice. A sensible approach I feel.

That is sort of approach I like. I don't expect someone in a previous century to speak with the word choice of someone living today and I do not appreciate a book where someone has edited it to remove those word choices.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That is sort of approach I like. I don't expect someone in a previous century to speak with the word choice of someone living today and I do not appreciate a book where someone has edited it to remove those word choices.

As long as the book can still be read without a translation, of course. I mean, most people couldn't read a book written in the 14th century English in its original form. But yes, there are limits to what should be modified and what shouldn't.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As long as the book can still be read without a translation, of course. I mean, most people couldn't read a book written in the 14th century English in its original form.

Ah yes, this brings back memories of having to read and report on The Canterbury Tales as written in Middle English when I was in college. Why a class like this was required for Electrical Engineering students is beyond my comprehension (as was much of The Canterbury Tales itself). It must have been an elective course, and I elected poorly.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Kobo Plus > Public Library because my name is El Cheapo!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by haertig

Ah yes, this brings back memories of having to read and report on The Canterbury Tales as written in Middle English when I was in college. Why a class like this was required for Electrical Engineering students is beyond my comprehension (as was much of The Canterbury Tales itself). It must have been an elective course, and I elected poorly.

For me, it brings back memories of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. One suggestion from the professor helped a lot: read the book phonetically out loud pronouncing every letter and be aware of edh, thorn & yogh (ð, þ & Ȝ) and that u and v were pretty much interchangeable.

That was likely the best advice I ever received for reading Middle English.

Much like you, I was not sure why I ended in that elective though I have a vague memory that my other choices conflicted with my core classes.

[icallaci]

The discussion about Canterbury Tales reminds me of my high-school English class, where we read the middle English side-by-side with a modern translation. At first, all the students were annoyed with this selection, but we started with "The Miller's Tale." Our parents thought we were reading high-brow literature, when actually we were reading about some woman sticking her butt out a window so her boyfriend could kiss it and ask her when she had grown a beard. Lol, Canterbury Tales has been one of my go-to reads ever since.

[Tarana]

I buy primarily from Amazon. When I can no longer remove DRM, I will stop buying and that will increase the chances that I will finish my TBR in my lifetime.