Can Race and Culture play a huge part when it comes to reading books?

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Mii oh Myy

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I'm just curious to find out what everyone's opinion is about reading books from other authors from different races. For example, I went with my friend to go buy some books at barnes and noble and she got pissed at me because I wanted to buy a book from Dean Koontz. She was like "why would you buy a book from him he's not black"?. I became appalled by her comment and realized that she was ignorant. I told her that race and culture shouldn't have anything to do with me wanting to try out reading from a different genre. She Argued, "Yeah but he doesn't know what black people go through on a regular basis, His writing doesn't reflect on our lives or have anything to do with our culture". She says "why don't you get a book from Walter Mosley. I'm Pretty sure he has something you'll like."I usually just read fiction, non-fiction, and poetry but I wanted to try out Horror/Thriller for a change.
 
I think it has more to do with upbringing rather then race. I rolled into work one day listening to a kind of music that a co-worker thought wasn't 'right' for someone of our ethnic group. He asked me why I listened to it, and when I told him because I liked it he said "why?!"
I said when your an adult, you don't worry about what others think of what kind of music you like.

At times I've done some profiling like that though. More recently, I sat next to a young lady of about sixteen on a bus. I glanced at the book she was reading and saw it was a biography of someone of bi-racial heritage. For some reason, I assumed it was Mahria Carrey and when she closed the book I saw that it was about Barack Obama.
 
Race should not play a part in the book one reads. The fact that the author is not one race and might not be privy to how other cultures or race live does not mean the author does not have something to educate the reader about. The more you read, and the more diverse your reading, the more your mind will become enriched.
 
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