I often get Zafon and Hosseini mixed up in my bookseller mind, possibly because of the beigey/sandy covers of Shadow of the Wind and A Thousand Splendid Suns. They feel like the same thing. I won’t ever know if they are alike because Zafon is second in my list of unreasonable prejudices towards hugely popular authors.
Sara Crowley 
Your prejudiced attitude seems very sad to me. These two authors have nothing to do with each other and are absolutely and radically different. You are missing a huge lot just because of a foolish prejudice. I hope you change your mind. Try reading the shadow of the wind and you’ll see what I mean. Be well.
Hi Richard.
The whole point of these posts was to confess my “unreasonable prejudices”. I don’t think I’m alone though. Surely there are authors that you won’t read, just because…? I work in a bookshop and have read many, many books. I think I know what I will and won’t like, but I do try to be open minded. This was a light hearted post, but I don’t have any interest in reading Shadow of the Wind and I think that’s ok and not sad.
I applaud your honesty, you’re not alone. Beige books are generally not high on my busy agenda either.
I have read both and think they are good, but “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is very good. It really would be a shame to miss it.
“The Shadow of the Wind” is too long and I became irritated by the end, so I will not be reading the sequel.
As for books I am prejudiced against, nope can’t think of any.
I detest Dan Brown, but that’s not prejudice. I did try to read him.
I can’t abide “Lovely Bones” and again that’s based on an actual attempt to get to grips with the mawkish pile of twaddle narrated by a dead person.
“Casual Vacancy” by J K Rowling is another absolutely awful book I rejected after extraordinarily generous sampling – I read half of it before I screamed and threw it at the wall.
I would never decide not to read something just because it was popular, or obscure for that matter. But I do allow myself to chuck it in the bin at Chapter 3 if needs be.
I’ve never decided not to read something because it is popular (or obscure). I don’t want to read Hosseini or Zafon because I don’t think I’d like them. I’m certain, in fact.
And I don’t believe that anyone is capable of NOT having prejudices against certain authors. I imagine you can’t think of any because they just aren’t in your mind. However, working in a bookshop means I am surrounded by all the books all the time. If I took you into a bookshop you would make choices based on personal preference and naturally exclude some writers.
These are meant to be light hearted posts not mission statements. I admit to being unreasonable, but it’s what we all do every day when we make choices in the food we eat, tv we watch, music we listen to, clothes we buy and so on.
Am liking this thread. For some reason Tampa by Alissa Nutting came up as a related post and I have a strong feeling I may give that one a miss, despite thinking that the cover was rather good. And despite the fact I think there’s a copy kicking round the place somewhere… Think I read a few pages of it and got to a point where I just though no, no, no.
But maybe I am missing the point, if these meant to be more books you would not even try, then I guess having sampled it means it does not count…