I’ve come to see this as an invidious kind of criticism: it locks readers into their own narrow viewpoint, instead of approaching books with openness and curiosity. --This is *such* a good point, and now I'm musing on it in my heart, because I think I sometimes do still resist storytelling when people act in ways that baffle me or that I don't like--and yet I'm always saying we have to try to see what the author is trying to do! I know this with my mind, and sometimes I can do it, but not always ... and sometimes I give myself a pass when really maybe I should try a little harder. I feel like maybe your reading as widely as you do, and reading not just for your pleasure but also to see what books/writers were trying to do, or even just what they were like, at different points in time, has strengthened your muscles for this.