I am one of those who struggle with reading problematic authors who are alive. Specifically, people who say and do *ist things and then refuse to apologize or worse, refuse to apologize and insult the people who raised the concern. I have also, in the past, not read authors who disallow fanfic or wank about how their writing is so precious and special snowflake, because from my perspective, it's a very anti-feminist notion that's denying the female communities that are built around fanfic itself. They act like fanfic is something people do in their basements by themselves and erase the community, which, in my case, saved my life as a young woman, so it's very difficult for me to get past.

I ultimately disagree with the idea that reading someone is aligning with their interests, alive or dead. I still reread Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead every year, and Card is as homophobic as the day is long and still around and spouting terrible things but don't consider myself to hold those same opinions. I don't believe that people who still choose to read him are homophobic (for example, Chris still reads him).

That applies across the board: we can choose not to read certain people because of their life choices or ideals, but we can also choose to read them in spite of or sometimes even because of. It's a personal choice that depends on our ability to compartmentalize and divide the art from the artist (I suck at it). There's also something to be said for reading these things but doing so in a way that doesn't financially contribute to that artist or their estate (if they happen to be dead).