My family’s take on “goyish books” as we call them – anything we have at home (besides for Hardy Boys, etc. – which now I wouldn’t read, but they’re a lot more kosher than some other stuff out there) is all old stuff that there’s kimat nothing wrong with. It’s been a really long time since we bought any new secular books. And any time my siblings go to the library and take out a book that my mother hasn’t heard of, or doesn’t know the series or author, she’ll usually read it before my sisters do.
And Harry Potter – today (post-seminary) I regret having read it. But my mother allowed it when I was little, and that’s where it started. But I think we did end up better off than a lot of my friends who read the whole series because my mother proofread all the books starting from Book 5. When I say proofread I mean cutting out sections that she didn’t deem appropriate for us to read.
I agree that the Jewish books out there aren’t the best, but unless you’ reading the classics, the secular books out there aren’t written too well either.