I don't really have good reactions to people trying to push their perspectives on me.
Years ago I started exercising and eating healthier, and trying very very hard to curb my strong sweet tooth. I stopped keeping cakes and little debbies in my home. My mom started visiting almost weekly and bringing full sized grocery store cakes over every single time. At first I'd be angry and succumb to temptation, then get pissed at her, and dozens of times I tried asking her not to bring them. She didn't stop. A friend of mine suggested that RIGHT after she leaves, take the cake directly to the outside garbage can and forget about it. I gave it a shot, and the stress vanished. 15 years later she's still doing it, and I still immediately dump it in the trash. Only now I tell her that I throw them away if she asks how they were, and that's that. Its her choice to continue pushing something on me that I don't want, and fail every time, only wasting her money.
So it is insulting for someone to waste an entire gift on you during a season of kindness, with a statement that you are living your life wrong... your feelings are valid. I would, too, donate those books so you don't have to look at them and be reminded anymore, however, my twist on that plan is that if they asked me about them, I would be kind but honest - "I didn't keep them, they aren't really my genre of book to sit down and read, so hopefully someone at Goodwill can get something out of them."... its not like someone giving you a YOLO magazine or something, its giving you something that would take up hours of your life opening your mind to a lifestyle that doesn't suit you. That's a gift that keeps on stabbing, in my opinion, but I'm big on not pushing my ideas and beliefs on to other people.
