# Books you've never read that everyone else has. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238 "2005-09-12T13:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/21 "2005-09-12T20:27:54Z")
Any book by Stephen King or Tom Clancy. It seems that their books are everywhere, but I never had in inclination to pick up a copy. Guess I’m just not too much into fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/22 "2005-09-12T20:40:02Z")
You people just haaavvvve to read the **Da Vinci Code.**. It is goooodddd. I haven’t read any Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings book. Come to think of it, the **Da Vinci Code** is one of the only fiction books I have read in recent memory. Maybe thats why it seems so good. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/23 "2005-09-12T20:43:12Z")
Shag, I strongly recommend you try reading a second book. You’ll be amazed at how much better it is. ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/24 "2005-09-12T21:10:43Z")
Another vote for **The Davinci Code**. I generally have a rule about bestseller type books. I wait 2 or 3 years to see if anybody is still reading it on my bus ride to and from work. If so, then I’ll give it a try. Usually, I’m sorry I did. I read \*\*The Thornbirds \*\* and Tom Clancy and was sorry I did. Most things in art that become popular become so because they are done for the lowest common denominator in popular taste. P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said that one will never go broke underestimating the taste of the public. Sturgeon wrote that 99% of everything is sh\*t. Nothing I’ve seen in my year’s as a buyer for a bookstore and my own consumption argues that they got it wrong. There are rare exceptions to these 3 rules, and everybody’s taste is different. I believe you can’t go wrong if you read what you want to read and ignore what the public is devouring this week. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/25 "2005-09-12T22:28:13Z")
Catch 22. Couldn’t finish it, bored the crap out of me. Catcher in the Rye. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/26 "2005-09-12T23:16:32Z")
**Atlas Shrugged** : I’ve got it but it’s just boring and I gave up after the first few chapters. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/27 "2005-09-12T23:34:09Z")
> [@Aholibah](#): > > And you people should definitely read **To Kill a Mockingbird** and see the movie, and run screaming from **The DaVinci Code** in any form. I hear that. I popped into the thread to say, “Books I’ve read along with everyone else, and wished I hadn’t - The DaVinci Code.” ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/28 "2005-09-13T00:05:08Z")
Please save me from the Da Vinci Code. Eeeewwwwwwww! What a way to ruin the name of a great artist/philosopher/scientist. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/29 "2005-09-13T00:41:06Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Shag, I strongly recommend you try reading a second book. You’ll be amazed at how much better it is. Bwahahaaa. Zing! I’ll admit, I read it. What? It took about three hours. It was entertaining. Badly written, but fun. Though I knew what the “secret” was since I’m interested in Biblical history and conspiracy theories. And I knew what most of the “codes” are because I am not mentally impaired. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/30 "2005-09-13T03:35:01Z")
I didn’t hate _DaVinci Code_, but I do think it is the most overrated book of all time. It’s an entertaining book, I suppose, but the writing… Dear God, the writing! Haven’t read: anything by Terry Pratchett Ursula LeGuin’s _Earthsea_ series anything by Hemmingway anything by Steinback anything by Tolstoy anything by Melville (except one of his short stories, about the dude that’s always like “I prefer not to.”) anything by Dickens (except _David Copperfield_) _Catch-22 The Blind Assassin The Devil Wears Prada_ (heh) The list goes on. As a lit major, I feel terribly guilty about not having read _Paradise Lost_ (only bits), _Divine Comedy_ (ditto),\* Beowulf \* (ditto again), and most of Shakespeare’s plays. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/31 "2005-09-13T03:49:52Z")
I’ve never read any Grisham, and I never will. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/32 "2005-09-13T06:17:31Z")
I have the _Da Vinci Code_ in the house but I haven’t read it yet. Judging by the responses on this thread I think I’ll probably keep it on my unread list. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/33 "2005-09-13T06:41:04Z")
> [@marque elf](#): > > Another vote for **The Davinci Code**. > > I generally have a rule about bestseller type books. I wait 2 or 3 years to see if anybody is still reading it on my bus ride to and from work. If so, then I’ll give it a try. Usually, I’m sorry I did. I read \*\*The Thornbirds \*\* and Tom Clancy and was sorry I did. Most things in art that become popular become so because they are done for the lowest common denominator in popular taste. P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said that one will never go broke underestimating the taste of the public. Sturgeon wrote that 99% of everything is sh\*t. Nothing I’ve seen in my year’s as a buyer for a bookstore and my own consumption argues that they got it wrong. > > There are rare exceptions to these 3 rules, and everybody’s taste is different. I believe you can’t go wrong if you read what you want to read and ignore what the public is devouring this week. Yes yes yes. I was going to use that very quote (“nobody every went broke,” etc.). I tend not to read things on the bestseller list except when, as a writer, I think I ought to write a bestseller and be set for life and I read a couple of them or the whole list in order to see how it’s done. I always end up thinking, “Okay, so I’m not gonna write a bestseller. Not my thing.” Have not read _The DaVinci Code_ despite having been offered a free copy. I really ought to read the thing–plenty of people hate it or are indifferent but it’s still selling. OTOH I have already decided, several times, that I’m not gonna write a bestseller, so what’s the point? I also never made it through _Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy._ Got about 40 pages into it, loved some of the writing, enjoyed the concept, recognize some of the catch phrases–just never was motivated to pick the book up again. I mean, I thought it was good, I just didn’t want to finish it. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/34 "2005-09-13T08:17:04Z")
I am a total sci-fi fantasy geek that has never made it through any of the Lord of the Rings, Dune or Wheel of Time books. I’ve tried on several occasions to read Hobbit and Dune to no avail. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/35 "2005-09-13T08:32:33Z")
I have a Scottish friend who majored in (I guess they say “read” there) English at Cambridge who claims never to have read any Dickens. Not sure if I believe her. ---
**Author:** ![phoebo32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@phoebo32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phoebo32)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/36 "2005-09-15T02:52:59Z")
The Da Vinci Code (although not feeling so alone anymore) Catch 22 The 2nd half of Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy Lord of the Rings (but prefer not to mention this for fear of being extradited from the country) Grapes of Wrath Lord of the Flies ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/37 "2005-09-15T04:56:54Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I’ve never read any Grisham, and I never will. The only one worth reading was _The Firm_ ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/38 "2005-09-15T05:03:28Z")
To all of those who haven’t read the DaVinci Code - Good for you! The writing in that book was godawful, and the story wasn’t really that good. (or accurate). Like conspiracy stuff? Go for Robert Anton Wilson or Umberto Eco instead. (Though Eco can be rough going at times) ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/39 "2005-09-15T05:28:45Z")
I’ve never read a lot of classics, even ones I have bookmarked links to. **The Decameron** , **The Sound and the Fury** , **Tom Sawyer** , even \*_Where the Wild Things Are_. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > You people just haaavvvve to read the **Da Vinci Code.**. It is goooodddd. Read Bob Shea’s **Illuminatus! Trilogy** - it’s the same story but entertaining, and usually well-written (when trying to emulate Faulkner or sex-scenes). ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238/40 "2005-09-15T05:30:56Z")
I’ll acknowledge both my coding error, and that **Illuminatus!** was coauthored by Robert Anton Wilson, so I’m repeating the immediately above suggestion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-youve-never-read-that-everyone-else-has/321238.md?page=3)