# HuffPo Link: Nine Books that Make You Undateable **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733 "2012-07-19T16:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/1 "2012-07-19T16:14:51Z")
Link [here](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/undateable-books_n_1684358.html). It links to an essay in GOOD magazine (I don’t know it) where a guy discusses his asking a woman he wants to ask out what her favortite book is. She shares that 1984 was her favorite book and that she hadn’t read it since high school (in her late 20’s). He realizes at that moment that it’s going nowhere. I get the basic point about compatability, but it seems kinda Seinfeldian/jerkish to me. HuffPo uses that launch point to list a few other books, like On the Road, Anna Karenina, Atlas Shrugged, the Simarillion, etc. as books that, if named, should be a red flag dating-wise, for different reasons. Kinda funny, but otherwise just a goof. I might have a problem given my love for the Great Gatsby…😉 Thought that Dopers would appreciate the topic given our bookish nature… ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/2 "2012-07-19T16:25:56Z")
I think the accusatory, critical nature of the dude in the anecdote is a better criterion for undateability than the choice of book. I’ve only read _The Great Gatsby_ out of those, so I’d probably be rejected for not being well-read. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/3 "2012-07-19T16:28:39Z")
I’ve practically only _heard_ of the Great Gatsby out of all of those… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/4 "2012-07-19T16:29:20Z")
“Hi. I’m a snob. You need to be a snob too if you want the immense privilege of my company.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/5 "2012-07-19T16:37:46Z")
Hell, the _Simarillion_ is a requirement, not a warning. _Atlas Shrugged_ I’ll give you. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/6 "2012-07-19T16:44:57Z")
> [@](#): > > The Orestaia > > Unless, of course, you’re into the whole fatal revenge thing. What is this I don’t even ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/7 "2012-07-19T17:03:38Z")
I think the concept of the article is sound, even if the actual books are poorly chosen. Not a dating situation, but my wife and I had made friends with a local couple. We visited their house and I used their bathroom, where they had an Ann Coulter book. I correctly surmised that the friendship was doomed. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/8 "2012-07-19T17:05:38Z")
I’ve seen these kinds of lists before and they usually include _The Catcher in the Rye._ At least this one doesn’t. One commentor has got the right idea: [QUOTE=HuffPo Commentor] HOW ARE THE “TWILIGHT” BOOKS NOT ON THIS LIST? [/QUOTE] Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/9 "2012-07-19T17:06:21Z")
I think the HuffPo piece misses the point of the original story. The problem was not so much that this woman’s favorite books was _1984_ – the author wasn’t impressed by this choice, but didn’t yet feel “it was over” – but that she hadn’t read it since high school. Since _1984_ is commonly assigned in high school English classes, it’s fairly likely that this woman only read the book in the first place because she was required to. This doesn’t sound like someone who cares much about literature, and looking at the full story on GOOD I see that the author says he was only interested in a relationship with a woman who was passionate about reading. _What_ she read wasn’t that important to him: “A woman doesn’t have to have read—or even heard of—the books I love. She just has to read books, and read them for fun because she loves them.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/10 "2012-07-19T17:09:53Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > What is this I don’t even [Oresteia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oresteia) - a set of Ancient Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. They are considered part of the foundation of modern Western theater. Everyone dies. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/11 "2012-07-19T17:15:40Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > I think the concept of the article is sound, even if the actual books are poorly chosen. > > Not a dating situation, but my wife and I had made friends with a local couple. We visited their house and I used their bathroom, where they had an Ann Coulter book. I correctly surmised that the friendship was doomed. Did you open it? Perhaps it was their version of the Sears & Roebuck and you’ll get along famously. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/12 "2012-07-19T17:16:24Z")
Oh, I am familiar with the Orestaia. What has me agog is the idea that the only reason one could possibly like it is because they want to kill their parents and furthermore, everyone most certainly does not die. Orestes survives. He survives because Athena turns into a mouthpiece for ancient greek misogyny but nevertheless, he survives. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/13 "2012-07-19T17:19:29Z")
I hate goddamn slide shows. Does someone feel kind enough to list the books here? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/14 "2012-07-19T17:19:57Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Oh, I am familiar with the Orestaia. What has me agog is the idea that the only reason one could possibly like it is because they want to kill their parents and furthermore, everyone most certainly does not die. Orestes survives. He survives because Athena turns into a mouthpiece for ancient greek misogyny but nevertheless, he survives. Ah; sorry for the whoosh. I hear ya. I can see the inclusion on the list from the standpoint of portraying the Orestaia fan as too intense, caught up in the tragic side of things, but yeah, it is an a example of an entry that feels a bit contrived… ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/15 "2012-07-19T17:23:52Z")
“A Confederacy of Dunces” “On the Road” “The Silmarillion” “The Orestaia” “The Great Gatsby” “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” “A Lover’s Discourse” “Anna Karenina” “Atlas Shrugged” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/16 "2012-07-19T17:28:31Z")
I’ve had at least three close girlfriends try to get me to read _The Little Prince_ (one was even going to find me a copy in German, knowing that I can read the language). Does it make me an insensitive cretin that, having read the first half-dozen pages, I have absolutely no desire to finish the book? 😕 As for _Atlas Shrugged_, the author of that article was right on! I used to know a woman who was obsessed with the book, and she was the coldest, most scheming and conniving bitch I’ve ever known. She gave me a copy to read, and I managed to get through it in the course of a summer. I thought the first two-thirds of the book were actually pretty cool, but the final third was absolute crap. I don’t understand why _The Great Gatsby_ is on the list. I read it once, and while I wasn’t exactly swept away by it, I didn’t actively dislike it either. I would question the mental balance of anybody who considers Nietzsche their favorite author. _Anna Karenina_ is, as I’ve said before, not just excruciatingly boring; it has no literary appeal whatsoever, so far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/17 "2012-07-19T17:28:43Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > [Oresteia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oresteia) - a set of Ancient Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. They are considered part of the foundation of modern Western theater. Everyone dies. Plus they center on infidelity, murder, and bloody revenge. Father kills daughter, wife kills husband (and his maybe his concubine too?), son and daughter kill mother and her lover. So is it your favorite because of the poetic language and powerful imagery, or because it reminds you of your own family when you were growing up? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/18 "2012-07-19T17:30:30Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > “Atlas Shrugged” > Enough said. I want to say it anyway: “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” ― John Rogers ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/19 "2012-07-19T17:34:02Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > (and his maybe his concubine too?) Cassandra’s entire speech can basically be summed up as, “Goddammit Aggie, thanks for kidnapping me and dragging me all the way to this godforsaken rock just to be killed by your wife.” Clytie whacks the concubine, too. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/20 "2012-07-19T17:36:35Z")
Thank you, Inner Stickler. I don’t know if I’m pleased or what, but I haven’t read any of them (and I read a lot). Some of them I have made an attempt at, however. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733.md?page=2)