# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/61 "2012-07-20T07:42:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’d be fine with a woman whose favorite book was 1984, so long as she invited me into her room 101. [You’ve caught on, haven’t you?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5BtPuZUqlc) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/62 "2012-07-20T07:58:34Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > 1. The Bible. It’s OK to have read it, it’s OK to believe in it even, but for it to be your favorite book…no. But… but… I really LIKE the minutiae of bronze age Canaanite law, genealogy and census data! Numbers is like, the best chapter of any book **ever written**. Honestly, the only books I can see being a real dealbreaker are hardcore political or pop-religious books from any side of the field. I mean, I’m an atheist, and The God Delusion is legitimately a good book, but even I’d give hesitance to someone who steadfastly maintained it was her favorite book. For this reason Atlas Shrugged, or any Ayn Rand book fits the list pretty well. Some don’t count, I mean, despite the overt allegories I can see His Dark Materials or Narnia being favorites, but the ones whose sole purpose is to push a viewpoint (especially a radical one) are pretty big red flags. If for no reason other that usually people that activist about anything tend to be really, really unbearably annoying. Edit: I guess I can also see really low quality smut too, like if your favorite “book” is completely unironically an obscure hardcore fetish porn manga or something that might be a little disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/63 "2012-07-20T11:34:56Z")
Geez, I haven’t read ANY of those. Go me!🆒 And my somewhat steady all-time favorite (usually floats in the top 3 on my list) is Watership Down. What does that say about me? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![raskolnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@raskolnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raskolnik)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/64 "2012-07-20T13:00:29Z")
-Nabokov makes you un-person since, when asked “who is the greatest Russian author?” he answered “besides me?” Ego is all well and good, but for a russian do say he’s better than Pushkin, Gogol, Chekov, and et all seems a bit mad. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/65 "2012-07-20T13:24:40Z")
Before _Fifty Shades of Grey_, before _Twilight_, there was… **The Da Vinci Code**. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/66 "2012-07-20T13:28:52Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Before _Fifty Shades of Grey_, before _Twilight_, there was… **The Da Vinci Code**. …and before that, **The Celestine Prophecy**. …and before that, **The Bridges of Madison County**. Yeah, getting strong recommendations about a hype book is typically a loaded issue. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/67 "2012-07-20T14:36:20Z")
On the whole, I question the idea of judging someone by book preferences. But experience has taught me to avoid any woman whose favorite book is _Ethan Frome_. Just walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/68 "2012-07-20T14:53:43Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > On the whole, I question the idea of judging someone by book preferences. But experience has taught me to avoid any woman whose favorite book is _Ethan Frome_. Just walk away. Heh. But jokes aside, I judge people by their book preferences all the time. Not so strongly, though - just mildly. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/69 "2012-07-22T18:03:14Z")
_The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge,_ or anything by Carlos Castaneda. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/70 "2012-07-22T19:24:57Z")
My favorite book is A Tale Of Two Cities, it was required reading in high school, and I haven’t re-read it since. Judge me all you want, but that book was fantastic and I loved analyzing it in class. I may go re-read it someday, but I don’t feel I need to do that just to prove anything. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/71 "2012-07-22T19:49:29Z")
I remember a class in college where the teacher was having a ice breaking excercise and the members of the class were each saying what their favorite movie was. And one girl thought about it for a second and then said “Armageddon” completely seriously. No one said anything but I thought, Wow, that is someone I really have nothing in common with. To me, it’s just a compatibility issue. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/72 "2012-07-22T19:55:08Z")
I like seeing _A Lover’s Discourse_ on the list - it’s a masterpiece, but kryptonite for anyone who wants to have a “just go with it” attitude toward relationships. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/73 "2012-07-22T20:58:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > 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? 😕 I’ve read the complete text in English twice and French once. The first six pages are, IMHO, the best part of the book. And no, I didn’t care for it at all. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/74 "2012-07-22T21:15:56Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > 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.” In a way, I actually get this list: The books listed are, for want of better words, books for ideologues, poseurs, and fanboys the world over. If I ask you what your favorite book is and you come back with a 3-millennium old Greek tragedy, I’m going to inwardly roll my eyes. I just can’t help it. Same thing with most of those other books, and I say this as a person with _Atlas Shrugged_ on my shelf. :o ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/75 "2012-07-22T21:26:55Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > “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.” I was out with a woman and another couple. Someone raved about a book they were halfway through, and she mentioned offhandedly “I don’t really read books.” The woman from the other couple shot me a look. And the next day, I stopped by her work to double-check. Yep, the look meant what I’d thought: we both agreed that I shouldn’t be trying to make a relationship happen with such a fundamental incompatibility. Christian/Atheist? I can work with that. Colbert/Limbaugh, Picasso/Kincaid, Morrissey/Manilow? I’ve found some common ground with all of the above. But “I don’t really read books”? Wow. My mind is reeling… ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/76 "2012-07-22T21:33:49Z")
Thank you Inner Stickler. While I have so called deal breakers, really they are temporary obstacles. It’s always possible there will come some future where other considerations overcome them. I don’t think I would reject someone based on taste or class. I like some lowbrow things just as much as highbrow. And I would need to find out what the appeal is - even the worst book has some kernel of truth, resonance, or clever word play. But if the book reflects a large difference in life values or world view that could be an issue. Especially if it involves negativity, hatred, or pessimism. OTOH my brother is reading some questionable things lately but I love him dearly so I hope it’s a transitional thing. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/77 "2012-07-22T21:36:24Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > My favorite book is A Tale Of Two Cities, it was required reading in high school, and I haven’t re-read it since. Judge me all you want, but that book was fantastic and I loved analyzing it in class. I may go re-read it someday, but I don’t feel I need to do that just to prove anything. It’s just kind of hard to believe that someone would neither find _any_ other book they liked more since high school, _nor_ reread that most-amazing-favorite… unless they’re just not reading much. It has the ring of “I read a great book once, I don’t need another one.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/78 "2012-07-22T21:58:08Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > In a way, I actually get this list: The books listed are, for want of better words, books for ideologues, poseurs, and fanboys the world over. If I ask you what your favorite book is and you come back with a 3-millennium old Greek tragedy, I’m going to inwardly roll my eyes. I just can’t help it. I have my doubts as to whether anyone has in fact ever claimed that the _Oresteia_ is their favorite book. Not just because I assume that few people would have even read anything by Aeschylus except in a college-level Classics course, but because it’s odd to name a play (or in this case, three plays) as one’s favorite _book_. Sure, the scripts are available in book form, but that’s not really what most people think of as being a book. I think the _Oresteia_ and probably a few of the other entries were chosen just to pad the list and not because there’s any significant number of people claiming (even falsely) that these are their favorite books. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/79 "2012-07-22T22:16:07Z")
True, but if somebody _did_ claim that _Oresteia_ was their favorite piece of literature, wouldn’t you inwardly roll your eyes? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/80 "2012-07-22T22:46:17Z")
A friend of mine (no, really) was a member of [match.com](http://match.com), and one day he asked me “have you heard of this book _A Prayer for Owen Meany_?” Yes, why? “Every third girl on this site lists it as her favorite book.” I’m not sure what that proves, but whatever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733.md?page=5)