# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/101 "2012-07-24T11:39:35Z")
When I was a kid, the local library had _The Little Prince_ in the children’s room. I flipped through it once and couldn’t imagine what kid would want to read it. The idea of being trapped all alone on a planet the size of a house is a nightmare to me. They made it into a movie with Gene Wilder playing a fox. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/102 "2012-07-24T19:22:38Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > True, but if somebody _did_ claim that _Oresteia_ was their favorite piece of literature, wouldn’t you inwardly roll your eyes? 😉 No, I’d think they’re very literate. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/103 "2012-07-24T19:28:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I would question the mental balance of anybody who considers Nietzsche their favorite author. I question whether anyone making such a claim even understands Nietzsche. And, yes, he’s even better in German. “Decadents” … ---
**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 24, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/104 "2012-07-24T19:29:38Z")
I read my parents’ copy of The Little Prince over and over until it fell apart when I was a kid. It’s how I learned the word ephemeral. It’s on my tape of bedtime stories. _feels very alone_ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/105 "2012-07-24T19:32:04Z")
You are by no means alone. Wiki says it’s the most read and most translated book in the French language. ETA: Upon reading the description, it doesn’t sound all that bad. I’ll add it to my Kindle queue. ---
**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 25, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/106 "2012-07-25T03:01:38Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I read my parents’ copy of The Little Prince over and over until it fell apart when I was a kid. It’s how I learned the word ephemeral. It’s on my tape of bedtime stories. > > _feels very alone_ _ **The Little Prince** _ is one of the few books, that, if a date had said it was her favorite book, I’d’ve been tempted to fall to one knee and propose on the spot. Not a bad idea for a companion thread… Come to think of it, I did have a date where a woman lent me her favorite book, _ **The Princess Bride** (the “Good Parts” version)_. We’ve been married almost thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/107 "2012-07-25T04:17:08Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I would marry a girl, sight unseen, if the Simarillion was her favorite book As good as LORT is, The Silmarillion blows it away. Re-reading LOTR after TS gives you a whole new perspective on the tragedy of Galadriel and what never was with Elrond. It illuminates the Dwarves and makes Aragorn and Denethor poignant. It is a really tough read though, and I understand why even many LOTR fans don’t like it. As for the people who don’t approve of The Bible, you are missing some powerful stuff. Genesis, Exodus, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Gospel of John. Heck, Revelation is some freaky writing. ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/108 "2012-07-25T05:09:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _Anna Karenina_ is, as I’ve said before, not just excruciatingly boring; it has no literary appeal whatsoever, so far as I’m concerned. Oh god, give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/109 "2012-07-25T14:41:17Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Gay faggot article. :dubious: (Where is that raised fist smilie?) ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/110 "2012-07-25T15:10:20Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Link [here](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/undateable-books_n_1684358.html). Fuck websites that use Flash or Silverlight or Quicktime or whatever other crap I don’t want when all they need is text. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/111 "2012-07-25T15:16:10Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > You are by no means alone. Wiki says it’s the most read and most translated book in the French language. > ETA: Upon reading the description, it doesn’t sound all that bad. I’ll add it to my Kindle queue. That book really needs to be read with the original color illustrations. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/112 "2012-07-25T15:39:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > _Confederacy of Dunces_ I get, and of course any Ayn Rand lover, but who cares if someone likes _The Great Gatsby_ or _Anna Karenina_? At worst it makes them ordinary. I wonder about this as well. I loved CoD, but because I thought the characters were wonderfully developed and hilarious, and I adored the sense of New Orleans, a city I was in love with before I ever lived there. I was delighted to find out how accurate it was when serendipity found me living there a few years later. The fact that my brother in law reminds me a lot of Ignatious doesn’t hurt. I’m gonna have to read Great Gatsby now. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be my favorite - I like dating my husband. By the way, should I read Atlas Shrugged, just to find out what all the fuss is about? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/113 "2012-07-25T17:09:58Z")
“A Confederacy of Dunces” (read it) “On the Road” (read it) “The Silmarillion” (have not read it) “The Orestaia” (never heard of it) “The Great Gatsby” (read it) “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” (have not read it) “A Lover’s Discourse” (never heard of it) “Anna Karenina” (read it) “Atlas Shrugged” (read it) Huh. I guess it’s a good thing I’m married. Also, it’s not listed, but I should not I’m quite fond of 1984 (by George Orwell, not the other one by Danielle Steele). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/114 "2012-07-25T17:37:34Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > By the way, should I read Atlas Shrugged, just to find out what all the fuss is about? Are you about 17 years old? That’s when Rand’s books can really capture your imagination. Past about age 23, my experience has been that when folks revisit them by that point they are “WTF?” Rand’s novels are fictional allegories meant to bring her philosophy to life. Her basic philosophy is related to the role that Elite individuals can and should play in society, and how if Elites pursue their own self-interests in an unfettered way, they will provide the greatest benefit to society. Her writing is a slog, at best. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/115 "2012-07-25T18:34:11Z")
The most hilarious thing about the list is that it’s inspired by a guy saying he’s looking for a woman that enjoys reading, and – it is implied – can do so competently: is able to think about what the book is trying to say, etc. The list then includes _The Great Gatsby_ as a ‘dealbreaker’ because it assumes that anyone who likes the book must be trying to act like one of the central characters. Somehow, I don’t think that the guy who wrote the original piece would be very compatible with the person who wrote the list… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/116 "2012-07-26T03:14:44Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > 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. Several years back, I was on personals site ([nerve.com](http://nerve.com) I think) that had “Favorite Books” as a category. I noticed that a certain number of books were mentioned frequently as popular favorites, including “the Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.” Nothing wrong with that, since the book had only recently been released and was very popular at the time (and is a very good book to boot.) Yet I noticed once or twice when someone listed it as one of their Favorites, a person would write “ **C** avalier & Clay” or “Kavalier & **K** lay” or some variation that instantly signaled that not only had these people not read the book, they had never even bothered to look at the front cover (as both names are quite prominent on it.) Apparently they’d heard other people talk about the book, and wrote it down; I guess to make themselves appear smarter & more literate than they were in actuality. What’s more, these people were obviously not even reading anybody else profiles on the site since every other guy (gay guys at least) had listed the book as one of their current favs (usually with the correct name spelling.) That at least I took as a red flag. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/117 "2012-07-26T12:56:33Z")
Or it means they’re not very good with details, like the people who claim to be fans of somebody with a tricky to spell name, but they get it wrong every time like Courtny Cox (she spells it Courteney, thanks) or Lindsey/Linsey/Linsay Lohan (Lindsay). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/118 "2012-07-26T13:06:06Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > By the way, should I read Atlas Shrugged, just to find out what all the fuss is about? It’s worth a shot, though I recommend you skip every single page\* after the words “This is John Galt speaking.” Said words preface an infamous 70 page speech where Rand basically assumes you were too dense to understand the philosophy put forth in the rest of the book and goes to spell it out for you. Painfully and very slowly. - At least I think the speech ends the book, there might be a little bit after it, I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/119 "2012-07-27T19:22:33Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > I don’t think there’s any book that would immediately be a dealbreaker for me. WHY they like said book is more important than the book itself, I think. Yeah, this. …Except for _Twilight_. I really think that might be a deal-breaker, because I can’t think of any reason I could accept that said person would like it. Well, maybe, if they just really liked making fun of it? Still I would be a little weirded out that it was their favorite, I think. > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > That book really needs to be read with the original color illustrations. I love _The Little Prince_ too, and this is correct. > [@singular1](#): > > I’m gonna have to read Great Gatsby now. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be my favorite - I like dating my husband. I really love _Great Gatsby_ (though it’s not my favorite book, it may be my favorite book that I had to read for school), and I made my husband read it 🙂 > [@](#): > > By the way, should I read Atlas Shrugged, just to find out what all the fuss is about? I’d read _The Fountainhead_. I actually _like_ Fountainhead – thus, I realize, making me ineligible to date most Dopers; fortunately I’m married already – because it’s such a trashy romance, and kind of amusing to boot (Dominique’s character is especially amusing, in a kind of horrifying way, if you know anything about Rand’s personal life). You still have to skip the loooong lectures, but they’re telegraphed pretty heavily, so it’s not hard. _Atlas Shrugged_ is not only worse with the lectures, but also so depressing! ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733/120 "2012-07-28T01:17:13Z")
Eat, Pray, Love. When I tried [Match.com](http://Match.com) I saw many menes listing as a favorite book because so many women were. That book was horrific. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huffpo-link-nine-books-that-make-you-undateable/628733.md?page=7)