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.
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? 
-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.
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.
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.
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, or anything by Carlos Castaneda.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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…
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.
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.”
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.
True, but if somebody did claim that Oresteia was their favorite piece of literature, wouldn’t you inwardly roll your eyes? 
A friend of mine (no, really) was a member of 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.