# What "favorite book" would cause you to walk away from someone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 6, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567 "2024-06-06T19:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/63 "2024-06-07T14:56:55Z")
_The Camp of the Saints_ I’ve only read the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Camp_of_the_Saints), but supposedly it’s one of Steve Bannon’s favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/64 "2024-06-07T15:14:04Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Ayn Rand has that effect on teenage boys. But most mature out of it. Time for one of my favorite quotes: > 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:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/65 "2024-06-07T15:16:42Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > _The Bridges of Madison County_. We can’t hang. Right there with you. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/66 "2024-06-07T15:18:46Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > > [@dorvann](#): > > > > Everybody Poops > > Sounds like woke propaganda, to me. It is actually quite an amusing children’s book, originally Japanese. Can’t say I’ve read it since my daughter was a toddler though. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/67 "2024-06-07T15:33:32Z")
The Art of the Deal by Trump I mean, favorite book? That would be astounding. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/68 "2024-06-07T21:44:05Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Now, has anyone actually experienced this? I knew an attractive woman who said her favorite book was “Hmm, really, any Harlequin romance book. Maybe _Wanted by Her Lost Love_, it’s a series called Pregnancy & Passion…” > > Haven’t talked to her since. You’d be cutting out a fairly high percentage of the female population if you’re weeding them out by romance novels. Admittedly, Harlequin is hardly high art. How would you feel about _Pride and Prejudice_ or _Jane Eyre_? I’d probably list _Jane Eyre_ as _a_ favorite. As a romance writer myself, I have a whole spiel about the feminist value of romance novels, but I’ll save it for another thread. I really don’t know that I would walk away from anyone for a favorite book choice, but I’d definitely tread lightly if someone idolized anything written by Ayn Rand. People in this thread have of course listed some of my favorite books. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/69 "2024-06-07T21:50:06Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > As a romance writer myself, I have a whole spiel about the feminist value of romance novels, but I’ll save it for another thread. What’s your opinion on _50 Shades of Grey_? My GF gets how it may be titillating but thinks it is complete shit as a book. In her opinion it is akin to Penthouse Letters at best (she thinks worse). But, loads of women liked it a lot. Personally, I would be cautious if someone told me that was their favorite book. Same with a Harlequin romance novel. Romance novels can be great. Just not those I do not think. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/70 "2024-06-07T21:50:18Z")
I think the kind of person who’s favorite book is Mein Kampf would throw up so many red flags I’d walk away from them long before I found out their reading habits. How would they react if I told them my father was Jewish? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/71 "2024-06-07T21:54:28Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What’s your opinion on _50 Shades of Grey_? > > My GF gets how it may be titillating but thinks it is complete shit as a book. In her opinion it is akin to Penthouse Letters at best (she thinks worse). > > But, loads of women liked it a lot. > > Personally, I would be cautious if someone told me that was their favorite book. Same with a Harlequin romance novel. Romance novels can be great. Just not those I do not think. My opinion of _50 Shades_ has evolved a lot. I used to hate it with the fury of a thousand burning suns, now I have to at least appreciate that for whatever reason it hit a nerve with a huge number of women. I haven’t read it, and don’t want to, because I can’t stand terrible prose and it’s obviously just so badly written. But I am curious about it in terms of what women get out of reading it. I would gladly read an academic paper on it. It is hard, I confess, not to be bitter when I work so hard to make my prose beautiful. I’m not saying I’m the Best Writer Evar but I put so much effort into my writing that it’s disheartening to see someone who barely can string a few words together be so incredibly successful. But I don’t really get anything out of being bitter, so I’ve moved on from that, I think. Besides, EL James did one thing well that I never have done yet: hit the publish button. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/72 "2024-06-07T22:10:31Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Kind of depends. Is it a book they’ve read over and over and over? Or they read it once when they were fifteen and they’re remembering that naive sense of discovery? Ayn Rand has that effect on teenage boys. But most mature out of it. Yeah, I know a few people (including myself) who have a sneaking fondness for one or the other of Ayn Rand’s books (in my case it’s _The Fountainhead_) because I read it at an impressionable age and there _are_ some things, writing-wise, that Rand does well if you skip the monologues. Some of her characters, especially when she’s not trying to make them heroes or devils, are actually pretty interesting. However, I wouldn’t call it my favorite book at all, and would probably walk away from someone who did (though I guess I’d ask them to clarify as in @Ulfreida 's post). If someone told me their favorite book was something by Piers Anthony then I would walk away, probably faster than for Rand. Again, I could imagine someone having fond memories of having read him as a kid, but… ugh. Obsession with sexual jokes involving underage girls is not a good look for anyone who isn’t naive enough not to understand them, as I was when I read Piers Anthony as a kid. I reread one of his books in my twenties and… never again. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/73 "2024-06-07T22:22:42Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > > [@dorvann](#): > > > > Everybody Poops > > Sounds like woke propaganda, to me. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mkWyERtio5o/maxresdefault.jpg "Family Guy - "I'm looking for toilet-training books"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWyERtio5o) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/74 "2024-06-07T22:40:59Z")
> [@raspberry\_hunter](#): > > If someone told me their favorite book was something by Piers Anthony then I would walk away, probably faster than for Rand. I’ve heard bad things about those books. I would judge someone for ideological reasons, but not just because they have (what I think is) bad taste. I hated _The Road_, but I wouldn’t judge someone for liking it. In fact I can think of quite a few reasons why someone would like it. Likewise for a Harlequin book or whatever. The problem with judging someone based on one response with regard to _taste_ is you’re not really getting the whole picture of what they read and enjoy. I have so many favorites (_Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_, _Catch-22_, _Mirror Dance_, _Dandelion Wine_, _Catcher in the Rye_, Alan Moore’s _From Hell_ etc) and what does that tell you about my personality? That I read broadly. That’s about it. Now if I were to pluck one of these books and pick it as my Absolute Favorite, probably _Alice_ wins, both because it’s a childhood favorite that features an impertinent female and because of the depth of the satire and references. But from my favorite book being _Alice_ you can’t derive that my favorite genre is science fiction, that I read a lot of literature, or romance, or really anything meaningful. In fact you can’t even really determine whether I read much at all. It’s just not a good heuristic for knowing about how a person is. _Mein Kampf_ being an exception, of course. I’d steer clear of anyone with _that_ favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/75 "2024-06-07T22:48:05Z")
> [@raspberry\_hunter](#): > > If someone told me their favorite book was something by Piers Anthony then I would walk away, probably faster than for Rand. What? I mean…I am lost on this. I read Piers Anthony maybe 40+ years ago but loved those books. _A Spell for Chameleon_ was one of my early favorites. _Split Infinity_ was another. I had no idea he was a jerk! To be fair, I never paid much attention to that when I was 12 but I am sad to hear that. Thanks for wrecking a part of my childhood. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/76 "2024-06-07T22:48:15Z")
Gotta expel the demons. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/77 "2024-06-07T22:55:30Z")
That’s good. That show could be good sometimes. It’s that time for my son and I’m thinking about getting him _Everybody Poops_. It’s a classic. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/78 "2024-06-07T23:14:34Z")
I would have said _The Book of Lists_, but it’s not allowed by the OP’s rules. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/79 "2024-06-07T23:22:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What? I mean…I am lost on this. > > I read Piers Anthony maybe 40+ years ago but loved those books. _A Spell for Chameleon_ was one of my early favorites. _Split Infinity_ was another. I had no idea he was a jerk! I too read and enjoyed Piers Anthony many years ago, without picking up on all of the questionable sexual content. I think it was here on the SDMB that my attention was drawn to this reappraisal of _A Spell for Chameleon_: > **[Revisiting the sad, misogynistic fantasy of Xanth](https://www.avclub.com/revisiting-the-sad-misogynistic-fantasy-of-xanth-1798241312)** > > Here’s how this article was supposed to go down: As a kid, I lived in Florida. Back then I loved the books of Piers Anthony—especially his humorous, bestselling Xanth series, which is set in a parallel version of Florida where magic and mythical... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/80 "2024-06-07T23:25:40Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You’d be cutting out a fairly high percentage of the female population if you’re weeding them out by romance novels. Admittedly, Harlequin is hardly high art. How would you feel about _Pride and Prejudice_ or _Jane Eyre_? I see a huge difference between someone who tells me their favorite book is "Pride and Prejudice\* (a fairly common and perfectly reasonable choice for “favorite book”) and someone who tells me their favorite book is “really, any Harlequin romance.” It would be a bit like someone saying that their favorite movie is “really, anything on the Hallmark channel.” (ETA: And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with _liking_ either of these.) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/81 "2024-06-07T23:26:01Z")
This thread reminds me of when I suggested that my book club, which was open to a very broad range of books, read _Atlas Shrugged_, because none of them had ever read any Ayn Rand and had only the haziest notion of what she stood for and what people who worship her books are revealing about themselves. (Several of the club members were nationalities other than American.) Of course, Rand was a mediocre writer with loathsome ideas - but her books continue to have influence, so as an intellectual exercise, I thought knowing more about her stuff was a good idea. It did not go well - I’m not sure anyone read past the first few chapters, and I think they were a bit pissed at me for suggesting it. But it was nothing personal. A few years later someone suggested _50 Shades of Grey_ and I tried to tell everyone it was a bad idea. They didn’t listen, but after they started reading they were all repulsed, and then it was the turn of the person who suggested it to feel bad for recommending crap. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/82 "2024-06-07T23:27:45Z")
Any of the works of Marion Zimmer Bradley. Because, although she was a gift writer, I know what she did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567.md?page=5)