# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**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 8, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/123 "2024-06-08T21:47:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > According to North Korean propaganda, Kim Jong Un does not. Not true, anymore. They said this about the first two great leaders, but actually have re-visited it to clarify they were just people…so obviously…they did. ---
**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 8, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/124 "2024-06-08T21:48:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > In the website linked to below, it says that non-annotated editions of _Mein Kampf_ can’t be published in Germany, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. it’s available in Russia, Romania, the United States and the UK. I don’t know about other countries: Huh. To be honest, I read most of it in college and the whole thing is pretty pathetic. I lost it when it got into some politics I did not understand, but Hitler comes of as a very pathetic, whiny, and sad child. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/125 "2024-06-08T22:04:04Z")
**Seduction of the Innocent.** ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/126 "2024-06-08T22:55:31Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Hitler comes of as a very pathetic, whiny, and sad child. Reminds me of someone else whose books I’ll probably never read. I can at least see _Mein Kampf_ having some historical value. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/127 "2024-06-09T00:13:21Z")
People have mentioned Harlequin’s romance novels–I would like add something else they used to publish–_The Executioner_ series. It is a “men’s adventure” novel that glamorizes a vigilante who wages his own war against organized crime and terrorism. (I admit I enjoyed them as a preteen but I can NOT imagine a mature adult saying they are is favorite thing to read.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/128 "2024-06-09T00:14:42Z")
They actually quit publishing them a few years back. There are few (if any) of those kinds of books made any more. ---
**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 9, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/129 "2024-06-09T02:19:43Z")
Harlequin is interesting. Some of the most mass produced popular romance novels of all time, but if you wanted to write for them, you had to follow draconian rules. Men have to be at least 6’ tall. The male character can only have one of these pre-approved professions, the female can only work in these specific feminized fields. They must fall into this age range. Formulaic doesn’t begin to cover it. The hero of the book I’m working on is a 5’9" amputee. He’s also the megalomaniac leader of a revolution but he’s not very competent at it and at the start of the book he’s losing his job (he won’t get it back.) For me that is perfect romance fodder. YMMV. (And I want to add, while there is plenty of formulaic stuff that is self-published, it’s also the wild West in terms of what you can get away with writing. I’ve found some really unique things. Like telepathic space pirates.) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/130 "2024-06-09T02:30:06Z")
I am interested already! I picture him sortof Johnny Depp like. ---
**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 9, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/131 "2024-06-09T02:35:34Z")
It’s a lot of fun to just write what you want to read. And that wasn’t an option many romance writers used to have. It’s the difference between writing for a mass market and writing for a very dedicated niche. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/132 "2024-06-09T21:01:52Z")
I’d rather read about the telepathic space pirates myself. ---
**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 9, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/133 "2024-06-09T21:24:35Z")
That was based on a tabletop RPG campaign and was pretty cool. Also it pretty much markets itself. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/134 "2024-06-10T11:12:41Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I once joked that I want to be the Tarantino of romance writers. So, lots of violence, n-words, and feet? 😁 ---
**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 10, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567/135 "2024-06-10T12:09:15Z")
Definitely not any n-words! But yes violence. And I could probably stand to add more feet. I guess I meant it in the sense of taking the fun things about trashy romance and elevating them to something unique. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-favorite-book-would-cause-you-to-walk-away-from-someone/1002567.md?page=6)