Any ghost-written “autobiography” of a Reality TV star.
“American Psycho” would definitely have me looking for the exits.
It made the Atlantic’s Great American Novels List. A lot of more deserving novels did not.
Hop On Pop
Cormac McCarthy’s the Road. Not because it’s not a terrific book - it is - but because anyone who claims it’s their favorite is not a happy person. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I could bear to be in the same room as someone who has read it more than once.
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.
At least half of American adults have hardly cracked a book since graduation.
Ooh, good choice. The odds are I’d walk away from people who loved most of the books mentioned here, but i can imagine a non-repellant reason for loving the Bible or a children’s book or even Mein Kampf. But someone who was really into that kind of pseudoscientific claptrap would be a terrible fit for me. And the motives for loving that particular claptrap are all bad, too.
My dad fought in WWII and was as patriotic as you make them.
He had Mein Kampf and Das Kapital and Wealth of Nations and a whole lot of other books (he was a voracious reader his whole life). He had zero like for Hitler (or Karl Marx) but he felt he needed to know what all these people were on about to have a good education and form worthy opinions on such topics.
So, yeah, I think there can be reasons to have read such books that are not creepy but I’d certainly ask the person to determine why they had such books.
I’ve heard it has some unique recipes…
Sounds like woke propaganda, to me.
That’s pretty much how I feel as well.
The problem with the OP’s request about one book is that you can’t really rank them. It’s more of a category almost by definition.
I mean, it’s not like if I heard that someone’s favorite book was Dianetics, that I’d still keep talking to them, and if I heard that someone else’s was Mein Kampf, I’d turn on my heel and leave. Both would trigger the “GTFO” out response.
And I agree with @puzzlegal, there are reasons people might claim the Bible or a children’s book is their favorite, without necessarily implying anything about their mental capacity or capacity for critical thinking. An example might be someone saying their favorite book is “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel”, not because of the heartwarming story, but rather because it’s something they remember their dear late father reading to them as a child, that they loved reading to their children, and are looking forward to reading it to their grandchildren.
I think it’s revealing to think about what sort of person would tell someone, out loud, that their favorite book is… the Bible, a Children’s Book or Mein Kampf.
The Bible, this person is almost certainly highly religious, and likely buys into some of the less palatable religious ideas.
Children’s Book, I can see someone saying that Oh, the Places You’ll Go made a difference in their life as a child, and they love it for that reason.
Mein Kampf, nope, this person is a nope, not going there. You can say you read it, that it’s important, interesting, maybe even a must read for the discerning adult, but not that you love it and think it’s your favorite book.
Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America by Ted Cruz. If I walked into a house or office with something like that on the table, I wouldn’t care to hear the explanation, and would just leave.
Yes, there are legitimate reasons (at least for some people) to read Mein Kampf, such as for its historical significance. But if someone cites it as their “favorite book,” that’s a different matter, and a major red flag.
My first thought (when seeing the thread title) was The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
However, I’m not sure that any book truly fits the OP’s requirement of “someone says (book title) is their favorite book, and the answer causes you to walk away from them”—because the more awful the book mentioned, the more likely I’d suspect that the person mentioning it is joking (or trolling).
The Hidden Messages in Water has a 4.7 rating on Amazon and many gushy reviews, so I would expect credulousness, not trolling.
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.
Moderator: If this is a deflection, please delete it.
There are a lot of books I disagree with. If someone names one of those books I would ask the person to explain, in his or her own words, what the book says. Then I would ask the person to explain why he or she finds the message appealing.
I’ve swiped left on personals app profiles in which they say their fave book is anything by Ayn Rand. There are more egregious ones to cite, but people seem sincere in their appreciation for her selfish batshittery, so I take it as real.
The Bridges of Madison County. We can’t hang.
I would LOVE to talk to a fan of Mein Kampf or Dianetics in person. They are clearly invested in fantasy and it would at least make for a memorable bus ride. Contrast that theoretical conversation with a Chicken Soup For the Soul aficionado.
I once drank with a Russian from Sakhalin Island and it was a blast, even when he started asking me who was really in charge in Washington. I explained the branches of US Govt and admitted some congressmen probably have excessive influence as well as some lobbies, but then he walked to his conclusion it was The Jews. We stopped after that, but mostly because the vodka inhibited his English. Anyway, that ridiculous conversation was some of the best parts of that surfing trip to the Dominican Republic.
As for Chariots of the Gods—I think it is important to ask why they like it so much. Because some people (including me) find conspiracy/paranormal books like it to be hilariously funny in their wrongness.
It is definitely NOT my favorite book though. And I too would shy away from anyway who took it seriously.