@Kassarock And yet you did not mention a novel...curious

Okay I'll lay some cards on the table. Some books mentioned here already get a nope from me, Atlas Shrugged for example. I'd also probably nope on a relationship if someone told me their favourite book series was Harry Potter. It's a kids book, and a poorly written one at that, grow the fuck up.

I'll throw in a bonus one, Seventy-Two Virgins, the poorly written self insert racist trash about a British MP saving the President of the United States from a terrorist attack, written by current sitting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A book that genuinely uses the line 'a mega-titted six-footer' to describe a woman.

I have never heard of Atlas Shrugged until this thread, and I did have to read Ayn Rand in school.

@Kassarock The Boris Johnson book and the Harry Potter mention killed me. I never did read Harry Potter (I was too busy with more adult fantasy/sci fi books) but I know that is a lot of people who you've cast aside. I commend you.

In defence of Rothfuss and Name of the Wind, I think a lot of people potentially misread Kvothe as a positive heroic archetype, when if anything I think he's meant to something of a negative one. Kvothe is brilliant and amazing etc. But it doesn't get him anywhere, he continually self sabotages and fucks things up through his arrogance and pride, he's literally his own worst enemy in a lot of the shit that happens to him. And we know he's gonna do something truly terrible by story's end.

This. I think the argument that Kvothe is a Mary Sue is overblown because for all his ridiculous skills and talents it doesn't help him what so ever. After two books he has made literally zero progress on his goal save for a couple of encounters that come apart by chance. If anything the fact that he is portrayed in his narrator role as a broken down loser is a cautionary tale about making sure you use your powers wisely rather than sticking your head up your own rear.

More seriously though, does anyone really have a single favorite book? I can probably produce a list of my favorite books plural, but does it make sense to look at one book and say this is my favorite?

I will mention Jordan Peterson or anyone who falls in the category of “talking down on people while also not having your own shit in order” but as mentioned before, he doesn’t count even if he fits the bill perfectly. As a man I guess I wouldn’t run into this much, because women do not seem to look fondly on him in general. Rupi Kauhr would also be a good fit, but again, not a novel author, just pseudo-deep poems that don’t make sense.

WH40K, specifically if they favor the empire or the tales about what comes down to genocide-made-PC-because-aliens.

YA fiction — reasoning being that I’m 25 and I expect my partners to have a more wide scope of novels they enjoy than Divergent, Camp Halfblood, or Hunger Games. Good books! .. for an audience that isn’t me.

The Hobbit — #gatekeeping here but any true Tolkien fan knows the Children of Húrin is the only good answer. ;) OK, but seriously, this is sarcasm, I’d like to meet someone who enjoyed the Hobbit.

I say anything Rachel Hollis. Girl, wash yourself away 😒😂

More seriously though, does anyone really have a single favorite book? I can probably produce a list of my favorite books plural, but does it make sense to look at one book and say this is my favorite?

True, I can't even begin to guess my favorite book of all time.

The Hobbit — #gatekeeping here but any true Tolkien fan knows the Children of Húrin is the only good answer. ;) OK, but seriously, this is sarcasm, I’d like to meet someone who enjoyed the Hobbit.

I thoroughly love the Hobbit, what's wrong with it? I honestly found Children of Hurin to be a little boring but still interesting.

Okay I'll lay some cards on the table. Some books mentioned here already get a nope from me, Atlas Shrugged for example. I'd also probably nope on a relationship if someone told me their favourite book series was Harry Potter. It's a kids book, and a poorly written one at that, grow the fuck up.

If you're going to pick children's books or YA as an adult, at least pick Redwall, just saying.

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I do agree with a lot of comments here, I think my one thought in terms of people saying they love children's books or YA as an adult (over 18), would be that it's kind of odd to me.

Unless, perhaps, the person is really mostly talking about nostalgic feelings (e.g., I don't think I would legitimately pick Redwall as my favorite book anymore but I do remember it with a lot of fodness and nostalgia).

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Just felt like repeating to Atlas Shrugged is truly an awful book.

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Man, you two would hate the millions of other general self-help books that get published every year.

I think it's less of an issue because it's a self help book and more of an issue of the overlap that exists between people who view Jordan Peterson as a) interesting, b) insightful, or c) a person worth studying and people that I don't want to date is sky high.

Although generally, I'm pretty disdainful and critical of self help books. However, there's a difference between books loved by mostly sad moms and books loved by some really creepy dudes (not exclusively, but my limited experience hasn't been great with Peterson fans, so to save my own time it's an easy red flag).

Academically or in terms of research I just get really tired of Peterson going off the rails and babbling (poorly) about things he doesn't really seem to understand or have studied. He was really at his intellectual peak when he published his Carl Jung fan fics and got tenture.

Any of the Under a Graveyard Sky books by John Ringo. I’ve never been a Ringo fan and honestly that series was just unbearable to me. I forced my way through the first book and honestly simply had enough a quarter of the way through the second. The characters are bland and hard retain, the dialogue is rather cringe at points, and the attempts at humor are so… pandering to the reader. That and there are other problems.

As someone whose an apocalyptic junkie and enjoys zombie titles I feel like that me hating that series says a lot about it. From my perspective anyway.

But yes those books or anything by Ringo and your in the negatives already.

Im kind of glad so many people are not in the YA fandom. YA books are read a lot by adults and sell really well in the market strangely enough, and I wouldnt ever write one myself.

Any of the Under a Graveyard Sky books by John Ringo. I’ve never been a Ringo fan and honestly that series was just unbearable to me. I forced my way through the first book and honestly simply had enough a quarter of the way through the second. The characters are bland and hard retain, the dialogue is rather cringe at points, and the attempts at humor are so… pandering to the reader. That and there are other problems.

As someone whose an apocalyptic junkie and enjoys zombie titles I feel like that me hating that series says a lot about it. From my perspective anyway.

But yes those books or anything by Ringo and your in the negatives already.

I wanted so much to like John Ringo's books, but truthfully I couldn't get into it. Even his collaborations you can really tell which bits are his.

<Snipped quote by Shu>

I wanted so much to like John Ringo's books, but truthfully I couldn't get into it. Even his collaborations you can really tell which bits are his.

To me he’s just overrated. He’s not the worst writer I’ve ever read by far but… still, overrated is he. He wrote a science fiction series that I tried to start a few months ago and the same outcome as with UAGS was “unimpressed”.

Books loved by some really creepy dudes.

My limited experience hasn't been great with Peterson fans.

I can't help but assume the reason there is self-evident. But eh, personal feelings are yours to have.

Though due to the nature of how he became known. (And I mean that it wasn't based on nepotism, or something else that forces them into the spotlight. Think of a crappy comedian, actor or celebrity, that still gets new gigs because of the almighty dollar.) If he wasn't "interesting" by strict definition, I feel like he'd have far fewer targets on his back. Displayed here through many others clear and likely strong negative emotions. (Because if you lack something that holds the people's attention. You're far more likely to have no impact or "mention-worthy haters" whatsoever. You'd think.)

Since the idea of bad people liking something, can and does apply to everything. I can't imagine reacting to all media that I'm not personally fond of, with anything but a passive shrug. Unless I found the work (or author) itself negatively compelling enough to warrant otherwise. But I guess, that's simply how I view it.

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I have never heard of Atlas Shrugged until this thread, and I did have to read Ayn Rand in school.

I've heard from the grape vine, that this is one of those books you might've been forced to read and study in school. So with the best faith assumption given, it's pretty easy to see why someone might dislike this novel. (Because who finds being forced to read something you may not have any active interest in, anything but a nuisance at best?)

Though not having read any of Ayn Rand's works myself. I have seen people who mention that her other works are better, while still criticizing Atlas Shrugged. Often mentioning how plodding its first third/ten chapters are. (Something I can easily see turning the average reader/high-schooler off) Among other things. But nobody here has really gone beyond the surface, though.

I thoroughly love the Hobbit, what's wrong with it? I honestly found Children of Hurin to be a little boring but still interesting.

You definitely missed the last part of my sentence there buddy

@Odin Hot take, the whole Tolkien vs is populated by boring people with interesting backstories.

@Penny probably true, I think it’s a symptom of how Tolkien writes. I enjoy it greatly and Turin Turambar is to date my favorite character. He’s also very boring and Beleg was a far cooler personality.

@Odin You said you'd like to meet someone who enjoyed the Hobbit. The sarcasm bit was for your previous statement unless I was mistaken, and I assumed the sarcasm was at the gatekeeping comment and not the fact you enjoyed Children of Hurin. Also why would you find Turin both boring and your fave character? Usually if a character bores me that's a no go.

Also while Tolkien is the 'father' of modern fantasy, his characters are not high octane action heroes like most characters in fantasy today so I can definitely see why his prose might bore a few people.

@Odin You said you'd like to meet someone who enjoyed the Hobbit. The sarcasm bit was for your previous statement unless I was mistaken, and I assumed the sarcasm was at the gatekeeping comment and not the fact you enjoyed Children of Hurin. Also why would you find Turin both boring and your fave character? Usually if a character bores me that's a no go.

I mean, I do think people who enjoy the Hobbit enjoy it because it's the flagship Tolkien book and not necessarily because it's actually better than the other books. But it's a great book and if someone told me why they liked it, it'd be a much better answer than those who like it because it's Tolkiens famous work.

Kinda like saying oh I like Harry Potter novels -- it's a bog standard answer with no real flavor to it. Hobbit is that but for fantasy, imo.

As far as Turin Turambar goes, he's incredibly boring as a personality, dude does basically nothing but try and exact vengeance upon those who cursed his house. He has a fucking awesome adventure but remains this sort of stoic personality that never really reacts to anything in a way that isn't stoic. So, Penny words it really well -- his saga is extremely cool and the adventures he experiences are tragic and interesting, but he himself is... not really all that interesting.

Which imho is a strength -- insofar as Middle Earth goes, Turin Turambar kind of shows that even ordinary or uninteresting people can experience and do great things, and I definitely appreciate how boring and stoic he is, but I also think it's not exactly the most interesting personality to read, and if it weren't for his adventures, it'd probably not be that interesting to read about him.

Also while Tolkien is the 'father' of modern fantasy, his characters are not high octane action heroes like most characters in fantasy today so I can definitely see why his prose might bore a few people.

Just the whole boring prose of his works is something that really makes me enjoy his works -- it makes it more relatable I guess because real life equivalents are, often, incredibly interesting but also incredibly boring and non-super hero. Compare it to, say, Warhammer which is high-octane action hero tier shit (which is enjoyable for different reasons) and super over the top, Tolkiens work feels more grounded, realistic and, well, like a real world that could exist. That's just how I see it though -- I also enjoyed reading the Silmarillion thoroughly so maybe I am just a Tolkien-circlejerker, because Silmarillion is definitely not an incredible action packed gripping story, lol.

Compare it to, say, Warhammer which is high-octane action hero tier shit

Welcome to WFRPG in which we will all play rat catchers and die of tetanus.

You're on a first date, and you ask your date what their favorite novel is. They answer, and you immediately know this relationship won't work. What novel was it?

Twilight doesn't count. No freebies.

Bonus points if you give a reason.

"Halo: Glasslands" by Karen Traviss. Full-blown case of writer on board. Traviss goes out of her way to show the character Catherine Halsey (the creator of the SPARTAN-II Program and Project MJOLNIR) as an irredeemable monster. Kidnapping children and replacing them with clones that will degrade and die, and training and augmenting them to be supersoldiers to combat an insurrection movement on a galactic scale? At best, that's morally dubious. But canon has shown that Halsey cared for her Spartans, and knew them so well she could tell them apart even in full armor. She's a very nuanced character. Meanwhile, ONI (Traviss's pet characters in Glasslands and the other two books she wrote) are good guys. You know, basically space-CIA who get up to some fucked-up stuff, including assassination, spying, destabilizing enemy homeworlds to prevent them from continuing the war, and okaying the SPARTAN-III Program, which took orphans and trained and augmented them for suicide missions before they were even out of their teens.