the 5 most famous books you're positive you'll never read

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erica jong, fear of flying
david foster wallace, infinite jest
richard nixon, six crises
the book of mormon
jean-paul sartre, being and nothingness

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

I think I read about this game in Small World.

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

"Famous" paints a pretty broad canvas.
I've little interest in the 'famous' Russian epics 'War and Peace', 'Anna Karenina' and the like, but i also can say with great certainty that I will never read Stephen King, 'the DaVinci Code', Harry Potter or 'The Corrections', all of which are fairly 'famous'.

― Docpacey (docpacey), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

Dr. Spock's child care
Dianetics and Battlefield Earth
Watchmen (Sorry, I tried, but it wasn't doable)

― Øystein (Øystein), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

I can't make this list because if I found myself trapped in some airport or cottage somewhere with nothing to read but the Reader's Digest Business Books Compact Edition I'd still tuck in.

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

From the popular fiction side - pretty much everything. I can't see myself ever voluntarily reading The Da Vinci Code.
Literary fiction - I think Trollope is unlikely, A Dance to the Music of Time, Burroughs... will I ever read much poetry? Probably not.

(I won't mention books by authors I've read and disliked - Hemingway, Kerouac, etc)

― Ray (Ray), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

Gone With The Wind
How To Win Friends and Influence People
Valley of the Dolls
Dianetics
The 120 Days of Sodom

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

I will never make it through the entire Bible.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

i tried to go through the entire bible in a night once. it didn't work.

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

Who do you think you are, tom, Harold Bloom?

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

i hate you.

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

Barney the Purple Dinosaur will have your heart on a spit for that last comment.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

the last five books by Greil Marcus.

I always suspected that Nixon's post-presidential books were bought and never cracked open.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

I've read two of the books on Aimless' list and own another one of them.

― Pier Paolo Semolina (noodle vague), Saturday, 19 August 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

My ~~five~~ four, prolly:

Harry Potter
Da Vinci Code
The Corrections
Nick fucking Hornby

― Pier Paolo Semolina (noodle vague), Saturday, 19 August 2006 08:35 (nineteen years ago)

99% of all non-fiction will not be read by me. make that 99.9% i do read tons of magazines and the newspaper every day though. and there are exceptions. reading about walter benjamin in the new yorker last nite made me want to seek out a volume of his newspaper work.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 19 August 2006 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't become as obscure as I am today by following the crowd.

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 19 August 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

The Corrections doesn't really belong in that company, Semolina

― Ray (Ray), Saturday, 19 August 2006 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

lol I just realised I am constantly mixing up Jonathan Franzen with Dave Eggers. Is this wrong?

― Pier Paolo Semolina (noodle vague), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

Technically, it is wrong. Practically speaking, unless you stand to inherit money from one or the other of them, it is harmless.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

if you run into either of them on the street, just stick to 'hey', 'you', pointing, tricks of that sort to avoid having to refer to them directly by name. do not under any circumstances bring up their books.

― Josh (Josh), Thursday, 24 August 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

This is where being quiet in bed really pays off; you won't accidentally call out the wrong person's name.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 24 August 2006 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

I'm always suspicious of the quiet ones. I want screamers.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 24 August 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

Pride and Prejudice (don't judge me, I read Hardy!)
The Da Vinci Code
Catch 22 (only because I start it and get far too confused)
The Communist Manifesto (etc etc)
Does the OED count? Scratch that, any reference book, cover to cover.

Ja wohl.

― Andrew Munro (andyboyo), Saturday, 26 August 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

1. talmud
2. people's history of the united states (throw your stones now)
3. david copperfield
4. the origin of species (i'm probably not alone in feeling that science writing is often better second-hand, right? that is to say that it's easier/more enjoyable to read stephen hawking or carl sagan than it is einstein or newton or whomever)
5. les miserables

― the eunuchs, Cassim and Mustafa, who guarded Abdur Ali's harem (orion), Sunday, 27 August 2006 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

i'd be interested in hearing WHY you guys chose the books you have decided to never read. i find this to be an incredibly boring, useless and meaningless thread without them. Aehhhh i don't want to sound like an asshole, i just think this thread has an interesting topic but i feel that i've been teased.

― buyabiznatch (buyabiznatch), Thursday, 7 September 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

jong - i hate the '70s!
wallace - just the blurb quotes on the inside cover make me wanna hurl
nixon - life's just too short to read a book by richard nixon unless you're writing a book about him or something
mormon - i actually sort of would like to read this just out of curiosity, but i'm too embarrassed to buy a copy
sartre - i've read some of this and feel like i've pretty much got the point

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:44 (nineteen years ago)

mormon - i actually sort of would like to read this just out of curiosity, but i'm too embarrassed to buy a copy

Stay at a Marri0tt property in the US - they are right there with the Gideon.

life's just too short

This is actually my reason, for all the books I won't ever get to.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 8 September 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

flying is one of two books that proves jong can write, i found it funny and kind of sexy, with some amazing set peices--fanny is better

― anthony easton (anthony), Saturday, 9 September 2006 02:12 (nineteen years ago)

buy, can't you still get the mormons to send you a free copy in the mail?

i'm not positive i'll never read any books.

― Josh (Josh), Saturday, 9 September 2006 03:02 (nineteen years ago)

ilx dick also login cunt

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Sunday, 10 September 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

I thought ILB had been reg only for awhile now.

― Jaq (Jaq), Sunday, 10 September 2006 01:21 (nineteen years ago)

J.D. I got a free copy of the Book of Mormon. From a Mormon. I will happily post it to you if you like.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Sunday, 10 September 2006 09:18 (nineteen years ago)

(It's got pictures. It is mental bollocks.)

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Sunday, 10 September 2006 09:20 (nineteen years ago)

jd,
i can also give you several

― anthony easton (anthony), Sunday, 10 September 2006 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

even the MORMONS wouldn't give him SEVERAL!

― Josh (Josh), Sunday, 10 September 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

well i grew up mormon adn what do you know, i have left overs

― anthony easton (anthony), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

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