Nick Hornby, your check is in the mail.

Tuesday, cigarette #2

The idea that taste in books can be a relationship-killer is uncontroversial, but the comments on the much-blogged-about article are the most interesting thing about it:

7. I just realized that I have “Fight Club” and “Atlas Shrugged” prominently displayed on my bookshelf, remnants of a jaded youth. It looks like I have some reshuffling to do lest an anarcho-capitalist yuppie high-schooler fall madly in love with me.

96. Admit it, if you’re a Brooklyn brownstoner, seeing anyone reading a Bible in public is a complete deal-breaker.

115. The Beats, especially Jack Kerouac. Not only does he have bad taste but he will justify cheating on you philosophically.

124. Children’s writer E.L. Konigsburg talks in a speech about how to truly know someone, you should ask what children’s books they’ve read. It’s a good idea. When you’re a kid, you don’t know enough to try to impress anyone with what you’re reading.

I like the "more or less" in this one:

66. When Kurt Vonnegut died last year I walked around campus all day with Slaughterhouse-Five (my favorite book) in my back pocket as my little “tribute” to him. A girl in one of my classes who I had a secret crush on noticed that book and then found me on facebook later that day, expressing regret over Kurt’s passing. We got to talking and we’ve been going out more or less ever since.

This person has obviously spent time in the conservative movement:

71. Ayn Rand ruined two relationships of mine.

And a surprise appearance by Oscar Wilde:

47. Only superficial people don’t judge by appearances.

Unfortunately, if a man has a shelf full of books by Wilde you're probably about to encounter a deal-breaker of a different kind...