men and books.

One of the things that I always ask people that I have been on dates on or are otherwise interested in is "what is your favourite book?"

Oh, and I keep a spreadsheet.

This brief and informal survey covers men that I have dated, men I have gone on dates with, and men that I have fooled around with, but not dated, and excludes the three long term relationships and "nothing happened" people that I was merely attracted to. Actually, there is a random sampling of the "nothing happened" people, because I can't associate some of these books in my spreadsheet with people, and I assume it's probably them. It doesn't really skew my results much. Also, some people got two or three choices because they were indecisive when I asked.

So, what were the top books? The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Ender's Game are tied for first place with three picks each. I will say that four of those six men were not immediately apparent as nerds. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land is second, with two and a half picks(the half being that I liked him enough to add him to this list, even though nothing would ever happen), but I knew those were nerds from the get go. That's a decent amount of book redundancy, considering that I'm not really a ho. It also says that I appear to be generally attracted to nerds. I'm actually very surprised that The Hitchhiker's Guide was not mentioned more often.

Character traits most often associated with the people associated with these recurring books(mind you, these are overreaching generalizations that I'm making because I can):

LOTR Trilogy: Generally shy. Slightly awkward. Adorable. Caring. Gentleman-ly. Most likely to try asking me out again. Needy. Weak willed.

Ender's Game: Artistic. Most likely to not ask me out again. Emotionally detached. Passionate. Distracted. Cold. Sarcastic. Confident. Self absorbed. Intelligent.

Stranger in a Strange Land: Creative. Most likely to actually go out with me again. Generally very socially adept. Jealous. Moody. Open. Inconsiderate. Honest. Engaging. Responsive. Affectionate. Calm.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Most likely to be obvilious to my presence. Most likely to quote Monty Python incessantly until I want to brain them with a soap dish. Generally happy-go-lucky. Private. Thoughtful. Humorous. Shallow.

Actually, there are only two books on the list that I wouldn't consider science fiction or fantasy(Kokoro by Natsume Soseki and Alice in Wonderland). Oh, and Slaughterhouse Five, but that really did feel like an afterthought - maybe he felt that he needed to impress me after first saying that he was really into Dune(which is by the way, a totally acceptable answer in my book). Man, what is with me and nerds.

Here's the actual list.

Men I have Dated and Their Favourite Books - 2002-2007

Isaac Asimov, The Foundation Trilogy, - 1
Isaac Asimov, I, Robot - 1
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. - 2
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game - 3
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll - 1
Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, - 1
Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land - 2 1/2
Frank Herbert, Dune - 1
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials - 1
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - Good Omens. - 1
Natsume Soseki, Kokoro - 1
Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings - 3
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, - 1

The worst answers I have gotten, which is also related to why these people aren't actually included on this list are:

1. anything by Robert Jordan. (Look, it's a fun read. I can see that. I read the first five of the Wheel of Time series before I decided I wanted to poke my eyes out. But c'mon. Favourite book? Really?)

2. Hamlet. This would have been a totally okay answer if the justification hadn't been "I think it's really deep. Have you read it?" "Deep", really? Yeah, I think Hamlet is pretty "deep" - you know, if I had read...Hamlet. Moron.

3. The Backstage Handbook. Now, this book is really useful if you might have forgotten how to tie a bowline, or needed a life size drawing of a 16d nail or just couldn't remember the height of a standard door. It is really awesome when you're not sure how to build a step unit, how to calculate wattage and need to convert a groundplan to the metric system. It is not your favourite book. It just can't be your favourite book. Come ON, this is not your favourite book! Bah, I'm done with stage technicians.

And so what does this mean?

1. I clearly gravitate towards nerds. I suppose we knew this already.
2. I am a huge dork who considers decent reading material as a factor in any possible relationship.

That's it, really.


By the way, yes, I have read Hamlet.