This “spiritual” biography about Beethoven (I missed the “spiritual” part of it when purchasing it for $1 at a cafe). It sucked absolute dookie and reminded me that flowery language does not equal intelligence and obscures a damn point. I was absolutely grasping for take-away factoids about our maestro and gleaned three things out of 200 pages of eye-clawing fluff: he was a lonely bastard; he had a brother named Carl; he had beef with a few princes over lack of payment.

Ok

Girl what

Ugh, yes, I got an etiquette book when I was 16, already too polite a teenager, while my three brothers burped and farted and cursed their way to adulthood

Maybe it’s basic, but I’d trust a date with a Dickens fan. Maybe Bleak House then

Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. He describes a carving on a door for an entire chapter in Name of the Rose, or what felt like it. I really enjoy his writing, but they make terrible beach reads!

I almost always ignore sequels… But I also only watched the first episode of Breaking Bad because I felt satisfied with the story to that point and didn’t need more

I feel like UK humor as a whole tends toward an agnostic absurdity… Probably why it’s so popular around the world

Your example book is one of my least favorite books! It just really wasn’t for me. I borrowed it off a coworker and just surreptitiously slid it back on the bookshelf one day. I didn’t even get to any of that gore yet either. I just feel a bit vindicated that someone else has singled it out.

No–just do what you enjoy. If you enjoy (or enjoy being knowledgeable about) classics or highbrow art, then delve into those. If you don’t, then don’t. Don’t worry! Everything is for a limited time only, including fun, trashy things…