Unsuggesting

Most of you probably read about the new search toy at LibraryThing. They're calling it the Unsuggester, and it's basically as it sounds: You enter in the title of a book, it scours the LT database and using a complex algorithm and some sort of black magic it then suggests some unperfect matches, what could be seen as the anti-recommendation for what you're reading.  Anyway, after reading about it and playing around with it for too long yesterday, I decided to put it to good use.  I've always wondered if there's a book out there somewhere that might could and possibly should be considered the book I'm least likely to read in my lifetime.  Even without the Unsuggester I could give you a few titles, but those would be based on a gut feeling, a particular loathing of a specific genre or author.  In other words, I could change my mind and suddenly become a fan of Anne Rice.  The Unsuggester, however, gives me cold, hard, indisputable proof that there are books that I'm likely never to own, much less read.

Here's how it worked.  Strapped for time, I decided to ignore my initial impulse, which was to come up with my ten favorite novels for use in this experiment.  I can't sit around all day listening to Mark Twain scream in my ear that William Vollmann is a pervert and shouldn't be in sniffing distance of the top ten while he gets shunned yet again.  So I decided to go to the so-called experts.  I searched out some of those too exciting top ten all-time lists and after much hand wringing I found one that contained ten books that I've read and for the most part enjoyed.  From there, it was a matter of plugging in the title and noting the top (bottom?) five results for each book  (see below).

That's why I can now say with a fair amount of confidence that I will never read a single book by "New York Times bestselling author" Sherrilyn Kenyon.  In fact, I'm ready to declare Ms. Kenyon the anti-literary novelist, assuming of course that she writes novels.  She appears so often on the list that picking out just one of her books, say Seize the Night, might not do her justice.  Sure, Christine Feehan and Laurell K. Hamilton give her a run for the glory, but Kenyon just wasn't to be denied.

One day I may take the time to narrow the search, using books that I consider the best or my favorites, but for now, I'm pretty confident that I've found what I was looking for.  Now how much do you want to be that I'll get Sins of the Night for Christmas?

Ulysses by James Joyce

1. Seize the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 26.5, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. Let the nations be glad! : the supremacy of God in missions by John Piper (expected 38.9, found 1; unsuggestions)
3. Night play by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 25.4, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. Kiss of the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 25.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. Sins of the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 25, found 0; unsuggestions)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. The supremacy of God in preaching by John Piper (expected 31.9, found 1; unsuggestions)
2. The justification of God : an exegetical and theological study of Romans 9:1-23 by John Piper (expected 22.1, found 1; unsuggestions)
3. Night pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 41.8, found 3; unsuggestions)
4. Nine marks of a healthy church by Mark Dever (expected 26.7, found 2; unsuggestions)
5. The radical reformission : reaching out without selling out by Mark Driscoll (expected 26.2, found 2; unsuggestions)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

1. Night pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 30.7, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. Evidence! : citation & analysis for the family historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills (expected 29.9, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. Seize the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 27.1, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. It's in his kiss by Julia Quinn (expected 27.1, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. Night play by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 25.9, found 0; unsuggestions)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

1. Evidence! : citation & analysis for the family historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills (expected 35.8, found 2; unsuggestions)
2. Daughters of the Moon: Goddess of the Night - Book #1 (Daughters of the Moon) by Lynne Ewing (expected 21, found 1; unsuggestions)
3. Dark legend by Christine Feehan (expected 21, found 1; unsuggestions)
4. The second time around by Mary Higgins Clark (expected 19.2, found 1; unsuggestions)
5. Dark melody by Christine Feehan (expected 18.9, found 1; unsuggestions)

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

1. Programming pearls by Jon Louis Bentley (expected 18.3, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. Memory in death by J. D. Robb (expected 17.5, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (New Testament Commentary) by Simon J. Kistemaker (expected 13.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. One-skein knitting : 30 quick projects to knit and crochet by Leigh Radford (expected 12.9, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. Paradise by Judith McNaught (expected 12.5, found 0; unsuggestions)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

1. Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks Two (expected 35.9, found 1; unsuggestions)
2. Dark secret by Christine Feehan (expected 16.9, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. The first and second Epistles to the Thessalonians by Leon Morris (expected 16.7, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. Dark melody by Christine Feehan (expected 15.8, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. New Testament introduction by Donald Guthrie (expected 15.6, found 0; unsuggestions)

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

1. Obsidian butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton (expected 24.8, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. Circus of the damned by Laurell K. Hamilton (expected 24.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. The lunatic cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton (expected 23.7, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. Narcissus in chains by Laurell K. Hamilton (expected 23.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. Blue moon by Laurell K. Hamilton (expected 22.6, found 0; unsuggestions)

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

1. The Harry Potter boxed set by J.K. Rowling (expected 26.6, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. The will of the empress by Tamora Pierce (expected 17.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. Fantasy lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 15.3, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. Mastering regular expressions : powerful techniques for Perl and other tools by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl (expected 22.2, found 1; unsuggestions)
5. Dance with the devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 14.5, found 0; unsuggestions)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

1. Sins of the night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (expected 21.8, found 1; unsuggestions)
2. The gagging of God : Christianity confronts pluralism by D. A. Carson (expected 14.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. The last word and the word after that : a tale of faith, doubt, and a new kind of Christianity by Brian D. McLaren (expected 17.6, found 1; unsuggestions)
4. Head First design patterns by Elisabeth Freeman (expected 17.6, found 1; unsuggestions)
5. The book of the Acts by F. F. Bruce (expected 17.4, found 1; unsuggestions)

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