re: Name a well-known book or books that you would not recommend

Anything by Jonathan Franzen. Arrogant, pretentious, moralizing, pseudo-intellectual prick. My mother (RIP) had a saying about people like Franzen: He thinks he's hot snot on a silver platter, but he ain't nothing but a cold booger on a paper plate.

I "tried" to read The Corrections and Purity. No thanks.