Nothing in the original post mentions “recreational reading.” What does that mean?
I never read fiction
Actually, the tone of the OP and the example given indicates recreational reading. Since you never do light recreational reading you couldn’t relate to the question. That’s not an attack, but rather a statement of fact that your suggestions were not what the OP was looking for.
As to the “taboo” nature of the books, I didn’t know that Horeb or Mavo haTalmud are taboo.
Horeb is certainly not a taboo sefer. Rabbiner Hirsch is only an unrecommended source in yeshivos because YU is a living example of what his writings can do in the wrong hands. Most unfortunate, because certainly someone with proper guidance can benefit tremendously from Hirsch. I’m sorry for not explicitly excluding that.
I personally am not here to be giving haskomos to seforim, or labelling them as taboo. Nor have I. Torah U’Maddah publications are taboo because mainstream rabbonim, rebbeim, Roshei Yeshivos, and moraei halacha do not accept that Solovetchik, nor his teachings and haskofos. Passing out copies to unsuspecting youths is proselytizing. No one should be reading these haskofos unless they know what it is beforehand, in which case it is their choice.
I was making fun of that Rosh Yeshiva.
No comment here. In any case, when you make such a remark, you have lost any traction you may have had in an argument.
It seems Sidney Sheldon was ok with him, but the Rav Zt”l was not. Talk about “krumkeit” and “skewed versions of religion.” I don’t so much care that he opposed me reading The Halachik Man, but then what gives with not caaring about Sidney Sheldon?
This is a good question, which should have warranted a discussion with your R”Y. I’m sure you did not discuss it with him, though. Sad, because you might have learned something. Instead you worked it out on your own, and that has not served you well. And the best you could come up with was the cynical refrain, that “he wore a hat”.
Sidney Sheldon is an example of light recreational reading. Other kids might enjoy Poe’s stories, Archer’s, King’s, or Tolkien’s (examples of authors I’ve seen around yeshivos). I’m sure many R”Y would oppose any and all of these names, but some allow it (for whatever reason). If a particular R”Y deems this type of book to be “neutral”, does that make The Halachik Man a “neutral” book as well? If you can’t see the difference, and why the latter would be offensive in a mainstream yeshiva, while the former is a question of bittul zman, then maybe I am not the slow one here, eh?