Are your book choices influenced by friends and family? Do their recommendations carry weight for you? Or do you choose your books solely by what you want to read?
Wow! I can't specifically think of the last time a friend or family member recommended a book to me (other than Goodreads and blogging friends). I think they don't want to be enablers for my addiction. Either that, or I just have a bad memory. I do, however, get recommendations on television shows, which I don't watch enough of. I'm pretty lost in this area, so I appreciate the help. (Favorite recommended show: Lie to Me. Next ones to try: Big Bang Theory, Castle)
If someone does mention a book they loved, I almost always want to read it, but sometimes it gets lost in the "To Be Read" pit. I do love to be able to get into a discussion about a novel, which is why I love book clubs. That's usually when I read something I would have never picked out on my own, so in a way, that's influence from others. Otherwise, I basically read what I want, when I want. But maybe not as much as I want!
On the flip side, I hate making recommendations to others. It's even too much pressure for me to pick one out for a book club. My turn for one of my groups is coming up, and I chose The Help. I can't go wrong with that, right?
Join in here.
I've heard the Gossip Girl is also a great show to get reading recommendations from. I think I read an article about it somewhere so you could probably just read the article and not have to watch the show to get the recommendations.
ReplyDeleteBig Bang Theory is amazing. Haven't seen Castle, but I have heard good things about it, too.
ReplyDeleteI've been told to read The Help a few times. I suppose I'll eventually listen to that recommendation.
I get quite a few recommendations from all kinds of people, but they usually get shuffled off on my TBR list, too.
ReplyDeleteI'd say both - I love a good recommendation, but usually from someone who decides what to read the way I decide, similar tastes, you know? :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read "The Help" yet but from what I've heard, you have a home run on your hands.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know what you mean about feeling pressure. Every time someone tells me "I'm reading this book based on your recommendation," I get a little scared and feel very responsible for their reading experience!!
I'm an avid reader AND I work in not one, but two, libraries. I am constantly having to recommend books. (Oh, and I run a book club in one of the libraries for which I am solely responsible for choosing the books). So, I am pretty comfortable making recommendations. And it's OK with me, if someone doesn't like what I recommend. Just makes it easier to recommend something else - refining my understanding of their tastes. In any case, you absolutely can't go wrong with The Help. Fabulous book. A great companion to The Help is The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin. Same setting and time period, but from a grittier perspective. Another good read. (There I go recommending again. LOL!)
ReplyDeleteNow that I read Pam's comments, it reminds me of when I worked in a video store right out of high school. I used to love it when the older customers would come in, wanting recommendations. I love classic films, so I would gather what they enjoyed from that and then suggest others. I really enjoyed finding movies they liked.
ReplyDeleteI love Lie to Me and Castle.
ReplyDeleteI always lose my books in the TBR pit, too. It's a dangerous place :)
Whenever I recommend a book to my book club it tanks, so I've stopped, LOL :-)
ReplyDeleteI get hooked by certain authors. If I know a writer whose work I really enjoy is having a book released I sorta stalk the book aisle and pounce as soon as I see it.
ReplyDeletehttp://flybymoonlight.blogspot.com