Recommending Books

[sartorias]

Something I've done enthusiastically all my life, but being me, took a very long time to realize that just because I was enthusiastic didn't automatically mean another would be. You'd think I'd get a clue since from my earliest years, I became increasingly skeptical about the assumed authority of literary critics. But I've always been slow on the

Comments

[resonant]

Few people like my recommendations, so I am eager for advice too.

[sartorias]

How come, do you think? Have you been able to identify what you like in a given popular book that isn't the same reason others like it? Or are your tastes less toward what's super popular and thus easily recommended?

[resonant]

Probably differing tastes

[whswhs]

You know, I was just dealing with that issue; C's niece received her master's not long ago, and we joined the family for lunch afterward, and I ended up talking with the niece's grandfather on the other side, who asked for suggestions in recent SF-I gather than he's read a fair bit of it but hasn't been keeping up (for example, he didn't recognize the name "Vinge"). So I sent him a list that included Bujold, Cambias (The Darkling Sea, his first book, quite a good first contact story), Stross, Turtledove, Vinge, and Willis (the first two time travel novels). Note that most of these were people or specific books that have been widely liked in the field. There were several books I like a lot that I didn't recommend:

Cherryh's The Pride of Chanur, because it's entirely from a nonhuman viewpoint and cultural background;
Flynn's The Wreck of The River of Stars, which is half industrial accident report and half Greek tragedy, perhaps a bit too dark and slow;
Kingsbury's Courtship Rite, possibly my favorite SF novel ever, but the

[sartorias]

I agree about homes being more gratifying if possible!

That's interesting. I hadn't though about ranges of people for recs, but you're right. I think I more often get asked by people I don't know, and of course I used to field reading questions from parents when I was a teacher. That still happens if I fall into conversation with someone, mention I used to teach, and they say something like, "Oh, I'm always trying to get my son/daughter/niece/grandson to read. What would you recommend?" I then fall right back into teacher mode.

[marfisa]

Is there anywhere you can read an excerpt from Sally Slater's "Paladin"? There doesn't seem to be a "look inside" option for the book on either Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and it looks as if you can't access the version of it that was on Wattpad any more, either. Under the circumstances, I'm kind of hesitant to try testing my opinion of her writing style by starting to read the "Paladin" sequel, which seems to be the closest thing available online at the moment.

[sartorias]

I didn't know there was a sequel!

She put an early version up at Wattpad here.

[marfisa]

Thanks!

[sartorias]

I actually don't care for Swanwick. (That I've read. I admit I haven't tried anything since the Iron Dragon's Daughter with its clawhammer nihilism.)

Yeah, I agree though sometimes it's really hard to keep oneself from exclaiming that X is so much better than Y.

[heleninwales]

I hated The Iron Dragon's Daughter too and it had come highly recommended by both personal friends and reviewers. I've also disliked other books that came highly recommended and it's rather frustrating that I can't read the book that my friends read due to there being something that's grating on me that obviously didn't bother them.

[sartorias]

Yeah, one of those situations wherein the prose was excellent but nothing else about it appealed to me at all. I felt like I was being battered by a clue-by-four that Tolkien's Worldview is Risible.

[_profiterole_]

I love recommending books. I read a lot of m/m and f/f heroic fantasy/urban fantasy/sci-fi and I make a post for most of these books/book series. In some cases, I don't get replies; in others, several people mention they're interested in the books. I guess that's easier than giving recs to a specific person, though I do that if a book makes me think of someone or if someone asks me for a book with certain criteria. Sometimes they tell me they've already read it. XD I guess that's the (small) problem when you always read in the same genres.

[sartorias]

Oh, that's true--though that can shift to another fun discussion, from Have you read to What did you think of?

[_profiterole_]

It's always nice to find people to fangirl about specific books, especially considering it's harder than finding people to talk about specific TV shows or movies.

[sartorias]

Isn't that the truth!