Book Recommendations - Yay or Nay? by Allison Symes

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Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.

What is your policy on recommending books? I have a couple of policies.

Firstly, I only recommend a book to someone I know well enough where I have a reasonable knowledge of their reading tastes.  I want someone to enjoy what I recommend.


Secondly, and if it is a book I’ve found useful for my writing, I will share my thoughts on it on social media. I occasionally recommend books on Goodreads. I write a weekly blog on that so if a useful book has gripped me, I will mention it there.


Fiction can be more difficult to recommend, I think. Tastes differ. While I love fantasy, not everyone does. Even for those that do, there are different kinds of fantasy writing. 

I always go for the humorous type rather than the deadly serious (with the exception of The Lord of the Rings, which encompasses everything. Yes, there is a deadly serious story. There is also humour. The hobbits, Pippin and Merry, make me smile, especially in the earlier section of the  trilogy).


Have you been glad to take up a book recommendation from someone or from a radio programme, say? I came across the wonderful The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey by hearing the book read on Radio 4 Extra. That made me get the book for myself, which is a good result.

I also read Oliver Twist after seeing the classic adaptation starring Sir Alec Guinness as Fagin and Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes on BBC 2 many years ago. Reed was frightening as Sykes. I wanted to then read the book itself. Don’t know quite what Dickens would have made of that. Am sure he would rather I’d read the book first but the adaptation was how I was introduced to the story. There is a place for such things. 


Mind you, Dickens does get his own way thanks to the The Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s something I always watch over the festive season. One of my favourite moments comes right at the end when Gonzo recommends reading the book! Now that’s a recommendation I am happy to pass on - great story and wonderful adaptation of it too.  

If an author new to me is recommended to me by someone else, I nearly always try their work on ebook first. If I like what I read, I go on to buy other books by them in paperback. I recommend authors to others when I’ve read and loved at least two of their works.

 

I love the idea of recommending books in itself though. Books are a great pleasure and delight so why wouldn’t you want to share that with someone else you also think might appreciate it?

My book recommendation for 2024 so far then? It is simply to read more than in 2023 and to love as much of what you read as possible. 

Love what you read. Read what you love.  Hmm…. There’s a thought.

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