On Book Recommendations

Do you take the recommendations of other into consideration when choosing books to read? Are you more likely to listen to the recommendations of a book blogger online or a person you know in real life? Do you even take book recommendations into consideration at all? Let’s talk about it!

Personally, I always take recommendations into consideration when picking books to read. I’m a “mood reader”, so it depends on what I’m feeling like reading at the time, but nevertheless I usually try to remember what books people have recently recommended. There have been so many instances when I’ve absolutely loved a book that someone told me I should read. Here are some of the more recent ones:

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (recommended by my school librarian)
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (recommended by several book bloggers online)
• Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix (recommended by a patron at the library I work at)

I could go on and on about all of the fabulous books I’ve been recommended, but the list would be way too long. There haven’t been many books that I’ve read based on a recommendation and disliked, so I guess I’ve been lucky in that regard!

I usually get my book recommendations from:

• People in libraries
• Librarians
• Book blogs
• Booktube
• Friends, family, etc.

Working in a library as a page has numerous benefits, and book recommendations is certainly one of them! I’m surrounded by great librarians who read awesome books, so I’m never completely at a loss for what to read next. And because I’m at the library so often, I always have the chance to pick up another book to read. It’s incredibly convenient!

I think that book recommendations are wonderful things- not only are you learning about new books, but you know that at least one other person really enjoyed reading it. A lot of times I’m hesitant to buy or invest my time in a book I’ve never heard of before because I don’t know if it will be worth it or not. It’s a gamble, and with so many books and so little time, why take that risk? Sometimes it works out great, but other times it can be quite disappointing. If someone has recommended a book to you because they love it, chances are it will at least be a decent read. Besides, then you have someone to discuss the book with once you finish reading it!

I also love recommending books to other people. One of the best feelings is recommending a book to someone and then finding out that they love it once they’ve read it. I’m constantly recommending books to people, especially ones I’ve read recently or ones that made a big impression on me.

What do you all think about book recommendations? How would you answer the questions at the beginning of this post? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY