Why I hate giving recommendations

[Kristev]

Try reccomending Camille Paglia to them. She liberated me, mentally, but most people will be downright shocked! But she writes a hell of a book.

[Magpie]

I know a lot of people have a hard time getting into the cadence of the writing. I quite liked them. Which doesn't hold for all of Tolkien's works. Don't ask me why, but I have never been able to get more that about 10 pages into the "Silmarillion". For me, it's a great cure for insomnia.

Well I think that's why it took me three goes to really be able to get much out of them.

I'm reading The Silmarillion a chapter at a time (skip to the second story if you ever try it again). It's really heavy, but I want to know the stories. At least I would if they weren't so bloody depressing.

[Pagan]

I never finished the first of the LotR books. I just couldn't get any enjoyment from it.

^-.-^

I know a lot of people have a hard time getting into the cadence of the writing. I quite liked them. Which doesn't hold for all of Tolkien's works. Don't ask me why, but I have never been able to get more that about 10 pages into the "Silmarillion". For me, it's a great cure for insomnia.

[Andara Bledin]

I never finished the first of the LotR books. I just couldn't get any enjoyment from it.

^-.-^

[Seshat]

Well, 'tis because I'm not a librarian.......I'm what's usually refered to as a page, so unless I'm out shelving or doing pick-up, I don't have much of an opportunity to interact with customers. Not that I don't give reccommendations, just that much of the time, the reference/circulation desk staff are the people who the customer needs to talk to.

Oh. Well that makes sense.

[Magpie]

I've re-read The Lord of the Rings more times than I can count...

I didn't actually enjoy LOTR until my late teens, the third time I read it. (No, I'm really not sure why I read it that many times either). My husband and I are currently reading it out loud to each other. He's read it often enough that he can actually read it out loud and still follow what's happening, and I've read it enough that it doesn't matter that we're averaging about 1.5 chapters/month.

[Treasure]

I I've re-read The Lord of the Rings more times than I can count...

Squee!!! ok, i haven't actually read LoTR Trilogy - but that's because I haven't seen all 3 movies, but both my parents have read the books a number times each!

I am waiting for the most recent Dresden book to come out in paperback so it can get passed around there's 4 of us that are reading.

I'm trying to get through Pratchett's Discworld books, but i'm having trouble finding time

but most of the time, historical romances, but the well written/researched ones - not harlequin (ick)

[skeptic53]

I've been a member of a book club for many years, an unusual one in that it is half men & half women, only one couple.

We try to read a mix of nonfiction, fiction, and at least one "classic" novel each year. Most years the favorite book of the year has been the classic novel. Turns out famous books are famous for a reason. Some books that have become metaphors for "long" (War and Peace) or "difficult" (Moby Dick) are actually wonderful to read if you are in the right frame of mind. More modern authors that have beaten out the classics for us are Salman Rushdie (especially The Moor's Last Sigh) and Mark Halperin (A Soldier of the Great War). More of my personal faves A. S. Byatt's Possession, Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, Martin Booth's Industry of Souls, and Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose. But as noted before, everyone is different and these books won't appeal to everyone. I like a lot of escapist stuff, too. I've re-read The Lord of the Rings more times than I can count...

[firecat88]

Apparently anyone who reads anything longer than 150 pages is odd.

I'm beyond the point of odd, then, because I don't even *own* any books that are fewer than 300 pages unless it's manga.

[42_42_42]

Considering at least half the time I'm reading a nonfiction tome on the subject of late anitquity/the early middle ages/the volkerwanderung, most people ask what I'm reading, see that it's something completely nerdy and move along. The other half of the time I'm generally reading one of the fantasy series I follow/historical fiction/Victorian lit., most of which tend to be rather lengthy, which often get the same response as the nonfiction does. Apparently anyone who reads anything longer than 150 pages is odd.

[Pagan]

Only my best friend has ever been able to recommend books to me. Our tastes just happen to run similar. Not even my parents can do it.

Seriously, I think writers like James Patterson and Jodi Picoult suck.

I agree. I don't like James Patterson at all. Same shit, different cover.

Let me join y'all on that count.

only books i had time to read ended up being Calvin and Hobbes or Bloom County.

Ack!! PHTTTT!

Malleus Malificarum

There's a book that needs to be lost for the rest of eternity.

(for example) a "first grade reading level", which I have no specific answer for because it really depends on the child in question.

Exactly. I was reading on a 12th grade level by the time I was in 6th grade. As long as it looked/s interesting I would/will read it. And my parents did put any restrictions on what I picked.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter novels or something else?

Those are awesome! I just finish "Born of Night", one her League novels. I like what she writes under Kinley MacGregor, too.

Exaspera - your avatar reminds me so much of Edward Gorey!

[KellyHabersham]

[QUOTE=Seshat;718630]

Seriously -

Why on earth not? Masters of Library Science. Lover of books and knowledge. Who BETTER to ask for a recommendation?

[QUOTE]

Well, 'tis because I'm not a librarian.......I'm what's usually refered to as a page, so unless I'm out shelving or doing pick-up, I don't have much of an opportunity to interact with customers. Not that I don't give reccommendations, just that much of the time, the reference/circulation desk staff are the people who the customer needs to talk to.

[fireheart]

I'd reccomend "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerbals."

since that episode came out, I wonder how many kids have asked for that

[gremcint]

you could also reccomend something from this list...
(nsfw)
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/come...-photoshop.php

[Marxfan]

As far as the hedgehog book. That depends....is the hedgehog named Sonic?

It's "The Hedgehog's Dilemma" by Hugh Warwick. It's basically a study of hedgehogs. They're really fascinating little creatures (and cute as hell).


I admit, I've been tempted to recommend "The Idiot" by Dostoyevsky, just to see if they get my thinly veiled insult... but I doubt it.