Every so often we have a “Recommend me a book” thread here in the ol’ Cafe. How did those books turn out for you? Which recommended books were enjoyable and which were pretty meh?
I read Evolution, by Stephen Baxter because of SDMB recommendation. Not the greatest book ever, but rather enjoyable. I re-recommend it to people on the SDMB who haven’t read it.
I read Phases of Gravity by Dan Simmons as well. I found it enjoyable but not interesting, if you can imagine such a thing.
Let’s hear how your reading has been improved (or otherwise) by Doper suggestions.
I usually pick up four or five suggestions out of a thread, of which I will find three or four to be good reading. I’m more likely to take a suggestion if the person puts some time into telling what the book is about. Also, when I go to find the book, I search by author name rather than by title, in case the person has written some other books in the same genre that I would also enjoy.
It must be working, because I have a shitload of books in the to-read pile.
Just some of what I can remember that I liked: Lucifer’s Hammer and *Footfall *by Niven and Pournelle, the Gordianus series by Steven Saylor, the Marcus Didius Falco series by Lindsay Davis, and *Darwin’s Radio *and the *Forge of God *by Greg Bear. Robert Charles Wilson has become one of my favorite authors, and I read him based soley on recommendations here. I was underwhelmed by *The Doomsday Book *by Connie Willis and *Hominids *by Robert Sawyer.
Biggest dispappointment: everybody here seemed to think Ender’s Game was the greatest thing since sliced bread; I thought it sucked.
The suggestions on my “Recommend romance novels for someone who doesn’t like the genre” did a lot to rehabilitate my opinion of the genre, although it hasn’t exactly turned me into a romance reader either. (In case anyone’s wondering, it was author Jennifer Crusie who turned the tide).
Oh, yeah. Footfall was another Dope-Book. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I too have a stack of books, some of which are Doper-Approved. Seems like for every one I read, the stack grows by three.
Enders game was a great, great story. When I was TWELVE! I still could enjoy reading it, but I could never have enjoyed it quite as much if I had read it for the first time today.
I think I heard about Skeletons on the Zahara from a Doper. Also The English Passengers (which I haven’t read yet, but I have heard praise from non-Dopers too, so I’m encouraged).
I first learned about Boris Akunin here and have been pleased with his books.
I love the recommendation threads. Mostly I look for recs of books I’ve already read and enjoyed, to see what else those Dopers are recommending.
Conversely, if someone raves about authors I don’t like (the Left Behind books, Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell), I know to stay away from those recs.
