"you've just gotta read this!"

[kennyc]

Shouldn't this thread be in the "Reading Recommendations" subforum?

One of my favorite anthologies is "You've Got to Read This": http://www.amazon.com/Youve-Got-Read.../dp/0060982020

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Shouldn't this thread be in the "Reading Recommendations" subforum?

Don't think so.
We're discussing the *behavior* not doing actual recommendations.

And it *is* a behavior I do engage in, occasionally, but only with the handful of friends and relatives that do it *to* me.
And since they tend to have different tastes I can't carpetbomb them with the email tip so I don't usually embarrass myself gushing over any single book.

Still, yes, sometimes a good read makes me want to grab, say... my sister... by the shoulders and scream "This.Is.Good!"

But she would just roll her eyes and go: "Mom! He's doing it again!"

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Never.
Don't like it when others try to shove their book taste into my eyes, so I avoid doing it to them, thus opening myself up to that kind of intrusion.

Likewise. But coming across a book that I like *that* much and I understand why other people have done it to me. But yes, I do self-moderate and don't gush until I get to someone who is willing to listen :-)

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by applesauce

The Eden series by Harry Harrison. I am pretty laid back about everything else I have ever read. I just think those 3 books are amazing and will tell anybody who will listen about them. I am a loon and it is strange as I am not a fantasy fan. I can not remember any other book or books I have ever pushed.

applesauce

Thanks for that recommendation. It has been noted.

[elemenoP]

Once in a while, I do this, with people I know and love and have some idea about their reading taste (which is my family and just a few friends). To me, the best way to say, "you've got to read this" is to buy the book for that person (or give them mine). And if someone loved a book and wanted me to read it so much, that they gave me a copy, I would definitely read it.

And I never mind when someone I know well or don't know well says "you've got to read this." In fact I enjoy it, even if I don't *always* take their recommendation.

As for a bigger circle, I am on Goodreads but I don't cross-post my Goodreads reviews to my Facebook. Only once in the several years I've been on Facebook did I love a book so much that I had to post about it (in a "you've got to read this" kind of way). It was The Secret River by Kate Grenville. I know at least one person on my FB feed read it and liked it.

eP

[elemenoP]

Oh and to the OP: my library JUST acquired "Calling Invisible Women" in ebook format, probably on Friday. I'm putting it on my wishlist!

eP

[BeccaPrice]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

That is what Goodreads.com is for. That way I can READ, at my leisure, your review about Book X.

Alas, I can't use Goodreads - it's too much of a bandwidth hog for my satellite internet connection.

[taming]

I have a number of people in my life who I have known long enough and discussed books with often enough to be able to selectively recommend books to without worrying about insulting them or seeming too pushy. I guess I am naive, but I thought that this sort of thing was pretty standard.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Alas, I can't use Goodreads - it's too much of a bandwidth hog for my satellite internet connection.

That is terrible! I am assuming it is because of all the covers showing and not just straight text?

[BeccaPrice]

yeah - we have metered internet, and anything that is graphics-heavy takes a real bite out of our daily allotment. videos are usually plain out - if there are youtube videos the kids want to watch, they have to download them at school (they're in college).

I have to admit, my reaction to Calling Invisible Women took me by surprise. I have pretty idiosyncratic tastes, and don't usually have this reaction to a book. It only got a B+ at Dear Author, and it has weaknesses, but I found it generally charming.

[pendragginp]

I'm lucky, I work in a library, so I can donate books I think are great and put them on the shelves and then have the pleasure of seeing and hearing other folks' reactions without having to collar them.

[rdfry]

i have read one book that I would shove under the noses of all US citizens. Ain't
Nobodys Business If You Do by Peter McWilliams.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by taming

I have a number of people in my life who I have known long enough and discussed books with often enough to be able to selectively recommend books to without worrying about insulting them or seeming too pushy. I guess I am naive, but I thought that this sort of thing was pretty standard.

There are times when I suggest books to friends, too. Mostly when they ask for it though or when we're just discussing new books - but then it's a lot more along the lines of "have you taken a look at X?" or "hmm, maybe Y is something that might be your cup of tea" (and it's only with friends whose tastes I know well enough to have a reasonable idea of where our tastes overlap and where not).

I really have never told a friend "you MUST read this!" or "you will love it!" though. Maybe she will, maybe she won't.

[Sydney's Mom]

Someone did that to me with Harry Potter. I read the first quarter of the book, and angrily tried to return it to her, asking her why she gave me a book on child abuse.

It all worked out in the end.

[DiapDealer]

I have in the past, but I don't do it anymore. My policy is to wait until someone just plain asks me for a recommendation. And even then, I do my level best to select something I think they might like (based on past interaction)... rather than simply listing stuff I'm head over heels about.