We’re always looking for our next book. It’s a fact of bookworm life. The drive to read another book, and encourage others to read is rooted so deeply in some of us that there’s no chance of it ever getting dug out. At the same time, recommending books is a very tricksy proposition. There’s a fear of that person absolutely hating the book you recommended. Or of losing someone’s trust in your reviewing after they’ve read something you loved and they hated. It might just be one book out of a hundred, but once it’s done… This Top Ten Tuesday’s topic is books that we’ve read via recommendations, algorithms, lists, and all that jazz. Whether it be a “Since you liked…. try” or your favorite book blogger going absolutely crazy raving about his/her favorite read. Anything and everything, as long as it wasn’t casual browsing or review submissions. So here are the best book recommendations I’ve been given for science fiction and horror. I couldn’t actually hit ten, sorry!
As usual, Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you from Broke and Bookish.
Best Book Recommendations – Horror
- Chills by Mary SanGiovanni – I read this because of Michael Hicks’ review.
- The Fireman by Joe Hill – Excitement from various reviewers.
- Casualties by Dev Jarrett – Father, forgive me, but I’ve forgotten. I know whomever did it also recommended Kristin Dearborn, though.
- The Demonists by Thomas Sniegoski – Excitement from various reviewers.
Best Book Recommendations – Science Fiction
- Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor – Popped up on Audible as a ‘Since you liked’ things. Guys, I’m NUTS about this series!
- Tau Zero by Poul Anderson – A list of top hard sci-fi novels.
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristos – Excitement from various reviewers.
- The Martian by Andy Weir – I read an article where Adam Savage from the Mythbusters was going crazy over this book. That was enough to get me interested!
So here’s my Top (8) List of Best Book Recommendations. What are yours? Feel free to leave your links!
I hope to read Chills soon as I’ve heard some really good things about it on other blogs as well as from you. I actually just grabbed “Just One Damned Thing After Another” from my library on a whim last week – glad to hear you liked it. Looks like you’ve read some great books!
Oh god, get the audible version of JODTAA if you can. Zara Ramm’s narration is PERFECT.
I am yet to read the Martian but hope to do so soon.The Joe Hill looks good too.Glad to see that you have found so many good books.I get what you mean about recommendation.I fear reccomending my favourite books to people then risk having them not feeling the same way about the books.
I was really surprised by the Joe Hill book because it’s the first from him I actually really LIKED.
*pokes* Read. The. Martian!
Loved The Martian and The Fireman (also the first book by Joe Hill I really liked).
Have you read any more books that you liked by him since then?
Ooohhh LOVE how you broke down your list into genres! goes way up the TBR!
Oh, someone recommended The Martian to me, too, I think. It’s a great read!
A lot of bloggers have recommended me The Martian, though I am not sure it’s for me ahah. I heard TONS of things about Illuminae, too, so I ended up caving and it’s now waiting on my huge physical TBR. The cover is gorgeous, I hope I will enjoy it as much as others did 🙂
The Martian is perfect for people who like snark and sarcasm and don’t mind an outpouring of reality based science.
If that helps.