As such, I am so grateful but also really cautious of book recommendations. It was book recommendations that found Vampire Academy, Outlander, The Bronze Horseman and so many other books I've loved over the years. But I think it's something even more nerve-racking about having someone you're close with recommend a book that they have adored and obviously wish to share that with you.
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| How we hang at TSC! |
P.E. is that someone for me. I value her opinions and adore the fact that she is a reading machine who I use to my advantage when checking the quality of a book to determine if it's worth reading. At the same time, P.E. and I are very different in reading styles. We've definitely had books we loved equally, but beside the hyped mainstream books I'm more of a romance and history lover, while P.E. like mystery and paranormal stories.
It's quite horrifying to go into a book that is even more hyped up in my head because I know a person in real life and I know she is waiting and will ask my opinion about said book;
As a reader this is essentially exactly what I've wanted all my life; someone to share my otherworldly book experiences with. It's why I nagged and begged and pleaded to try to coax my brother into reading with no avail. However, it seems now that I've finally found a person who I can share that with, the stakes are too high. I don't want to disappoint or be disappointed.
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| I'll try to keep my pants on as I run... |
It's a struggle. Sometimes I overthink things a little too much. But then so do YA heroines.
Conclusion: I'm a YA heroine. Read Mari is Terrified of P.E.'s Recommendations coming out Fall of 2054.
P.S. I do still want recommendations, please give me all of them. Just sorry if I end up squealing and running away from a phantom you holding a knife made of pages from the book you recommended.
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| Couldn't find a knife GIF.. I always thought spatula's were more dangerous anyways. |
-MARI
Oh, it can really be a curse, especially when those who have recommended the book are waiting to see if you loved it as much as they did. I had that with The Raven Boys. I really didn't like, even though my circle of blogger friends did. Kind of feels like you;re letting the team down. I could give you a lifetimes worth of recommendations, but you've probably read most of them. Throne of Glass, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Chasing The Valley, These Broken Stars, The Immortal Rules, The Darkest Minds, Blood Red Road. All absolutely phenomenal reads. I hope you can read your way out of your slump poppet, I'm going through one myself at the moment and it's horrid. I feel like ditching books altogether <3
ReplyDeleteOh Maggie Steifvater! P.E. and I still bicker over The Scorpio Races which she thinks is the epitome of amazingness while I would compare it to a dull lullaby :P What can I say, different tastes are hard to reconcile with especially with us readers because we create a special relationship with every book we read, thus our feelings are involved.
DeleteOMG I have read a couple of those but some I haven't finished the series to so throw all the recommendations you go at me. I'm working on my recommendation anxiety problem by accepting recommendations.
Thanks for your lovely comment!
-Mari
I think recommendations can be kind of risky too. ;-) I always get worried recommending my TOP favourite books to my best friends because ermagerd what if they hate them!?? Cue panic. xD
ReplyDeleteRight?! I'm starting to become more familiar with most of my close friends' reading preferences so I know what to recommend them but a lot of the time I'm dying to recommend things that I doubt they will like and that possibly is enough to make me run for my money. (Basically, I would never recommend Outlander to P.E., though I do nudge it into every conversation, because I don't think I can deal with her negative review.)
Delete-Mari
I don't know any bloggers in real life, but when someone gets really enthusiastic when I'm THINKING about reading a book I really don't want to disappoint that person. I am pretty bad about that too though. I'm always sad when I see a blogger who's reviews I enjoy not enjoying a book I love. It's a tricky business book recommendations.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a natural reaction. It drives us to find out what said amazing thing is so we can understand and share it with that someone. I've watched so many tv shows and read books just so I could relate to others. I want to be in the loop and understand. Unfortunately, I can always do that. My tastes are restricting and I guess it isn't a bad thing. It's just me and everyone else is the same. Knowing this doesn't make it any less horrifying though...
DeleteHehe, thanks for you sweet comment.
-Mari