Play Book Tag discussion

Today as I was looking at Goodreads, I came across under the section of “Browse”, “explore”.

When I got this. Because you read 1984 Goodreads suggests Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 😳

Not sure how these two are remotely similar in genre. True, Harry Potter gets darker as the books continue. Are these suggestions because readers read both? Has anyone had similar suggestions that made you wonder why a book might have been suggested?

Haha! In my Fantasy group, we have a conversation going on this same topic, where everyone comments on the "great recommendations" they get from GR's. It is always hilarious.

To back up Joanne's comment, I find that GR's book recs are totally random and out in left field. ;0)

Yes, one of my other groups has a thread about this too. They are often ridiculous. I guess Harry Potter & 1984 are both classics of speculative fiction, but still. . .There are some much worse ones.

On Amazon, they generally recommend other books by the same author, as if I would never think of that, or just popular books because someone bought one of them along with the one you read.

I would love to know what kind of random recommendations there are for fantasy books.

This would make for an interesting book year if someone was to go by these recommendations. What genre would you start out with and end up at by the end of December? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mary wrote: "I would love to know what kind of random recommendations there are for fantasy books.

This would make for an interesting book year if someone was to go by these recommendations. What genre would ..."

These lists are based on things people who liked the book enjoyed. I was just looking at one of the worst examples because this is a challenge in another group. When I click on Vinyl Cafe Unplugged and go to the full list, zero of the books are similar! Literally zero, even the short story one. Worse, I haven't liked Margaret Laurence's dark literary fiction since I was a teen and liked that sort of stuff, but she's on there because many of the readers are keen on Canadian authors.

For those of you who have never heard of the late, brilliant Stuart McLean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_.... His story recordings on audiobook are amazing, but it's good even in print. Not all are funny, but the ones that are are very funny. Some are poignant, etc.

We were introduced to him when my sister lent us some CDs of him reading her daughter owned when we were driving from my home town on the coast (mainland, but we also took a ferry) into the Okanagan Valley (correct spelling in Canada.)

I had entered a giveaway for a nonfiction book ( I didn’t win) and was curious about what other books the author wrote when I came across this.

Eleanor Roosevelt: The People's First Lady by Willard Sterne Randall

Perhaps if there is a Goodreads librarian in PBT who can remove Clint Eastwood as Eleanor Roosevelt ? 🤷🏻‍♀️

😂😂

Mary wrote: "Today as I was looking at Goodreads, I came across under the section of “Browse”, “explore”.

When I got this. Because you read 1984 Goodreads suggests [book:Harry Potter and the C..."

Apparently the suggestions have nothing to do with the books, only the frequency and commonalities of ratings. There must be millions of people who liked both of these books.

I have been on the site for more than 10 years, and I never browsed the automated suggestions. I don't trust the algorithm.
The best rare books I discovered here were all from friends reviews, someone who I have learned to trust over time because I know what kind of books they like.

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

I have already added several books to my TBR after reading reviews in PBT. In the future, I will stick to finding new authors in this group.

There are just some recommendations Goodreads suggested that I know I will never have interest in.

Mary wrote: "Thank you everyone for your feedback!

I have already adding several books to my TBR after reading reviews in PBT. In the future, I will stick to finding new authors in this group.

There are jus..."

This is one of the best places to find new authors. I've found many through this group. One that stands out in my mind is Andy Weir, who I first learned about on PBT 2013 when he had only one book out. That's when this group was still located on the late Shelfari.