When I finish a great book, I want everyone to read it - and love it. I have my pile of all time favourites, and even those I liked a lot and could recommend for people if they so desired. I have a constant itch to grap a book and shove it to everyone's faces until they agreed to read it and cherish it like I did.
However.
I'm aware that not everyone has same tastes. A book which captivated me and made me cry for happiness, might not do anything for someone else. More so, they might hate it. That would be horrendous because a) I loved the book and want to share the love, and b) I'd feel responsible for recommending it and thus taking their time to read something they might enjoy.
Believe me, it has happened. I used to take a book I loved to death and make my sister read it (aka I raved about it until she said she'll read it). Most of the times she loved the book, too, and we could squeal together. Then there was the times she came to me, and deemed the book boring. A book which made my heart beat faster and characters I fell for, were boring for her. That's okay. But it made me feel bad for recommending the book at the first place.
This leads to the topic of how I mostly feel incredibly awkward when I'm asked to recommend books. It happened recently when an acquaintance of mine asked for recommendations. I felt speechless. I inquired which types of books she read, and with that information I was able to recommend some. However, a friend of mine recommended way more than I did, and did it without the awkwardness I felt.
It's easier to recommend books when you know the other's tastes. Still, I often held back. In my blog - if I have included a recommend sentence in a book review - I try to explain shortly who might like the book. For example, I might say 'if you enjoy character driven stories in a fantasy setting' or something like that.
Do you recommend books to other people? Do you find it easy to do? What do you think about the topic? I'd love to hear your opinions! Especially since I want to learn how to recommend books when asked without feeling incredibly awkward.
Now I try and embrace my awkwardness and fear of recommending: here's a few books I have loved. All of them made me feel intense feelings, and most of them made me cry. I selected a mix of different genres and age groups, so if you're looking for a good read, here's some of my recommendations:
The Song of Achilles: retelling of Achilles and Patroclus, LGBT, easy to read even though it's truly authentic - the author knows the ancient world and its customs. My favourite read of 2015.
Atonement: historical, modern classic, absolutely brilliant and heartbreaking. I find the first fifty pages or so a bit tedious because the descriptiveness but I love the novel to pieces, because after the stiff start it gets so captivating and so good.
Captive Prince: LGBT, royals, romance. Not a much romance in the first book, but the two sequels, heck yes. Character driven with lots of political plots and twists. The sequels are even better - they're fantastic!
Under the Never Sky: YA dystopia. In my opinion, this series is one of the best YA dystopias out there, and it's definitely under-appreciated. The characters are easy to identify with, the world-building is good, and it even discusses some things I have not seen other YA books to discuss.
A Monster Calls: YA/middle grade, fantasy/horror. The best Patrick Ness I have read this far, absolutely brilliant and full of emotions. I went in not knowing anything, and I feel like it's the best way to read this one.
Half Bad: YA, fantasy. I'm not a fan of witches (besides the obvious
Harry Potter) but this trilogy is so good. It's more realistic than any other YA series I've read about when it comes to how war affects people. The last book,
Half Lost, came out in March and it was the best one yet - truly, this series gets better with every book. Also, Gabriel. He's hands down one of the best characters ever.
Skyscraping: YA, contemporary, deals with LGBT themes. First novel ever I've read that's written in verse. Beautiful and so good. It's mostly about family and family relationships, and it's so good and unique.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief: Middle grade (the following series, The Heroes of Olympus is YA), fantasy, mythology. Basically this made me middle school years. My absolutely favourite series after Harry Potter. I mean, Greek mythology gods, a demigod camp, and so many adventures. The books are also
hilarious. Easy and fast to read.
by Rita Branches
Rita Branches is an independent YA (young adult) author who enjoys spending every free moment (when she´s not reading) writing emotional stories.
