Books Are Like Brussel Sprouts

The other day, while working at the Service Desk, a patron started describing Flashback to me.  Naturally, I assumed that this person was looking for more books by that author or better yet, books that were similar to the one he was describing.  Making book recommendations can be a challenging but rewarding task. Some people dread it, but I enjoy sharing new authors and genres with open-minded book lovers. However, this patron was not asking for advice, he was giving it.  Sometimes when you are in the business of dispensing information to people you forget how to receive information from others. 

I finally realized that this person making a reading recommendation so I thanked him and promptly put the book on hold for myself.  Sadly, although I do enjoy the occasional mystery wrapped up in a dystopian world, I did not enjoy this one.  The main character is sort of a good guy gone bad and the language is "earthy" to say the least.  (I haven't been a follower of the AMC show Breaking Bad for similar reasons.)  I would rather have the heroes be heroic and the villains be villainous.  That doesn't make this a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me.

Last year I finally tried Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series at the insistence of another staff member. I dutifully sat down with the first book in the series and read it.  It was OK.  That was all I could say about it.  I gave it two and a half, maybe three stars out of five when asked for my opinion.  This response was unacceptable to my coworker.  How could I say such lackluster things about one of his favorite authors?  Didn't I read Deborah Harkness?  Didn't I like the Twilight series and Harry Potter?  He really couldn't understand what was wrong with me.  How could I not like that book?  I made it worse when I told him I thought the Sookie Stackhouse series was a little better.  He then pointed out that Storm Front is the first in the series and the books get better and better throughout it.   The problem was that he took my response to his reading recommendation personally.  Trying to convince someone to like a book is like trying to force a hated vegetable into a child's mouth at dinner time. They're going to fight you tooth and nail and it will be a long time before they are willing to try it again.

Although you may not understand why someone doesn't like a certain author or genre, if you are in the business of telling people what to read, you can't take it personally.  I wish that more patrons would feel comfortable sharing their latest and greatest reads with us.  We can't read every book in the library but if we get a good review from a reputable source, we feel confident recommending that book to others.  Stop by your library and tell us what you've been reading lately.  After all, we are all about sharing books and information.

Right now I'm reading Me Before You, The Black Count, and Beautiful Creatures.  The best part about them is that they're all so different from one another.  (That just happens to be my "personal reading methodology".)  I recommend all three, but maybe not all at once.