March 29, 2010 
DG&B 
A few days back, John Warner, one of the commentators for The Tournament of Books, offered up a service. If you listed the last five books you had read, he would tell you what you should read next.
It sprang from a discussion about how we decide to choose what we read when we each know darn well that we’ll never get through every book out there. So a lot of folks stick with what they expect to like and might miss out on some great reads.
Unable to turn down something like this, I listed the last five books I had read (that weren’t work related). Warner suggested I read Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon. I groaned a bit since I had read a collection of Chaon’s short stories a few years back and was underwhelmed. I wouldn’t have picked his new novel up on my own without the recommendation, but I grabbed it that night and finished it this weekend. It’s a literary whodunit that is enervating and upsetting, beautiful and bleak. I loved it.
All of this said, the Tournament of Books commentators and readers seem to have a distinct literary fiction bias. The proportion of readers who included Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask in their past five was very telling (which is not an insult—it was in mine!). Knowing that we have readers who write across genres and for very different target audiences, I’d love to try to recreate Warner’s experiment here and see what the results are. What I’ll try to do (and I have no idea how this will work in practice) is recommend a little outside the box. Maybe an adult novel to someone whose last five reads were YA. Or a thriller to someone who skews more romantic. Or maybe there’s another book just like the ones you list that I’ll think you absolutely have to read. I will try to recommend only books that I have read but may have to turn it over to colleagues or our readers if I feel stumped. So let’s see if this works: just promise that you’ll let me know if and when you actually read the book—y’all can find my email address!
Update: A little confusion–sorry for my lack of clarity! Post the titles in the comments, and I’ll give the recommendation there. You should email me if you read the book and/or want to chat about my choice!
Wait, do you want us to post our books here and email you with the results? Or email you with the books and the results?
What a great idea! Thanks for doing this!
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle
Shannon by Frank Delaney
Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Thanks for pointing out the confusion, Tracy. Included an updated note that I hope clears things up!
And taking a cue from the wonderful spookiness of two of your books, Joan, might I suggest an oldie but a goodie: Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
My last 5 books: Wake by Lisa McMann, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and Still Alice by Lisa Genova.
Also, no need to recommend The Dead-Tossed Waves because I already plan on reading that ASAP – I LOVED The Forest of Hands and Teeth!
Sounds like fun!
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Songs Without Words by Ann Packer
Marcello In the Real World by Francisco Stork
The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin (couldn't resist. I was a big babysitter's club fan back in the day!)
Time Of My Life by Alison Winn-Scotch
Oh, why not…
BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver
BALL DON'T LIE by Matt De La Pena
WE WERE HERE by Matt De La Pena
GOTH GIRL RISING by Barry Lyga
EATING ANIMALS by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles de Lint
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Okay, here goes:
Perfect Chemistry – Simone Elkeles
Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
Never Tell A Lie – Hallie Ephron
Storm Born – Richelle Mead
Mademoiselle Boleyn – Robin Maxwell
Kristi, I love that you support our books! My suggestion: Peter Cameron's Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You.
Melissa, the Diaz novel is one of my favorites. Did you love it? Something that mixes the coming-of-age and literary threads you have going on: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
This sounds like fun, thanks for doing it!
Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
A Coffin For Dimitrios, Eric Ambler
Black Rain, Graham Brown
The Watchman, Robert Crais.
I don't know that I'm doing a great job of recommending against genre here, but Bryan, my pick: Tyrell by Coe Booth.
And you people are FAST! Readerly Person, this one might be a little out there, but Kindred by Octavia Butler.
Dead Matter by Anton Strout
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
The Taint and Other Novellas by Brian Lumley
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Abarat by Clive Barker
Robert Harris' FATHERLAND
Marya Hornbacher's WASTED
Aidan Chambers' POSTCARDS FROM NO MAN'S LAND
Dorothy Dunnet's RACE OF SCORPIONS
Kate Long's BAD MOTHER'S HANDBOOK
Hmmm, the last five books I read were all over the place:
Soulless, Gail Carriger
Fire, Kristin Cashore
The Maze Runner, James Dashner
Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, Jody Elizabeth Gehrman
Percy Jackson book 4, Rick Riorden
Jim – thanks for the book recommendation. I'm going to get it this week and I'll let you know how it goes!
Tracy, I'm tempted to throw a male author into the mix, but instead I'm going to go with a straight-up thriller that I love: Sweetheart by Chelsea Caine. (p.s. Hope you loved Storm Born–Richelle's one of mine!)
@ DGLM
Great suggestion – so great that I've already read it and loved it – three times.
Am I cool enough to merit another recommendation? Pleeeeeeease?
Whoo! This is fun and nervewracking at the same time! Okay, Jenn, a novella for you: Disquiet by Julia Leigh.
Mary, you get a suggestion of one of my all-time favorite YA novels: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
and I'm glad I'm on the right track Readerly! Try The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.
Haven't read this one – will check it out and let you know how it goes. Thanks!
This is a delightful idea.
My last five:
Unwind, Neal Shusterman
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Bringing Home the Birkin, Michael Tonello
The Maze Runner, James Dashner
Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner (guilty pleasure!)
I am a voracious reader but am stuck with a small budget and a crappy library system, so a personal recommendation is extremely welcome!
Beating the Babushka by Tim Maleeny
King Aroo 1950-1952 (newspaper comic strip collection) by Jack Kent
Sally's In the Alley by Norbert Davis
Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
The Uncomfortable Dead by Subcomandante Marcos and Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Wow Aimee–that's such a down the middle blend of light fun and dystopian YA that I got stuck for a second. But then I thought of a super-fun novel that's also dark and spooky: have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke?
Whoops–I almost missed you, Tere. I was leaning toward some Francesca Lia Block, but you're already a YA writer, so…The City & The City by China Mieville.
I'm not Jim, but Aimee, based on your last five, I think you should read BONES OF FAERIE by Jannie Lee Simner next!
And yikes, Michael, are you trying to stump me? Let's see: this might be a reach, but I'm going with The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle (and not just because I love his last name).
Ha, I know. I try to strike a balance, so I don't end up totally depressed or completely enveloped in frivolity.
I am actually a few chapters into Jonathan Strange–my mother gave me The Magicians for christmas, and passed along the bookstore's reccomendation for J Strange also, so here I am.
I do read a lot (usually 2 or 3 books a week) and over a lot of styles. If you have another rec, I would be glad to know! I am going to check out the other titles mentioned above as well.
Curse you, iPhone keyboard–I can spell, really.
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Contact by Carl Sagan
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
Please Stop Laughing At Me by Jodee Blanco
This should be interesting.
I also almost missed you, Eric! I think the comments are coming in out of order. Or perhaps I'm just scattered. This is almost harder with people you know. I'm torn between two for you, so I'm just going to go with both. The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes which is perhaps more comedic than the recent titles but fairly in line, and then a teen novel that a lot of people here have already mentioned (and which I adore): The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Alrighty, Aimee, glad to know I was in the right field since it's a book you're already reading! Will try to go a little further afield. Have you read ORYX AND CRAKE by Margaret Atwood?
And what Saundra said!
I haven't read that book, but Saundra's a new client and a wonderful writer, so I'll second her choice.
Thanks for the suggestion, Jim!
I'll likely pick it up tomorrow when I go to B&N to get my copy of Succubus Shadows (I'm a big fan of Richelle's work)
Ha! You know what, Tania? You already are mixing fiction and nonfiction; sci-fi and women's fiction. So rather than try to identify a theme, I'm just going to give a shout out to a book I complete and totally love and would recommend to anyone: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.
This is such a great idea! Congratulations on managing to reply to everyone's offering, Jim. That's astounding dedication!
Soulless, Gail Carriger
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Stolen, Lucy Christopher
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
Jim, I have not read that yet, though I have enjoyed the other Margaret Atwood books I've read. I will definitely check it out. And I have already added Saundra's recommendation and Shadowed Summer to my kindle. Thanks a million!
I read pretty much everything, so here goes my last five:
Outlander
American Gods
I, Robot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Shutter Island
And I'm currently reading:
A Game of Thrones
And the next book on my list was:
Noble House
I'm actually about 40 pages into Never Let Me Go right now, Sangu! You're getting a recommendation for a series of three novellas, the first of which alone is worth the price of admission: Little Kingdoms by Steven Millhauser.
This is fun, reading people's recent reads and your recommendations. Here are mine:
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
The Ever Breath by Julianna Baggott
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Click Here by Denise Vega
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Anonymous, I had actually made the decision not to recommend any titles from the agency (which feels a little cheap and easy). I am going to break my rule on this one, though, and recommend Jacqueline Carey's KUSHIEL'S SCION. Jacqueline's not one of my clients, and I read her as a fan, so it doesn't feel too sleazy to me just this once!
Jenn, you may have already read this, but I finally got around to it this weekend and was so hugely charmed that I want to recommend it to someone: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
brilliant idea
1. thirteen reasons why by jay asher
2. wintergirls by laurie halse anderson
3. love you, hate you, miss you by elizabeth scott
4. the basic eight by daniel handler
5. the lovely bones by alice sebold
(i know there's a lot of YA there but i'm actually 24)
There's no age limit on YA, CS!! But if you want to read something more "adult," might I recommend HOME LAND by Sam Lipsyte?
Thanks so much! I'm off to Amazon as you read this.
I'll definitely try that out and let you know how it goes!
That's a great match for me because I have in fact read it recently and really loved it. I'm impressed at the wide range of reading lists people are throwing at you and how quickly you are able to respond with a recommendation. I've marked down a couple other titles I'm now wanting to look into.
(CS, I'm not Jim but I'm familiar with all the books you listed and recently read two others that might be right up your alley if you haven't already read them: By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters, and All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab, which I'm in the middle of right now and enjoying so far.)
Thanks for the recommendation, Jim! Just Amazon-ed the novellas (ha! created a verb!) and they sound fantastic. I love discovering new things to read, so I think this post was a stroke of pure genius.
Never Let Me Go is amazing. If you're 40 pages in, you probably haven't hit the 'revelation' yet, but I expect you might know it already because of how the novel is marketed. Whether or not you know what's coming, it's an amazing novel in terms of character, emotion and the amazing subtlety Ishiguro employs in fleshing out his dystopian future. I look forward to Millhauser and I really hope you enjoy Ishiguro!
Glad I'm on the right track, Jenn. Let me try again with something COMPLETELY different: Firmin by Sam Savage.
This is cool.
1. Almost finished with Uglies
2. The Silver Phoenix
3. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
4. The Giver
5. Catching Fire
Awesome. I'm going to cheat and tell the the last five I read that I actually liked. Some have underwhelmed me and I wouldn't want you to choose based on that!
I have broad tastes so I'm curious…
FEED by M.T. Anderson
WIDE SARAGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead
THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner
Wow, this looks like so much fun. I've finished these recently:
Cathy Yardley – Turning Japanese
Life as We Knew It – Susan Beth Pfeffer
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Plague of Memory – S.L. Viehl
The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan
I'm a slow reader with eclectic tastes, so it will be interesting if you can find something. Oh and Octavia Butler is my favorite sci-fi author so the Kindred is a great recommendation. =)
Awesome idea, and thanks to Jennifer for directing me here:
KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child
THE PERSUADER by Lee Child
THE FIRST RULE by Robert Crais
CHASING DARKNESS by Robert Crais
9 DRAGONS by Michael Connelly