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!
I just looked up info on Firmin and it sounds right up my alley. I'm heading to the library this week and will check it out and follow up with my thoughts once I finish. Thank you!!
Hey Jim! This is cool.
My last five:
THE CROSSING by Cormac McCarthy
SCARLETT FEVER by Maureen Johnson
SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHAM by Joan Didion
GONE by Lisa McMann
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
and I'm currently reading THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES.
I put Purple Hibiscus on hold at the NYPL! Looking forward to it. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Oscar Wao. The story is actually really beautiful and I loved the characters, but the footnotes were painful. I call it an epic novel for the ADD. My brain works a bit more linear, so it was a challenge for me to adjust to this novel
Can I still play?
I skew heavily toward fantasy as you'll no doubt notice (I swear I read other stuff, too!)
SOULLESS Gail Carriger
CATCHING FIRE Suzanne Collins
THE AFFINITY BRIDGE George Mann
KINDRED IN DEATH J.D. Robb
HERO OF AGES Brandon Sanderson
Alrighty, let's do this. BleeBonn, I'm tempted to recommend you get Carrie's next book, The Dead Tossed Waves. But that's cheating!
Instead, I'm going to recommend a beautifully strange YA novel: The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block.
Liesl, you totally threw me with Wide Sargasso Sea mixed in with teen titles, so I'm going for a very adult book that has that sort of mysterious feel of some of the YA titles you mention: Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard.
Shawntelle, I say what I said to some other folks before: this is harder when you know the person! So I'm gonna go out on a limb with my suggestion for you. Less outwardly fantastical than most of the titles you mention, but something about it feels right: Out by Natsuo Kirino.
And Todd, you've got some masters of thriller writing in there. A lot of my clients know that there's one thriller writer I recommend more than any other. And that's Charlie Huston. Check out Caught Stealing. And if you love it as much as I do, it launches a whole trilogy of amazing.
Alright, I'm game.
"Graceling" – Kristin Cashore
"Hunger Games" – Suzanne Collins
"Blue Diablo" — Ann Aguirre
"Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side" – Beth Fantaskey
"My Soul to Take" – Rachel Vincent
Those are the last five books I finished. I'm also currently reading two more:
"The Doomsday Key" – James Rollins
"Her Vampire Husband" – Michele Hauf
Leonore, you work here!
Alrighty–I'll take your mix of YA and adult literary and give you a literary coming of age story that I love: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.
And Rabia, how would you feel about a young adult recommendation? I give you Incarceron by Catherine Fisher.
Melissa, Purple Hibiscus is MUCH more straightforward than Oscar Wao. Hope you love it!
Oh, Tura Lura, it's like you're daring me to break my rules and recommend one of my own clients. But I will stay strong! By recommending a book by the friend of a client: Kat Richardson's Greywalker.
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
(The last two may throw a wrench in the plan since I reread the Austen canon every year, but these are the last five books I've read.)
"I was leaning toward some Francesca Lia Block, but you're already a YA writer, so…The City & The City by China Mieville."
Love FLB's books, and Mieville's Un Lun Dun is in my tbr list. You're good at this. 😉
Thanks, Jim!
~Tere
You folks come up with the coolest ideas for your blog! My last five books were:
SKIN HUNGER by Kathleen Duey
FADE by Lisa McMann
GONE by Michael Grant
CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins
PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL: FIRST TEST by Tamora Pierce
I've been wanting to read Kat Richardson's books for a while now (more so since I've had the opportunity to talk with her on Twitter), so I think that's probably a good choice. ^_-
Hmm…Peggy. A thriller, a romance, an epistolary novel, and some Austen. I'm gonna go 19th Century on you and recommend Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. Read it before the movie comes out next year!
And Larissa, I'm going out on a limb again on this one and recommend a very unusual but very fun adult novel: Big Machine by Victor Lavalle. It slips in and out of the fantastical, is a hodgepodge of literary styles, and really pushes boundaries while exploring some similar themes to novels you've listed here.
I would love to go back and read the suggestions in the comments but wanted to put my list here first. Here are the recent books I enjoyed:
1. Let the Great World Spin
2. Catching Fire
3. In The Woods
4. Leviathan
5. Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
Oh, I'm so excited! I looked up Big Machine and it sounds really interesting. I am looking forward to reading it. Thanks!
No, I haven't read Geek Love but will get it now. Thanks for the recommendation.
Nancy here. So little time, so many great books. This sounds like a great idea & I'm open to reading new things. Here's my last five:
The Endless Forest – Sara Donati
Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult
Santa Olivia – Jacqueline Carey
Why We Suck – Denis Leary
Succubus Blues – Richelle Mead
I got really confused trying to match your recs with the original list so I'm going to print out the comments page at the end of the day to get a better idea.
So many books I haven't read and so exciting to find out about them.
Thank you for the recommendation. While I flip flop across the genres you did spot my weakness for off beat fiction with humor/satire. The closest I found to my taste in literary fiction has been Animal Farm. I hated Kotzwinkle's Doctor Rat, but Fan Man sounds much more likely to appeal to me. I look forward to reading it. Thank you.
Hi, Jim,
I love this little experiment! Here are mine. I'm a genre reader:
Winterkill by C.J. Box
Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
Three Weeks to Say Goodbye by C.J. Box
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George
Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James
Thanks so much!
Oh drat. My last comment didn't post. Nancy, I recommended a strange little novel called American Desert by Percival Everett. Your willingness to read dark fantasy combined with Denis Leary's humor led me there.
Michael, you will either love or hate The Fan Man. There is no in between. But give it some time. The first few pages felt like nails on a chalkboard when I started, but now I look back and still chuckle just remembering certain scenes.
And Paula, you do know what you like! Not going TOO far astray, how would you feel about giving Dennis Lehane a shot? A Drink before the War is fantastic. His titles get less genre as he continues, but he was a procedural master before he started going in different directions.
Too lazy to check for myself but of all the books mentioned in the last five read list, has any book been mentioned by more than one reader? So much for the idea we all are reading today's "Bestsellers".
Yat-Yee, I double recommend Geek Love!
It can be a little… weird at times, but the story is unforgettable. Bought her novel Truck, hoping for something similar, but Geek Love is definitely one of a kind!
~Tere
Forest of Hands & Teeth- Carrie Ryan
Anita Blake Series- Laurel K Hamilton
Sookie Stackhouse Series- Charlaine Harris
The Thirteenth Tale- Diane Setterfield
The Sword of Truth Series- Terry Goodkind
(I included whole series seeing as how if I only listed the last 5 books they would have all been by Terry Goodkind.)
Michael, there are a few books that several folks have mentioned, but of them, a lot of them seem to be books represented by DGLM, so I think that might be a readership thing more than anything else! Also, two young adult authors that came up a lot: Laurie Halse Anderson and Suzanne Collins. No complaints from me as I actually also recommended books by both of them! Maybe next week my post will be about the findings of this little survey when I have some more time to sit back and see how it all played out.
And Tara, this is a stretch, but it's deeply rooted in the fantastical, and I totally think you should give it a shot (cause it's fab): The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami.
Hope it's not to late to post my little list! Here they are …
Tethered by Amy Mackinnon
Lips Touch by Laini Taylor
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shutter Island by Dennis Lahane
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Looking forward to your recommendation, Jim!
Jim, I will get it the next time I make a trip to the book store. Stretches are good, they keep us limber. =)
Alrighty, Marie, I'm winding down for the day, but you caught me.
I'm gonna recommend a novel that I thought was fabulous, but I'm going to include the caveat that opinion in the office was very, very split on this one. The book is The Invention of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld.
Thank you for suggesting Dennis Lehane, Jim! That's exactly the kind of stuff I love to read.
I'm in the thriller kind of mood so this sounds very interesting, thank you!
Hey, I just realized that I have this book in my "to read" stack …. cool!
Oh, have I missed out?
Baroness Orczy – The Scarlet Pimpernel
Terry Pratchett – Unseen Academicals
John Joseph Adams (ed) – The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Esther Friesner – Nobody's Princess
Richard Adams – Watership Down
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Most Wanted by Jacqueline Mitchard
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Jenn- thanks for the extra recommendations! i'll be having a look for those soon too.
Red Claw by Philip Palmer
The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott
Repo Men by Eric Garcia
Hellbound Hearts edited by Paul Kane
Lets Go Play at the Adams by Mendal W. Johnson
Cool!
GOING BOVINE Libba Bray
LIAR Justine Larbalestier
LEVIATHAN Scott Westerfeld
THE IRON COUNCIL China Mieville
AFTER DARK Haruki Murakami
Jim,
I'm game for YA anytime. Incarceron sounds intriguing. I'm off to add it to my wishlist. Thanks!
This is a tremendous list of books and recommendations! I may be going for a long time off of this. But I'd like to throw my list in the ring, and hope for a rec for myself:
1) Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (I liked the Time Traveler's wife, better, but this was also good).
2) Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
3) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
4) The Crimson Petal and the White
5) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
And I've just started reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst and have greatly enjoyed the first 100 pgs.
thanks for doing this!
my latest five are:
grand & humble – brent hartinger
cracked up to be – courtney summers
before i fall – lauren oliver
stealing heaven – elizabeth scott
north of beautiful – justina chen headley
Battle Royale by Koushon Takami
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Rioran
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Very interested to see what that will yield…
Hey kids,
A few more came in last night. Let's get 'em.
Emily, try The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It's historical, wonderful, and a super-fun read.
Backfence, I'm excited about my recommendation for you: The Group by Mary McCarthy. I finally got around to reading it a month or two ago, and it's hugely delightful.
Evilphilip, I almost stole a suggestion from another commenter and recommended Battle Royale, but that feels like cheating, so I'm going to go with Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (it's even printed in brown ink–it looks amazing).
Danielle, have you read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl yet? I think it might be a fit that captures some of the various threads running through your list.
Caitlin, how fabulous is The Crimson Petal and the White? I can't believe I didn't recommend it to anyone…yet. But for you, I'll go with something else delightful: Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins.
Ikw, how about one of my favorite young adult novels: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky?
And last but not least, Delilah, you make me want to recommend something I already recommended and something by one of my own clients. But I'm holding strong and not giving in! So you get The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.
Oooh, this is awesome. My last 5 were:
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Playing With Fire by Gena Showalter
Notes From No Man's Land / Eula Biss
Truck Stop / Marc F. Wise and Bryan Di Salvatore
Kill All Your Darlings / Luc Sante
Dispatches / Michael Herr
Dispatches / Michael Herr (yeah, twice)
What's next, Jim?
I am interested in what you come up with Jim.
Here are my last five fiction reads
Dreamveil by Lynn Viehl
Split Second by David Baldacci
The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
Sparhawk's Lady by Miranda Jarrett
The Husband List by Victoria Alexander
So, what's next?
Evilphilip, I almost stole a suggestion from another commenter and recommended Battle Royale, but that feels like cheating, so I'm going to go with Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (it's even printed in brown ink–it looks amazing).
Good thing you didn't. I own it. I also own the manga, the deluxe manga and both movies on DVD.
Thanks again for the suggestion, I asked my buddy at Tor to send me a copy of Boneshaker.
-PiP
Oo, I hope I'm not too late!
Epic, Conor Kostick
Bloody Jack, L.A. Meyer
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Poison Study, Maria Snyder
King Con, Stephen Cannell
Alrighty. Carolin, try The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Grof. Lush, lyrical, fantastical. It could be a fit.
Fatcaster, you're tricky (or maybe I have recommendation fatigue!). I love Luc Sante's Low Life, but you've already read him. I'm going to take a lead from the fact that dark doesn't seem to be a problem and recommend Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation.
NinaP, I haven't had a chance to give many romance recommendations, so I'm going to bust one out for you: Bettina Krahn's The Marriage Test is delightful.
And Clix, this might be a little bit of a shot in the dark, but I'm going for it. My recommendation: J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians.
Jim, I'm so glad I'm not too late!!! Or am I???
The Shack – Wm Paul Young
The Blood of Flowers – Anita Amirrezvani
Sarah's Key – Tatiana De Rosnay
Chez Moi – Agnes Desarthe
Secrets of the Zona Rosa – Rosemary Daniell
Me too!
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
Go Tell It On The Mountain – James Baldwin
The Women – TC Boyle
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
Run, River – Joan Didion
Thanks for busting out a romance recommendation for me, Jim. A copy of The Marriage Test is its way to me. How did you know I enjoy stories featuring Knight heroes?