SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Jemppu wrote: "GR thirst strikes again. Erotica choices based on Embassytown...?"

I could understand it if you were reading Perdido Street Station... LOL

Becky wrote: "...I could understand it if you were reading Perdido Street Station... LOL"

That would lead to well lubricated BDSM, no doubt.

Haha! Yep!

LOL!!!!

This isn’t exactly a recommendation mishap, and it’s not one of the automatic recommendations. But you know how Goodreads will sometimes send you e-mails from authors on your shelf, if you haven’t unsubscribed from those sorts of e-mails?

Today I found in my in-box an e-mail with the following subject heading:
“Cory Doctorow praises Rabbits”.

I don’t know why, but this really tickled my funny bone. It was almost disappointing to read the e-mail and learn he was just praising a book titled Rabbits, because I was thinking more along these lines:
● Because a couple rabbits ran by him and distracted him, just before he would have stepped into the path of an [insert horrible thing you wouldn’t want to get hit by].
● Because he loves babies and is amazed by how quickly baby rabbits can appear.
● Because the rabbits ate all his neighbor’s carrots from their garden and he hates his neighbor.
● Because he was giving a culinary review.
● Because YouTube videos of rabbits engaging in fisticuffs gave him hours of laughter.

Bunny fisticuffs!!!!!

*ha* That is an excellently curiosity inducing subject line :D

I am currently reading one of the sequels to The 3 Musketeers, and based on that book, it recommended an autobiography of James Blake (a former tennis player, already read it but no similarity), an autobiography of a soccer player (???), and a bunch of books in random foreign languages (Russian, probably Polish, French, Spanish). I'm reading the book in English, but at least I could understand the French recommendations. Why Russian, though? I also don't understand the recommendation for a book of philosophy. It's an adventure tale. Dumas wrote the popular fiction of his day; it wasn't meant to be deep. The only sane recommendations were for Dickens novels (already read) and a book by Victor Hugo. I'm currently reading a couple fantasy novels also, but at least those recommendations were somewhat rational. At least they were also fantasy.

I missed one: "Because you're currently reading Vicomte de Bragelonne: Japanese Death Poems by Yoel Hoffman." Seriously? WTF!

Interesting one here....

Right, because reading about the race massacre in Tulsa just screams "recommend me a 'man's life is ruined by his new female boss' book."

OK, it's not quite the same, cos it's amazon not GR, (yeah, yeah, I know....) but....

I did a search on amazon kindle for Georgette Heyer, the writer of classic 20th C light, clean historical romance, in case any of her books happened to be on sale. Amidst the Heyers, lots of other 'sponsored' books popped up. You would think they're likely to be books a Heyer reader might potentially like. *sigh*

Amongst the surprises on offer: Tied Up In Steele MM Military suspense
Helix: Limited Edition Boxset A techno thriller series
Christmas Panther Style
Wrenched A psychological dark captive romance.

Okaaayyyy...... I could go on........

LOL!, Jan!

I saw mostly Heyer books when I did that or else other regency romances

it's not just looking at your search terms, it's also looking at everything that people who bought Heyer books also bought. Maybe the US people who like Heyere only like "cozy' books?

I'll never forget my best ever "Other Amazon customers bought..." lists.

I was looking for a dress for a last minute event I had. One of them (a tasteful black gown) had shoes, honey, "personal massage oil" and a pregnancy test XD

Well-played, Amazon, well-played!

Allison wrote: "I'll never forget my best ever "Other Amazon customers bought..." lists.

I was looking for a dress for a last minute event I had. One of them (a tasteful black gown) had shoes, honey, "personal ma..."

Must have been one sexy dress!

i did not buy it because i had the same thought, that maybe what looked like opaque material wasn't, or something haha

Well, because I read The Jaguar Knights by Dave Duncan, goodreads recommended Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Now I read this back in the sixth grade, so I know what it's about. Why this was lumped in with a Dave Duncan book is anybody's guess.

aren't the Dave Duncan books popular YA books? That could be the link

But even so, menstrual cycles aren't generally YA subject material. Tween books maybe. And is David Drake really considered YA now? I didn't know that! I wonder if he does ; )

I meant Dave Duncan. I had just been considering a David Drake book a couple of hours ago, so I guess he's on my mind.

(Logged in as mod. I've been lowkey looking at these with the mod account, to see if there's enough of ridiculous but SFF ones that we could make them into a themed poll XD)

Because you read Hench:

Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters

Yes! *fist pump* Today a classic mismatch popped up on my GR home page. I dunno how to do the screen grab thing, but this was my “match”

Because you are currently reading The Truth About Dukes by Grace Burrowes
Income Taxation and International Mobility by Jagdish N. Bhagwati.

Yes, I can see that, because readers of nineteenth century historical romance really crave a decent book about the theoretical and practical problems of international taxation issues in 21C………

*happy sigh*

How stimulating, Jan!!

Mm mm, I can't think of anything more romantic than income tax, personally

lol, Jan!

I don't know how to do the recommendation screen grab, either. Tips?

Beth, I hope this helps! :)

Because I am reading The Glories of Mary, GR thought that this recommendation should work for me: Barry Manilow: The Biography.

If anyone figures this out, please let me know :)

This thread never gets old for me.

Based on my bookshelf to-read-nf-words-language (AKA non-fiction about words and language).... Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

aaahaha

Because I am reading Star Trek: Cast No Shadow, GR thinks that I would like a book of sheet music for flute from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

That is such a weird title to even have in the recommendations. If I were a flute player wanting sheet music, I would search for it directly with the terms "flute sheet music" and whatever media property I was interested in.

Brandon wrote: "Because I am reading Star Trek: Cast No Shadow, GR thinks that I would like a book of sheet music for flute from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

That is such a weird title to even have in..."

*scratches head* That makes sense for sure ;)

RECOMMENDATIONS
Because you are currently reading The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings:
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk
Blurb:
The Manchurian Candidate meets South Park—Chuck Palahniuk’s finest novel since the generation-defining Fight Club. “Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67…"

Riiiiiiight...

And I am still getting that stupid Barry Manilow recommendation because of the devotional I'm reading!!! Since I first posted about it in Message 186, I've gotten it four times.

Jessica wrote: "
Based on my bookshelf to-read-nf-words-language (AKA non-fiction about words and language).... Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story"

If you like Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson, then you might like Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Gregg Lewis.

I did the same search again just then, and second from the top this time was Union Station 1, 2, 3: Three Book Bundle. It appears to be light comic sci-fi, about some sort of galactic dating or matchmaking service???? Georgette Heyer it's not..."

Actually, if you like Georgette Heyer, you really MIGHT like EM Foner! She is one of my favorite "fun SF" authors, and she does romance well, in the Heyer way—no explicit sex, emphasis on the sweet relationships & emotional complications. So in this one case, the weird GR recommendation really might work. (But Wrenched, or the MM military romance? Um, no...)

Ed wrote: "...If you like Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson, then you might like Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Gregg Lewis.""

Ha! Oh, man. Took me a second to realize what the deal here was.

I've been curious about this phenomena of memoirs rewritten for kids. It would be interesting to read an original and compare how the kids' version differs; what all do some consider not suitable for kids, or how the language differs.

(...not that Ben Carson's book would be my personal first pick, though - the news of Michelle's Becoming getting the treatment however raised curiosity).

Speaking of: Michelle, if the recommendation bothers overwhelmingly, there are links behind the "view all recommendations" link, to inform GR you are not interested of any certain book.

(I myself have exactly one book on said 'no thanks' -list, which GR mistakenly insisted I'd love to read ...the hint as to which one that might be resides at early on in this thread).

Brandon wrote: "Because I am reading Star Trek: Cast No Shadow, GR thinks that I would like a book of sheet music for flute from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

That is such a weird title to even have in the recommendations. If I were a flute player wanting sheet music..."

😂😂😂 I think this just woke up my neighbor.

Thanks, Jemppu. I will do that :)

Jemppu wrote: "...I've been curious about this phenomena of memoirs rewritten for kids...."

I've never heard of that. So, thanks for the explanation.

Not good reads, but another story of weird recommendation.....

I got mail from Scientology sent to the guy who used to live here. He moved 10 years ago. I open it out of curiosity before throwing it away. It starts: I see that your purchased the booklet 'How to handle the ups & downs in life' in 1979....

Wow! They'll never take you off the mailing list!

Too lazy to screenshot but (logged in as mod) Goodreads thinks that the group would like Matched by Ally Condie because we're currently reading Black Sun XD

"Not so well Matched"? 😛

That one doesn't seem too far off. Both books would be considered SF/F bestsellers by female authors.

"Because you enjoyed Quicker Than the Eye:
Квест (Жанры, #4)
by Boris Akunin
3.76
"Квест" - новый роман из серии "Жанры", в которой Борис Акунин представляет образцы всевозможных видов литературы, как существующих, так и изобретенных автором. К числу послед…"

Hmm... can't even say if this is inaccurate...

From reading Polish speculative sci-fi piece, Solaris, GR is confident to offer some advice regarding my supposed, misplaced medical expertise with the concisely titled Do You Feel Like You Wasted All That Training? Answers About Transitioning to Non-Clinical Careers for Physicians

That makes a lot of sense.

A very targeted ad XD