So you've just read a really good book, and you're in the mood to read something similar. How do you know what you should check out?
Try "
What Should I Read Next"! At the very least, it's interesting. I typed in When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, and here's what I got:
Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions - Christian LanderMurder Carries a Torch - Anne George My Lobotomy - Howard Dully, Charles Fleming Anathem - Neal StephensonA Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father - Augusten BurroughsLook Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's - John Elder Robison Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not - Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence - Amy SedarisCherry - Mary Karr The Devil's Footprints - John Burnside
http://www.amazon.com/Modoc-Story-Greatest-Elephant-Lived/dp/0060929510
I enter:
"The Gallic Wars" by Julius Caesar
It recognizes the title/author, but I get:
"Unfortunately we currently have no recommendations
for the books you have entered." Hmmm. OK, so maybe that title IS a little dated.
so I try instead: "A History of the English Speaking Peoples" by Winston S. Churchill. -- this is the book that earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature. It's not an obscure title.
...SAME RESULT
so I try "The Story of Civilization" by Will Durant
... SAME RESULT
sounds like (for non-fiction at least), it is better suited for titles seen on Oprah.
Make yourself a drink, and set aside about six hours to pour through it, and don't forget to look under the dustjacket.
The description of the calf stretcher is fantastic, and make yourself the beer margaritas, especially if you need to remind yourself of summer.
However, I can't really go and read the books recommended because I still have my pile of books I bought and want to finish reading. Up next is either "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson or "The Travels of Ibn Battuta" by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. :)
Oh and if you have a chance, check out Amy Sedaris appearance on Chelsea Handler's show Chelsea Lately. Classic.
Of course, I can see why I would want to read that after finishing Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
"- Conan, what is best in life?
- To crush your enemies and pass over them in silence"
[Which is a rather thick novel. A medieval fantasy about wetboys, children's guilds, and a deteriorating society. It's also highly philosophical and plays with the concepts of justice, mercy, and vengeance.]
It tells me I should read Bleach, the manga. >.>
I think I'll stick to my own judgment rather than what a database tells me.