It is funny ... I used to LOVE to read for fun as a kid, but then as my school work began to require more and more detail-oriented studies, reading gradually lost its appeal. The last thing I wanted to do after studying for hours was to read something else. Television only made matters worse; it made escapism effortless and made me mentally lazy. Middle age didn't help either; having to wear "magnifiers" and have bright light to see the words robbed me of any remaining pleasure. As someone with a Ph.D. from an Ivy League institution, I am rather embarrassed to admit this aversion to reading but sadly it is all too true.
One of the things I find most frustrating about reading is finding a novel that I will enjoy. There is nothing I hate more than wandering through the library stacks aimlessly. It is rare that I stumble upon a winner that way. Thus, the LibraryThing "suggestions" feature appealed to me tremendously; I found that among the other works listed were those of other authors I like or books I had read but forgotten. With this correlation demonstrated, I am inclined to think that other titles named might be ones worth a look.
It does not surprise me that common threads of our psyche, genes and/or experiences would tend to make certain people share preferences of author, genre and subject. I guess the question is how good a job does the LibraryThing's algorithm do at finding those critical common characteristics. So far, I have been impressed with their picks; maybe I'll take a trip to the library this weekend!
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