I frequently get book recommendations from fans eager to share excellent works they've found out there. I usually just kind of smile and nod - or the internet equivalent, a glittering generality like, "Oh, I've heard good things about that," or "I haven't heard of that, I'll have to look into that," and move on. If you think that's callous or unkind, it's not meant to be. I'm sure they're good books, and there's a very good chance I'd like them if I read them (I'm relatively easy to please, as a reader). It's simply an acknowledgment that I have more books to read than I have time to read them, even if I gave up this writing thing and just started reading full time. Which I'm not going to.
I have several hundred unread books on my Kindle. I know this is going to sound ironic coming from a guy who has two books available for free, but very few of them are freebies. I've paid good money for books I don't know when I'll be able to read. A few of them were favors for friends (which I still intend to read) but a lot of them were ones where I said, "I want to read this," plunked down money to do so, then got distracted or busy and haven't had a chance to do it.
So, anyway, the moral of this story (and I hope I don't sound like a total asshat by saying this, but I probably am failing on that) is that I will politely listen to any book reco my fans care to give me, the same as I do for my friends. And then I will promptly discard it (pretty much the same as I do with the ones from my friends), because I have too many books to read (and write) at present and I have no idea when I'd actually get around to it. Unless I could somehow stop sleeping? Actually, if there's a book on how I'd never have to sleep again, that's one recommendation I'd gladly take.*
*Method cannot involve use of amphetamines. Because that's cheating. And probably lethal, since we're talking about NEVER sleeping again.
I have several hundred unread books on my Kindle. I know this is going to sound ironic coming from a guy who has two books available for free, but very few of them are freebies. I've paid good money for books I don't know when I'll be able to read. A few of them were favors for friends (which I still intend to read) but a lot of them were ones where I said, "I want to read this," plunked down money to do so, then got distracted or busy and haven't had a chance to do it.
So, anyway, the moral of this story (and I hope I don't sound like a total asshat by saying this, but I probably am failing on that) is that I will politely listen to any book reco my fans care to give me, the same as I do for my friends. And then I will promptly discard it (pretty much the same as I do with the ones from my friends), because I have too many books to read (and write) at present and I have no idea when I'd actually get around to it. Unless I could somehow stop sleeping? Actually, if there's a book on how I'd never have to sleep again, that's one recommendation I'd gladly take.*
*Method cannot involve use of amphetamines. Because that's cheating. And probably lethal, since we're talking about NEVER sleeping again.