Kristen @ KristanKravesBooks shared this great idea that she got from bloggers like Caitsteelsbookworld. I’ve been using Goodreads since 2012 so I would hope that they would at least know me a little bit, but it’ll be fun to test that theory!
How it works: Open up your recommendations under the Browse tab and decide whether or not you would be interested in any of the books it’s recommended you. It will offer you recommendations according to your different shelves so if you’re like me, you will have tonnes have recommendations for alllllll of your shelves. To make my life easier I’ve chosen 3 shelves to focus on: favourites, TBR, and diverse, and picked the books that I would be interested in reading.
Books Recommended Based on My Favourites Shelf
Based on my favourites shelf, Goodreads recommended me 50 different books and out of those, I would only pick up 4 of them! I’m super picky about what goes on my TBR and I don’t add things unless I read a description and am immediately intrigued by it. There were a handful of other recommendations that sounded interesting but enough for me to want to read them!
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about both Captive Prince and Dear Martin, obviously for different reasons, and singing their praises so I don’t doubt that they are going to be great reads. The Last of the Wine was recommended based on my love for The Song of Achilles and also takes place in Ancient Greece (and is LGBTQI!), which I am all about. Lastly, Six Wakes is one that I’ve seen a few people mentioned and am really intrigued by it, especially as it was recommended to me because of A Closed and Common Orbit and The Bear and the Nightingale – two very different books!
Books Recommended Based on my TBR Shelf
Another 50 recommendations and this time I managed to choose 6! Although there were a few more that sounded vaguely interesting, a lot of the books quickly blended into one. They all became the same Fantasy Court/Fighting/Politics type books which quickly become very boring when they all sound the same!
I wasn’t too sure about An Accident of Stars but it was recommended to me based off of a really diverse fantasy book called Everfair, is listed as LGBT fantasy and is written by a genderqueer author so it’s definitely one to keep an eye out for! And I Darken is a book that definitely a book that fits into the Fantasy Court/fighting/politics box but is one I’d be willing to give a try based on good reviews by friends and it’s blend of fantasy with historical fiction. The Monstrumologist is probably the one that stood out to me the most, a blend of historical fiction/fantasy/horror written by the monstrumologists assistant.
Pantomime is another one that sounds really interesting. A book with an MC who is described as “both a boy and a girl”, who is magical and runs away to the circus to become an aerialist. Yes, please. For Darkness Shows the Stars is another one I’m not too certain about as it sounds like it really focuses on romance, but I really like the sound of a Luddite dystopian world with lots of sci-fi! Lastly, as I’ve never read a Western before, Vengeance Road sounds like a good place to start.
Books Recommended Based on my Diverse Shelf
N/B – These books are based on books from my diverse shelf and are not necessarily diverse themselves. Again there were 50 choices and these are my chosen ones!
Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction & Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism should be pretty self explanatory. I’m always a little hesitant about spec fic which deals with trans identities as I’ve had some horrendous experiences but I see that it’s been highly rated by another LGBTQI author so I’d be willing to give it a go! Sex Changes is written by a trans man and explores early trans pioneers, recommended from my reading of Transgender Warriors.
Life Mask, recommended from my love of Fingersmith, is similarly a historical fiction with a f/f romance – all kinds of YES. Luna: New Moon, an LGBTQI sci-fi book, is set on the moon which sounds great. Lightless is another sci-fi/space book although it doesn’t sound like it’s diverse itself. It does have the MC developing an “intense emotional bond” with the ship’s AI though, and if you know me you will know I’m here for anything AI.
Sins of Empire was recommended to me as I read Staveley’s Skullsworn and loved it so much. Sins of Empire sounds equally great and is part of another series, so I’ll have even more of his work to enjoy. Lastly, I have to admit that I have never read a Pratchett book! I’ve tried but never found the right one for me. Moving Pictures sounds really, really interesting though and much more up my street than other books he wrote.
This was a pretty good way to discover new books, although given that I had 50 books recommended to me only finding 7 or less on each shelf was quite surprising! In the past, I’ve had more success with hitting up a book’s GR page and taking a look at the ‘readers also enjoyed’ section as it suggests more accurate recommendations.
What I do like about this method though is that it recommends you a broad range based on lots of books and you also have the choice to mark as “not interested” to make the recommendations more accurate! I’d be interested in revisiting this in the future and seeing what I get recommended then.
Red Rocket Panda 
Six Wakes cover alone is very interesting.
And I love this idea. I’ll have to look into my own goodreads shelves sometime
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I knoooow. That’s part of the reason why I ended up reading more about the plot because the cover drew me in.
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This is such a great idea! It’s always really interesting to see what Goodreads will come up with based on its algorithms. I’ll definitely have to give this method a try as well.
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the last of wine is kind of a weird book. i mean it’s amazingly well written & i loved the characters and the first half of the book is GORGEOUS. but it’s set in ancient greece, right, and a lot of the plot later on focuses on a war and on one of the guys from the main pairing marrying this girl that’s like half his age or less. bc that’s what dudes did back then. plus there’s a pretty big age gap btwn the guys themselves… so yeah just keep in mind it can be kinda gross at times, if u will end up reading it??
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I’ve put it on my birthday list so I’ll definitely be reading it. I think, for me, it really depends on how big the age gap is, the age of the characters and the historical context. I’m really into Ancient Greece history so I’ll see what I think when I read it
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i absolutely loved the relationship btwn the guys, it was btfl and very soft. i think the most disturbing thing was when one of them married that little girl……… hopefull it will be easier to enjoy for u as someone who knows a lot abt the culture and all!!
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i only looked at the main page of gr recommended books, but 95% was in the “not interested” pile, and the rest was meh…
i wonder who does gr think i am 😂😂
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Haha. That’s always the trouble. Spotify does that to me constantly and I’m always sat here like… why on earth would you think I’d listen to that? I’ve been using you for 5 years WHAT IS THIS
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This is such a fun post, I have to try this too 🙂 I feel like 6 Wakes is Goodreads’s go to sci-fi recommendation, it’s been recommended to me so many times. Lightless and Luna: New Moon both sound very interesting, I’ll have to check those out. I always want more sci-fi on my tbr.
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Haha same. Since I started book blogging I’ve actually found myself spending less time reading sci-fi. That’s good because it’s meant I’ve discovered lots of new books and genres, but also I want to make more time for sci-fi books again!
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