Where do you find reliable recommendations for good books?

Off Air podcast with Jane and Fi. Wonderful for many reasons, not least the books.

BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
Guardian and FT book reviews
Literary prize shortlists
Recommendations from my local bookshop

I agree - I've had some great recommendations from AI that would never have come across, especially for older books. I also like Lithub.

Emails from Bookshop.org and as others say reviews in papers / online.

Podcasts
Book Reccos - very chatty, not too "literary" but most tend to be well written
Tea or Books - more "literary"
Backlisted- older books
You're Booked - famousish people discuss their favourite books, good if there's someone on I rate like Lissa Evans
A Good Read - 3 books discussed with 2 famousish people suggesting a book and the presenter's choice being the 3rd book

I read this Eg. The Guardian Top 10 Books About lists are very good as referring to a "Guardian top ten of books about lists" - the only ones I could really think of were The List of Suspicious Things and High Fidelity!

Edited to add: Oh my goodness there actually is one Five of the best books shaped by lists | Books | The Guardian

The New York Times Book Review. I gather there is something similar in the U.K.

I quite like googling my favourite author’s and finding out what books they themselves recommend. Eg Barbara Kingsolver loves Middlemarch and rereads it regularly.

President Obama’s recommendations are always interesting too.

Friends
on here and also The Bookload group on Facebook. I'm pretty mainstream and know what genres of books I like now aged 57.

It's a tangent to the subject of this thread but it's the other way round for me. Loved 'Never Let Me Go', found 'Remains of the Day'... really not to my taste. However, I do find it interesting that there are authors who can produce what are really quite radically different works and which are extremely well regarded by different people, rather than just swimming in the same pool. Hilary Mantel was like that, and Graham Greene. I think it's a sign of someone who is truly a master of their craft.

I find it really interesting to try and see the clockwork that makes a character work! I also like trying to understand why I bounce off certain books that should be right up my street. Authors aren’t always reliable - I think Remains of the Day is one of the best books of all time, but couldn’t stand Never Let Me Go.

I do look at literary magazines a lot, LitHub is a good one for recommendations often. I also like the New Yorker book reviews, n + 1, 3AM magazine.

Book reviews in papers : the Times, I and Guardian are good. They can have features like lists around a certain theme. Eg. The Guardian Top 10 Books About lists are very good :

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/05/ten-best-london-underground-scenes

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/29/top-10-stories-about-wolves-wolfish-erica-berry

Tracking publishers I like : small presses like Fitzcarraldo and Tilted Axis for translation, Persephone and Virago for lesser known women, as well as the big ones like HarperCollins and Penguin.

Prizes : Booker, Nobel, James Tait Black & some others.

Booktok

whichbook.net is good because you can set criteria to suit your mood.

I also watch Jack Edwards on YouTube. He's a bit like an excitable puppy but I'm in tune with his book recommendations.

I'm going to big up the local library too! OK, I have skin in the game as I work for one. There are book obsessives that work in every library. When you find one that loves your favourite genre, they will have lots of recommendations for you. I will recommend the website www.fantasticfiction.com. Put in an author; if you look at the bottom of the page, it will show similar writers. Also, perfect for a full list of any book series you may be currently reading. But please check your local library first, if you can💜

Emails from Waterstones, Penguin, Persephone books and others
Guardian and Observer reviews
MN
Friends
Well curated book shops
I put them all on a Pinterest list so by the time I come to read them I've usually forgotten why I wanted to!

Relatives, friends but mainly through standing in Waterstones for half a hour browsing

People ask this sort of thing all the time on some of the Facebook groups I’m on - the questions can get highly specific! (Sometimes too specific - people saying “I only want books where the lead character is x, with y powers, in a z situation and absolutely no a b or c. And it has to be with a sense of doom / fun / combat vampires” )
But that level of detail aside, chat groups can be good for this, at least to spark options anyway.

I’d really like a “I liked this character, what else would I like” rather than I liked this book. I like reading a particular kind of feral protagonist, and they’re quite rare.

The advantage of sites like this is that you can ask “if I liked x book, what else might I like?” Then you will get recommendations from people with similar taste to you

That literature map is great just checked it out. Thanks for posting

I swap books with friends as we seem to like similar, friends on FB recommending books. At moment am mad on Lisa Jewell after a recommendation about The Family Upstsirs. I also just browse Library, charity shops, book shops and if a book grabs me thats all it takes. My middle lad got me a few books and every one was brilliant dont know how he did it, though I questioned 1 of the titles ( What kind of mother are you) but it was actually a great read
I can also recommend, (if you've not read)
Lion which is an Autobiography by Saroo Brierley
The Light between oceans. M L Steadman ( also a film)
I'm also a Sophie Kinsella fan i like something lighthearted too which after reading a Lisa Jewell I need lol.

Do you use your library? I browse the genres, get recommendations from my lovely librarian, read the handwritten reviews on display there! And if you don’t enjoy the book, no harm done or money spent!!

Oh, I don't disagree, and I've often been reminded of things I'd meant to read, or intended to reread by posts on here.* I'm just responding to 'not that great' point, which is going to be different for everyone. I mean, I'm as likely to think 'Did we read different novels?' after reading a review in the LRB as on here or on Goodreads.

*Someone on here reminded me of Solvej Balle recently, who had been on my 'Must read sometime soon' list for years.

Of course it subjective. And every book review is down to whether the reader enjoyed it or not.

MN is more reliable than a first glance would imply though - it tends to attract a broad church of views, and people will often make alternative suggestions openly and honestly, rather than being paid for doing so or being driven down a social media algorithm. People are happy to discuss the books they are reading and there is usually a high degree of joy and humour in the posts. It is a useful resource, and has currently added more to my "to be read" pile than any of the reviews I have read this year in a newspaper, prize list, literary festival or podcast.

It is like having a drop-in book club (thank you Mumsnetters!).

Reshelving Alexandria Facebook group.
The Literary Life Podcast Facebook group.