Where do you find reliable recommendations for good books?

55 replies

CrappyEndOfStick · 29/09/2026 15:24

How do you find out about good books? My friend always recommends great ones to me, but I’m wondering if there is a reliable regular source to review and recommend books?

Any suggestions?

OP posts:

SubmarineDream · 07/10/2026 15:07

Jane3212 · 04/10/2026 00:40

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.

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

Scout2016 · 21/10/2026 22:43

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

Ginflinger · 21/10/2026 22:52

DeafLeppard · 30/09/2026 07:04

Claude and ChatGPT both give me great recommendations. FT new genre reviews (e.g. new thrillers, sci fi) are great and I find other newspaper reviews mediocre and a bit group thinky. Reddit r/books can be good.

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

ValleyofHumiliation · 21/10/2026 22:56

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

Nighttimeistherightime · 21/10/2026 22:59

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

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