Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Friday Questions
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Question #24: Famous Recommendations
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Also, I read Maria Shriver's "Just Who Will You Be?" because she wrote it.


This Friday questio..."
I avoid Oprah's recommendations. I can't imagine reading a book because some celebrity liked it. I have picked up books that were recommended by people I admire and respect like Bill Moyer, etc. Sometimes I'm happy I did sometimes, I'm not.

I don't follow Oprah's book club, but occasionally I got interested on books she featured on her show. That's how I found out about Middlesex and Into The Wild.
Also, I was first interested in Neil Gaiman after hearing that Eric Kripke, the creator of my favorite TV show Supernatural, listed Gaiman's American Gods as one of the inspirations behind the show. Although when I read it I found out that the book was too long, I still find his works fascinating.


I read the NY Times book section and just read an article about what the presidents are reading or have read that were important to them. I read that President Obama was reading American Lion, biography of Andrew Jackson. It intrigued me and I ordered it, it looks like a masterful book and am really looking forward to reading it.


Speaking of TV shows and books - "Lost" has a book club that is VERY diverse here:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/inde...



Susan, you should check out the Rory Gilmore book club on Goodreads!



I am a member of that club ;) but thanks Dana!

I get a lot of recommendations from NPR. I've been thinking about this question for a week and no celebrities come to mind.

Like Eva, I get a few of my books from The Daily Show, as well as The Colbert Report. I also get a few authors from This American Life.
The most obvious "celebrity recommendations," or celebrity-induced reads, for me are Sister Carrie and The Illuminatus Trilogy , both brought on by The Posies. The Posies have a song called "Solar Sister," in which the lyric "I'll call you sister Carrie" and the phrase "sister Carrie" is repeated a few times throughout the song. When I found out there was a book called Sister Carrie, I had to find out if the song was in any way inspired by it (If it was, it wasn't obvious, at least not to me). Second, The Posies' "magic number" (as I call it) is 23, brought on (supposedly) by Illuminatus!, so of course I had to read that to see what all the fuss was about.
The most obvious "celebrity recommendations," or celebrity-induced reads, for me are Sister Carrie and The Illuminatus Trilogy , both brought on by The Posies. The Posies have a song called "Solar Sister," in which the lyric "I'll call you sister Carrie" and the phrase "sister Carrie" is repeated a few times throughout the song. When I found out there was a book called Sister Carrie, I had to find out if the song was in any way inspired by it (If it was, it wasn't obvious, at least not to me). Second, The Posies' "magic number" (as I call it) is 23, brought on (supposedly) by Illuminatus!, so of course I had to read that to see what all the fuss was about.

This Friday question brought to you by Dini. Thank you, Dini!
I hope everyone has a good weekend :)