On the Right Recommendations
You know that feeling when you listen to something or read something or watch something that is SO good you just HAVE to talk to someone about it…and then none of the people you know have experienced that particular piece of media? Oh, brother that is the most crushing feeling! I want to discuss this song so badly but nobody has even heard it! I want to talk about that third episode but nobody has even watched the pilot! I want to talk about the twist that happens on page 214 but nobody has even read the back-of-the-book-blurb! It really is a tough position to be in BUT it does give you a beautiful opportunity to bless the lives of everyone you know!
Recently I read a book (I know, it’s a humble brag but, I can indeed read) that had me in an absolute frenzy. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is the author’s fourth novel and holy shit did I love it. His name may ring a bell to many of you because he’s the author of The Martian which was the source material for the 2015 film of the same name, staring Matt Damon. If you’ve seen that movie or read any of Weir’s material, you’ll know he writes a grounded sort of sci-fi that revolves around scientific accuracy, infectious enthusiasm, and problem-solving in some of the direst situations imaginable.
I read the entirety of Project Hail Mary in three frantic days. It’s been years since I’ve been so engrossed by a book that I couldn’t think about much else and even when I was doing other things I loved, I was thinking about reading. This isn’t a review of the book, though. What it is, is a celebration of the feeling you get when you LOVE a thing and recommend it to someone else and they LOVE it too! We all know that sense of dread you get when you put on a video or a song for someone and they just don’t respond in the way you wanted. In that moment you want to crawl into some pocket dimension and simply disappear. How could something elicit such strong emotions from you and bring out NOTHING in your friend?
You can’t hit a home run if you’re afraid to step into the batters’ box, though. I’d had this book on my to-read list for a while and when my turn to pick our next book club book came along, I took the plunge. Normally we’d read sections and stop before each meeting but thank GOD we decided to read the whole book because I’m not sure I would have been able to stop…but it left me in an anxious position: I loved this book but would anybody else?
Holy cow, the endorphins I got when they started reading…and reading…and couldn’t stop reading? Better than drugs. There really is nothing like recommending a piece of media you care about to a person you care about and hearing they loved it.
What’s a piece of media you recommend that people love? Do you have one that you love but other people don’t seem to respond to?
I ordered the book based on your recommendation. I love well-written science fiction. My old eyes require the Kindle version. now - I do miss having a real book in my hands. Looking forward to this excellent read.
Loved this one. And particularly the way it jumped from the specifics of recommending one thing to the general experience of recommending anything. It's true. When something exhilarates us, moves us, we want to share it, and if they don't like it, it's kind of like some core part of us is being rejected. But when they do, it's so sweet. The author has recommended a number of things to me that I have loved ("Trust" immediately comes to mind) and I think I may have recommended at least a couple books or movies or albums he liked, though I could be wrong. I usually get, at best, a "yeah, it was okay." But I have recommended things to contemporaries and gotten that rush of joy when they responded positively. The books, "Hamnet" and "Wolf Hall," the movie, "In Bruges," the series, "Slow Horses." I've had my rejections, too. "Slow Horses" was not universally loved. And even though I tried, I don't think I'm jumping on the "Fallout" bandwagon. You just have to put yourself out there, both to recommend and to give things a shot. And if nothing, not one single thing you ever recommend gets a positive response from a particular person, and nothing they recommend tickles your fancy, maybe it's time to examine that relationship?