Recommending a book – Not as easy as you'd think

Yesterday, a very good friend of mine called me for a book recommendation. He was planning to give a book to one of his friends and wanted me to help him pick a suitable read.

He said the person who he wanted to give the present to liked books such as ‘Gone with the Wind’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, Roald Dahl’s stories, ‘The Kite Runner’, and ‘A thousand splendid suns’.

I didn’t ask for more details about the target audience, like age, sex, etc.

From the existing choice of books indicated, it clearly looked like this person was interested in classics- especially those that told passionate tales of love and friendship. This person was also interested in the ‘must-read’ books.

Going by that analysis, I thought back to a book that was really well written and that had made an impact on me - ‘Sophie’s Choice’ by William Styron : Powerful story with unforgettable characters and an author’s dazzling command over the language. But suddenly, I started taking this responsibility of choosing a book a bit too seriously. The storyline of ‘Sophie’s Choice’ might be too solemn, I thought. So I suggested ‘A catcher in the rye’ by J.D.Salinger and ‘Two Lives’ by Vikram Seth as possible alternatives.

But when my friend asked me to tell him the storyline of the three books in brief, he was blown away by the passion with which I summarized the story of ‘Sophie’s Choice’. I barely remembered ‘Two lives’ and didn’t sound convincing enough about ‘A catcher in the rye’.

I became a little worried that my memory was getting really bad and that I couldn’t remember books that I’d read years ago. All I could remember was whether I had enjoyed them or not. I have read and enjoyed numerous works of fiction in my life; watched innumerable movies as well. Call it declining memory or early-onset Alzheimer’s, but it takes an extraordinary story with remarkable characters to truly stick with me. In that respect, Sophie’s Choice clearly wins, hands down.