Recommending books based on your poor descriptions of your favourite books

Hello friends and fellow book lovers! It’s time for another recommendations post based on some weird things.

On twitter recently, I asked y’all for poor descriptions of your favourite books.

Thank you to everyone who gave me bad descriptions! I am now going to attempt to give recommendations based on those poor descriptions! Hopefully I don’t just recommend the book you described, but if I did, at least we’ll know I know what I’m talking about.

Just a fair warning: some of these are pretty terrible recommendations. For a lot of them, I just went with the ~vibe~ I got from the description.

From my friend Christa

(I’m not sure whether these are two separate books, but I’m going to treat them as such)

Author who’s first name and last name are objects made of metal, writes about raising the bar for men, from hell up to a reasonable level

I have no idea what book this is, nor do I have a recommendation, I just thought this was a funny description.

A book about what we should expect from human to human connection

For this one, I’d recommend The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer has her issues, but this book is super interesting and definitely useful for what it is. She talks about how to be okay with asking for help, which I think fits the vibe of this description.

---

From my friend Aneta

Boy steals painting as revenge for his mom’s death

This is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I don’t have any books that are similar to this, unfortunately.

Woman murders ex-boyfriend to get her husband to stop cheating

Idk what this is, but it sounds super interesting. But the vibe I’m getting is “woman takes things to extremes instead of having a conversation”. So for that, I’d recommend Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak. This book is about two best friends who work for the same news agency and find themselves in competition for a lot of things.

---

From my friend Sarah

Reckless woman makes bad decisions

This could be so many books, and I would probably love all of them. So here’s a list of some I think would work well for this description:

• Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton: just in case I haven’t talked about this book enough. It’s about a poor gal who befriends a rich gal, and then slowly spirals. It was so addicting and I loved it.
• Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney: Frances is definitely a little reckless and definitely makes bad decisions. But I got really attached to the characters in this book and highly recommend it.
• If you want YA, I’d definitely recommend A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena. It has some of the best characters I’ve ever read in YA, and the main character is definitely a reckless girl who makes bad decisions.

From my friend Callum

Dead bodies + electricity = bad times

I have no idea what this book could be, but it sounds like a time.

For this description, I’d recommend Bunny by Mona Awad. It’s not a perfect fit, but it works. Bunny is super weird and out there, and there’s dead bodies, bad times, and weird experimentation.

---

From my friend Rae

Teen mom loves to cook and falls in love with new kid

This doesn’t totally fit the “teen mom”, but I’d recommend The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. A teen girl joins a catering company and ends up loving it, and falls in love with one of her coworkers. It’s one of my favourites and I highly recommend it.

Girl gets sent to her parents home country for acting out

This sounds like Heidi by Johanna Spyri, which was a favourite of mine as a kid. If it’s not Heidi, I’d definitely recommend reading Heidi. It’s very sweet and fun.

Rae also had these two descriptions, and I don’t have anything for them but they sound interesting:

• Teen girl’s city is being gentrified and she tries to stop it
• Boy’s mother dies and he starts working for a funeral home

---

From my friend Savanna

Rich kids get stuck in time loop and solve a murder

Okay for this one, I’d highly recommend The 7&1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. A man gets stuck in a time loop and has to solve a murder by waking up as different people each day. It’s super interesting and I highly recommend it.

If you like the time loop aspect of this book, I’d also recommend Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which is a YA about an unlikable girl who dies and gets stuck in a time loop the day she dies. I love it and highly recommend it.

Guy befriends other guy and make the worst movie of all time

I haven’t read it, but I’d recommend Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I’ve watched the movie, and it honestly fits this overall vibe of just dudes being dumb. Highly recommend the movie honestly.

Teen girl goes to kill a man

I am 99% sure this is Sadie by Courtney Summers, but on the off chance that it is not, I’d definitely recommend that one. I think Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood would also work for this description. It’s a fictionalized retelling of the Sally Horner kidnapping, which is the kidnapping that inspired Lolita. It’s really interesting and disturbing without being graphic.

From my friend Naty

Couple gets married young and is sad a lot

I could again recommend Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney because even though there’s no marriage, it still fits the vibe of this description.

I’d also recommend Hunger by Lan Samantha Chang. This is a short story anthology about Chinese immigrants in America. The titular novella is about a young married couple, and it’s very depressing but in a good way. The whole anthology is incredible, and I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on it.

---

From my friend Hannah

A woman looks back at a life of people not listening to her. Loses the love of her life. Knows it will only go downhill from here.

I have no idea what this is, but it sounds depressing.

I think The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant could work for this description. An elderly Jewish woman is describing her life for her granddaughter, so it has the looking back at her life aspect. It’s not quite as depressing as this description, though.

If you want a classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith could also work. It describes a young girl growing up in poverty in Brooklyn. The ending is bittersweet and definitely has a kind of “things can only go downhill from here” vibe. The main character also loses the man she considers the love of her life.

So there are some recommendations based on poor descriptions of your favourite books! Some of these are pretty bad, but this was fun nonetheless!

Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts? Do you have any recommendations based on these descriptions? Let me know!

Ally xx

---

Twitter // Instagram // Goodreads // Buy me a coffee!