Which of my friends do I read the most like?

Hello readers!

I saw on Sarah’s and Ally’s blogs this really cool post comparing reading tastes and I thought it looked fun to write! I listed only the people I tend to do buddy-reads with because if I listed all the people I am friends with and have a Goodreads account, this post would never end! So if you’re not in this list it’s just because we don’t do buddy reads a whole lot.

The idea is to use the “compare books” function on Goodreads to see how similarly we read and what books we agree/disagree on. This is of course just a superficial comparison, because for example one person and I read only 71 books in common with, whereas another and I read 325. So technically this second person and I have more similar tastes than it looks because we are interested in more books in common than Goodreads takes into account when coming up with the percentage.

Marija @ Inside my Library Mind 65%

Oh my gosh this is VERY surprising, I totally thought Marija and I had like 85% compatibility. Still, I love her book recs and will definitely be reading the chicken book, so ON YOUR FACE, GOODREADS.

Books we both loved:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (excellent)
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (yes!! I love this series)
• Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (we need the last book of this series IMMEDIATELY)

Books we disagree on:

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (I read this mf four times for school and I hated them all)
• Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater (it was okay, sorry!!)
• Luster by Raven Leilani (honestly I am glad every time someone loves this; I certainly wanted to love it).

Emily @ Literary Elephant 72%

A bit surprised that Emily and I don’t have a higher percentage, because I tend to add a lot of books on my TBR from her recommendations, so in my brain whatever books Emily likes I have a really good chance of liking, too! Clearly showing that Goodreads percentages aren’t everything.

Books we both loved:

• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• The Fire Starters by Jan Carson

Books we disagree on:

• The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh (I was quite meh about it but Emily loved this one!)
• Long Bright River by Liz Moore (same as above)
• Ready or Not by Meg Cabot (this is so random, I have no memory of reading this book)

Rachel @ Pace, Amore, Libri 73%

Very surprised about this one too, actually, because I also often add books to my TBR because of Rachel’s recommendations. 73% is definitely not bad, though!

Books we both loved:

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Books we disagree on:

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (I found it meh, she loved it! Clearly the WP judges agree with Rachel)
• No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (shocked about this one)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (I am sure Rachel has a LOT more knowledge about the play and therefore can see a lot of nuance that my potato brain can’t but I read this twice and detested it both times)

My husband 74%

No surprise there! We read very different things and have different tastes, but we do have a lot of books in common. Still, I always trust his nonfic recommendations.

Books we both loved:

• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Illusion by Paula Volsky

Books we disagree on:

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (I LOVED this. He is shocked that I’d like such a book.)
• Homo Faber by Max Frisch
• The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (I was so bored. We always disagree on Goethe, so that’s no surprise)

Chelle @ Chelle’s Book Ramblings 79%

Not too surprised by this rating! I get a LOT of book recs from Chelle (I’m going to dive into Penelope Douglas’ books next and I am SO excited).

• To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (such a good book ugh!)
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (her books are such fun, even if nowadays I don’t think I’d like them as much!)
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (one of my favorite YAs!)

Books we disagree on:

• Pestilence by Laura Thalassa (this did NOT vibe with me at all)
• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (I was bored by this – Chelle loved it, though)
• Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (one of my favorite books ever; Chelle gave it three stars)

Noriko @ The Bibliophilist Chronicles 80%

Noriko is back at book blogging and although we haven’t buddy-read in a while, we did read Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama together and we used to read many books kind of together, so I thought it would be fun to add her to the list – and 80% is an amazing ratio, proof that despite us not reading together so much anymore, our tastes are still similar!

Books we both loved:

• Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Books we disagree on:

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (I really disliked this one, Noriko loved it!)
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (same)
• Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid (I really liked this one!)

Callum @ Callum McLaughlin 81%

Callum is my main source of translated fiction recommendations and has such great taste, I am quite happy we agree on so many ratings.

Books we both loved:

• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Books we disagree on:

• Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (He loved this, I thought this was okay!)
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman (same as above)
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (same as above)

Hannah @ I Have Thoughts About Books 82%

A bit surprised! I feel like Hannah and I read somewhat similarly, but I’m very happy to see we agree so much on our ratings.

Books we both loved:

• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Books we disagree on:

• Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (oops, I am not a big fan… sorry!)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (I still think this is very funny, because I loved Circe and was meh about this one, but Hannah felt the entire opposite!)

Sarah @ Sarah Ames-Foley 82%

Sarah and I read a lot of books in common, so I am VERY pleased to have such a high percentage!

Books we both loved:

• Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
• In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Books we disagree on:

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (I hated this book)
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (I really did not enjoy this one either)
• Luster by Raven Leilani (Sarah loved this! I thought it was okay)

And the person who I read the most like is…

My Sister 84%

Unsurprisingly (but happily!), my sister and I have a pretty similar taste! We read a LOT of books in common and love similar tropes, plus we’re always recommending books to each other. I am very pelased about this result!

Books we both loved:

• Night Film by Marisha Pessl
• The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
• The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Books we disagree on:

• The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor (I did NOT like this, she loved it. I will probably be reading The Burning Girls, though)
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (I was meh about it)
• The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (I could not even finish this, I was SO bored. My sister loved it!)