"Hello. I'm looking for a good book to read. Can you recommend something?"

Perhaps the most feared of all questions that a librarian can be asked at the reference desk, I frequently ponder what I would do. Readers' advisory tends to creep into my mind every time I read a new book, and I wonder when the day will come when someone asks me that question. The following are some of the options that I have contemplated:

• Novelist, despite the fact that LPL has yet to link it directly to their catalogue (soon they promise!)
• Some form of book list--I frequently the Globe & Mail's bestseller list of top fiction/non-fiction
• A book that I've enjoyed in the past if the patron's tastes seem to align with mine (based on a well-articulated RA interview, of course!)
• Keeping a record of all of the books I have read, with annotations (at times it feels too late to start this now)
• *blink* *stare* Ummmm...throw some magic dust and hope the perfect book appears (probably a less likely option)
• Take the person over to shelf and start looking for something based on aesthetic appeal alone. I've found many good books this way!
• If all else fails, I'll just look at a literary prize list and recommend a book off of there. If it has won a prize, it has to be good, right (despite a wholly subjective judging process with little or no formal criteria for what constitutes a 'good' book)?