I partly ecognize some of the sentiments
@Astro Pen describes. It's a kind of reflex to view recommendations with wariness. I doubt they understand my taste, while I know for certain they don't share it. We all seek different things in books or music, depending on our personal situation, interests and history.
Having said that, at the same time I can't deny feeling the wish myself to talk about books I read and particularly liked. Not about music, though. Music is more about taste, where books are about the content, the ideas or compelling story.
Recommending a book is trying to tell people something about yourself; this is what I like, this is about the things I care about or this is what moves me. We want to be understood by the people around us and recommendations are a (flawed) tool for that and is also why we like people to show are bookcases.
Here, see? That's me.
I find that review or synopsis, recommendation or Top-whatever list don't really diminish my enjoyment of a book, because:
A. every such effort to summarize a novel, what the author took a whole novel to convey, is bound to fall short by miles.
B. it is mostly the tone and style of the author that determines the essence of a book. Even a well-known plot can still remain surprising if well told.
What for me determines a good book depends more on the How than the About of the storytelling. But that, I think, is very personal preference.
