I was mortified after reading about AI companies cutting off book spines just so they could be scanned a lot faster to train their models.
In no way, shape or form does the act of dismantling classic literature for the betterment of technology make me hopeful for the future. Even though I use ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude in different facets of my everyday tasks, I’ll never support the desecration of physical media just so it can make AI tools a whole lot smarter.
My love for books is undying and has resulted in one corner of my room being solely dedicated to a vast collection of graphic novels, autobiographies, video game art books and historical tomes about my favorite entertainment franchises. Celebrating the greatness of reading and literature is an everyday occurrence for me — it's especially prominent for me and everyone else on National Book Lovers Day.
To properly honor that holiday’s dedication to going completely analog and picking up a book to enjoy, I asked ChatGPT to suggest the best books it can find based on my personal favorites. I’m happy to say that I walked away from this latest chatbot recommendation session with 10 new books that’ll keep me busy for the rest of the year.
Discovering my potential new favorite reads
I’m a pretty avid reader of autobiographies for my favorite musicians and wrestlers, plus I go on spending sprees to acquire new art books dedicated to my favorite gaming franchises. Along with all those literary loves of mine, I’m a regular at comic book stores since I’m addicted to picking up the latest graphic novels from the likes of Marvel, DC, IDW Publishing, etc.
To make sure ChatGPT had a clear picture of what I’m looking for from its book suggestions, I gave it this prompt with 10 of my top books to steer it in the right direction:
Recommend 10 highly rated books that were released or published in the last five years.
Make sure they are similar to the following list of my favorite books:
1. Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling
2. A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex
3. The Giver
4. Batman: The Killing Joke
5. Hip-Hop Is History
6. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
7. Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
8. Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment
9. My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy
10. The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed
After analyzing my picks, the chatbot instantly picked up on the literary themes that appeal to me the most:
- Behind-the-scenes looks at creative industries (video games, wrestling, hip-hop)
- Memoirs with authentic, hard-earned perspectives
- Smart pop culture analysis
- Comics with memorable storytelling
- Character-driven speculative fiction like The Giver
After making that observation, ChatGPT generated a lineup of 10 highly rated books that were published within the time span of 2021 and 2026.
One of the chatbot’s most intriguing selections ended up being Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which was released in 2022. ChatGPT’s apt description of that selection noted how it’s an entertaining fictional tale that dives into video game development.
It also described it as Blood, Sweat, and Pixels if it were written as an emotional novel. To wrap up its quick summarization of this book, it stated how this book explores the topics of people’s creative obsessions, video game development studio politics and friendship.
The rest of ChatGPT’s nine curated book selections included a bunch of standouts I learned about for the very first time. Those books are:
- MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios
- Cue the Sun!
- The Come Up
- Batman - One Bad Day: The Riddler
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being
- Monster (a memoir by Sacha Jenkins)
- Chain-Gang All-Stars
- The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982
- Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs
The takeaway
For me, National Book Lovers Day is something I celebrate since I’m so prone to getting lost in a classic or newly published tale. It just feels unnatural for me to hop on the train, sit on a park bench or just lie back on the couch without a book keeping me occupied.
By inputting my 10 most cherished books into ChatGPT and requesting comparable picks that speak to my hobbies & interests, I walked away with 10 equally fascinating books that I’m going to dedicate plenty of time to. ChatGPT’s final portrayal of my literary tastes and what I appreciate most from my book-reading sessions stuck out as purely factual:
Looking at your list overall, you seem to gravitate toward books that reveal the stories behind influential industries and cultural movements, whether that's wrestling, hip-hop, video games, comics, or entertainment. You also appreciate works that blend strong storytelling with insightful reporting or personal experience, making these picks a natural extension of your existing favorites.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.
More from Tom’s Guide
- Google Health gets a lot of hate — but these 5 AI Coach prompts changed my mind
- 'Not a chatbot on the sidelines': Ridley AI wants to automate your home sale and eliminate 6% commission fees
- Claude has 4 built-in skills I use constantly — here’s how to find them
