Can ~ほうがいいですか be used to ask for recommendations?


So I would like to ask someone some book recommendations. I've studied
「ほうがいいです。」but I'm not sure if 「何の本を読んだほうがいいですか。」would be OK.

Should I say it in another way?




“何の本を読んだ方がいいですか“ is not wrong, but it sounds a bit awkward.

“方がいい” following any verb literally means “had better do something”. So, it’s
used when you have multiple things to compare, and the person you are talking
to has to know what you are comparing.

If your friend is talking about multiple books, you can ask
“どの本を読んだ方がいいと思う？(=which books do you think I’d better read?)”.  
何の本 sounds like “what kind of books”, so you’d better say “どの本“ (=“which
book”). “いいですか” sounds like you have something to achieve through reading, so
it’s more natural to say “思いますか(what do you think)”.

If you want to ask someone about their recommendations without any context
like this,  
you can say...

>   1. 何か本のおすすめはありますか？  
>  Do you have any books you would recommend?  
>  (“何か“=“any”)
>
>   2. おすすめの本はあったりしますか？  
>  =not directly, but it means something like  
>  “I was wondering if you had any recommendations for reading.”  
>  It’s really common to be used as well.
>
>

Hope it helps!




“何の本を読んだ方がいいですか“ is not wrong, but it sounds a bit awkward.

“方がいい” following any verb literally means “had better do something”. So, it’s
used when you have multiple things to compare, and the person you are talking
to has to know what you are comparing.

If your friend is talking about multiple books, you can ask
“どの本を読んだ方がいいと思う？(=which books do you think I’d better read?)”.  
何の本 sounds like “what kind of books”, so you’d better say “どの本“ (=“which
book”). “いいですか” sounds like you have something to achieve through reading, so
it’s more natural to say “思いますか(what do you think)”.

If you want to ask someone about their recommendations without any context
like this,  
you can say...

>   1. 何か本のおすすめはありますか？  
>  Do you have any books you would recommend?  
>  (“何か“=“any”)
>
>   2. おすすめの本はあったりしますか？  
>  =not directly, but it means something like  
>  “I was wondering if you had any recommendations for reading.”  
>  It’s really common to be used as well.
>
>

Hope it helps!

