I used not to. But I came across a manga forum that has also a book section. So I have read Twilight and others, in a way it's a nice way to discover books, especially since posters don't tend to spoil and give different books.

not books but I do use it to discover new music...for the most part what people suggest in music I like but for some odd reason I don't know very many that share the same books that I do

I use the forums to choose stuff like (sometimes) music, movies and things to buy (reviews on products) but I usually don't let the negative reviews sway me into not touching those things being reviewed. It's always nice to have an opinion, but I'm sure most people can agree that everyone has different tastes: one person's treasure can be someone else's junk

I occasionally use recommendations from the CotI forums to chose authors whose work I might like. Otherwise I don't really use the recommendations of people on the internet, instead picking up books from the library that look interesting or borrowing books off of friends.

Yeah but it has not happened for me here in MT. But I have discovered many interesting animes, musics, and mangas here. It really worth it It depends one person's passion. I guess for you goes for books.

Well, maybe songs and anime. Usually I use my hunch or the back covers for choosing good books. Hmmm, come to think of it, most of my fave books were bought based on intuition^^.