I have several different instances where someone has recommended "a great book" and not bothered to warn me that it was gory and full of violence against women. Sometimes you just want something entertaining and uplifting.

Yeah, so much. Typically most of the time some book is talked about and recommended a lot, especially by my countrymen, it turns out to be terribly depressing and cruel and violent. I learn enough about those things elsewhere (I've majored in political studies and my jobs have mostly been somewhere in that general field) so I don't need to depress myself when I'm trying to read novels for my enjoyment or inspiration. So I try to be very clear these days when I say what kind of recs I want - at least online people mostly listen to you when you tell them. In offline life not so much...