Currently Reading - Ups and Downs

[Matthew Reads Junk]

So I really seem to have a love/hate relationship with these books.

Just finished something by Robert J Sawyer. Hated it. One star.

Before that it was The Hallowed Hunts by Bujold. Enjoyed it quite a bit, 4 stars.

Before that, Manifold Time by Baxter. Hated it, one star.

Before that Boneshaker by Priest. 1 star.

See a pattern here?

[Michele]

Well, your choices seem pretty diverse in style. Perhaps you just prefer more traditional fantasy, nothing wrong with that.

[Jim]

You're obviously not using GR correctly yet, Matthew. You've been here for almost 3 years, but only have 3 friends. Find more people who share your taste in reading particular genres & see what they're reading. It would help to add more books to your shelves, even if you just give them star ratings. Then you can find another person & compare books with them.

Read the reviews. I rated The Hallowed Hunt with only 3 stars, but still liked it. I liked the other two better & love her Vorkosigan series. If it seems like we might have tastes in common, look at my bookshelves & see what I gave 4 or 5 stars to, then read my reviews. Look at my friends & see how they rate books.

Join in conversations here & similar groups. You'll find others that share your tastes. Look at what they're reading. With a million books published annually, we need to rely on each other to find the tiny percentage that we can spare the time & money for. GR is a great place to do that.

Last year, I read 220 books & didn't like a dozen. 2 dozen were just OK, but I gave 5 stars to over 3 dozen & really liked the rest. (That doesn't include another couple of dozen I was given for free to read & review that I couldn't give 3 stars or better to.) Rarely did a friend with similar tastes in a genre like a book that I didn't. Sure, it happens occasionally, but my percentage of good books is way up there.

[Matthew Reads Junk]

You're right, I liked the Vor series.
(Hated the Sharing Knife. I read two books of that, and won't bother to finish that.)
I had been using good read's recomendation guide as well as my whatever the used book store had avaliable as guidelines.
Feel free to add me if you'd like.

[Jim]

Super! Check out The Magic of RecluceThe Magic of Recluce & other books by L.E. Modesitt Jr.. Have you read anything by Roger Zelazny? Careful with his stuff. The Amber series is a good place to start, but some of his is a bit out there.

[Jim]

Mika, Zelazny tends to go all over the place, so I'd say no, especially if you think LoL is very different. Jack of Shadows or Donnerjack, perhaps. Unless you really like references, I wouldn't suggest This Immortal or A Night in the Lonesome October, but they're great if read with a group. Creatures of Light and Darkness & Roadmarks are pretty far out there. If you like short stories, he's an absolute master.

[Olivia "So many books--so little time.""]

Lately I've been in the mood for sci-fi short stories so I've been reading The Year's Best Science Fiction Sixth Annual Collection which is edited by Gardner Dozois. Sorry the title isn't highlighted--it's not in the system. The stories are very good to excellent, rating four or five stars apiece.

[Jim]

Olivia, you got the wrong author somehow, an incorrect duplicate. Try this Gardner R. Dozois. I'm a librarian, but not a very good one or I'd merge the one you found into this one. (Update: I figured it out & they are merged now.)

I read The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection which is also edited by him & wasn't impressed. He's always liked words a lot more than I do. One of the things that impresses me so much about Zelazny is his ability to paint such a complete picture using so few.

[Matthew Reads Junk]

Never reading anything in the Recluse series again. I read 4 or 5 of them and the themes and characters were just so repititive.

Things I have really liked. Weird stuff.
The Scar
I know China Miéville is part of sort ofa "new weird" movement, but who are some other authors.

Have liked almost anything I've read by Charles Stross or Alastair Reynolds (except the last Redemption book).

Anything that takes things in a new direction and isn't just the same sort of fantasy "travelogue" book or a sci-fi "journey" type novel.

[Michele]

Have you tried any Gene Wolfe The Shadow of the Torturer or Soldier of the Mist

K.J. Parker Shadow or Colours in the Steel

Carol Berg Transformation

Sara Douglass The Wayfarer Redemption

Richard K. Morgan Altered Carbon

Wesley Chu The Lives of Tao

[Matthew Reads Junk]

I've read the Richard K Morgan and one Gene Wolfe book.
Transformation was okay, but the series really went off the rails and made no sense by the third book.

[Hillary]

If you're looking for something a little different, you might try Nick Harkaway. I really loved his The Gone-Away World. Angelmaker I appreciated and enjoyed, although it was a slower read for me and I didn't connect w/it as quickly as I did Gone-Away World.

Also, I tend to find Elizabeth Bear doing really different things from one book to the next. Carnival is her take on a diplomatic mission to a planet/colony ruled by women; Dust begins a trilogy that includes nanotech & Arthurian tropes.

And have you read any Neal Stephenson? Or Paolo Bacigalupi?

[Matthew Reads Junk]

I think I've read most of Neal Stephenson
(Actually, no I haven't. some of his later giant sized novels I havent started. I know I read Cryptonomicon but not all of the Baroque cycle)

I'll add Nick Harkaway. I've read one thing by Elizabeth Bear that wasn't bad. Undertow Undertow was okay, but not great.