A Resolution and a Plea for Help

[ultranos]

One thing I'd like to do this year is get back to doing things I really enjoyed when I was younger. I started writing for pleasure beyond LARPs, and rediscovered how much I enjoy it and why I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning just typing away on Notepad on the old 1992 Dell machine in my room when I was in high school. (Which is why this journal now exists.)

One other trend I dislike is how much my reading novels has decreased. When I was younger, I'd take out 8 novels from the library and be begging my mother to take me back to get more by the middle of Week Two. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I finish one novel in a month. And I really hate that.

My brother must be psychic, because for Christmas, he got me a gift card to Barnes and Nobel (he's awesome like that). I also got a gift card to Borders, because I'm an equal-opportunity consumer whore in terms of bookstores. Alas, I cannot fling myself at the shelves, and thus must be a little more judicious in my choosing of how to use these gift cards.

So, Obi-wan Flist, you're my only hope. Are there any books out there that are OMG-get-thee-to-a-bookstore-you-must-read-this-RIGHT-NOW? I have to admit to a certain fondness right now for science-fiction and fantasy, specifically:

• post-apocalyptic
  
• urban fantasy (world of magic coinciding with Real World. Examples: Neverwhere and American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R Green)
  
• "science fantasy" (magic and spaceships)
  
• near-future cybertech
  
• actually, anything cybertech, information tech, etc (from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson to Matrix-esque type stories)
  

but, I'll take recommendations for almost anything. Really. I'm desperate.

Comments

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Have you read Robin Hobb? (fantasy, not Sci-Fi, but some of the best IMO) (Farseer trilogy followed by the Liveship trilogy (my favorite. Awesome women! Pirates! Sea Serpents!) followed by, um, I think the last trilogy is the Fool trilogy or something like))

Otherwise, um, eh, I've been off Sci-Fi and Fantasy for a bit now. If you want to try regular fiction I HIGHLY recommend anything by Pat Barker - especially Regeneration/The Eye in the Door/The Ghost Road.

Have you read Jane Yolen? Robin McKinley? They both do fun, twisted things with Fairy Tales.

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

I used to love Yolen when I was a kid. I guess I loss track that she didn't just write young adults' fiction. *facepalm*

You know, I looked at the Farseer trilogy and thought "hmm...", but never actually picked it up. Plus, you said pirates, so I think I must check this author out. :)

Other fiction is good! It's just that I, um, well, get slightly intimidated looking at the regular fiction section because I don't know what I like and I'm afraid of picking up something that sucks.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

You know, I looked at the Farseer trilogy and thought "hmm...", but never actually picked it up. Plus, you said pirates, so I think I must check this author out. :)

I LOVE her writing and she creates a very vivid world with detailed characters.
There's three trilogies in the series and each trilogy can stand alone, technically, though the third one really does follow off the first. The second trilogy (the one with pirates) stands alone the best (and is my favorite), but I think you're slightly better off reading them in order. That said if you start with the first and don't like it, I'd recommend giving the second a try anyway.

(so start with the "Farseer" trilogy which all has "Assassin" in the title and then go to "Liveship" which is all "Ship" something and then Fool which is all titled "Fool" something).

It's just that I, um, well, get slightly intimidated looking at the regular fiction section because I don't know what I like and I'm afraid of picking up something that sucks.

*nods* That's why I go off recommendations and when I find an author I like, I binge.