What do I need to read?

[kennahijja]

My f-list is wise and perceptive and well-read, so here's the problem:

I'm badly out of good books. That, and my birthday isn't all that far off, so I would have an excuse for hitting Amazon. But as it is, I'm even out of books I know I desire madly. Hence, I'll ask you. What would you rec? What excited you recently?

What *do* I like? Fantasy, horror, SF if it's character-driven and not technology-heavy. Slashy, dark, unusual, stylistically beautiful, erotic. Other genres if the themes fit.

Examples that rocked my world... Carey's 'Kushiel' series, Friedman's 'Coldfire', McMaster Bujold's 'Miles Vorkosigan' series, McKillip's 'Riddlemaster' trilogy. General fondness for MZB, Guy Gavriel Kay, C J Cherryh, Octavia Butler... Storm Constantine, apart from the undisciplined plots. Liked Lynn Flewelling's 'Nightrunner' series for the slash, but otherwise it's too cliched for me... Not much into the Tolkien clone type stuff...

Suggestions will be lovingly huggled! :)

And if anyone ever stumbled across a list of homoerotic fantasy novels, I'd so love to see that :).

Comments

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Oh, even if I hadn't trusted your taste before, I would after the Alessandro Baricco you gave me! That last one looks positively brilliant. Even if I prefer Gibson filtered through you and H/D :D.

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

I virtually raced through the Grail book - while wanting it to go on and on. To just never end, please. So not only is it a book that manages to give you lots of Rennes le Chateau insides AND piss all over Dan Brown and his ilk, AND tell of a great a road trip that goes wrong in various horrible and funny ways, no it's also a very real quest, and the tale of a great friendship. Plus a good manual on how to not get caught in the slight but crippling midlife crises of men and women of a certain age who realize they're not all that young anymore but still looking for that *something*.

Also, do give Spook Country a chance; if only for the leanness of Gibson's style. He's a magician dabbling in simulacra...