Suggest a book based on likes/mehs/dislikes?

I used to be a voracious reader. If you put a book in my hands, I would read it as fast as possible. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten pickier, and it’s making me a little annoyed. I would love to finish more than about five books this year! So I come to you, hat in hand, asking for help based on the things I love, the things that were strictly okay, and the things I do not want to try again.

Love:

LOTR: This series lives rent-free in my head. I love the world, I love the characters, I love the way it makes me feel—a little happy, a little sad, a lot nostalgic but in a comfortable way. I also love starting small and getting big.

When The Angels Left The Old Country: Take Good Omens, make the scope smaller, and give it to a Jewish author. I love Pratchett and Gaiman and have read several of their books, but this is living rent-free in my head right now.

The Dark is Rising Sequence: I haven’t reread this in a while, but it still sits vividly in my head, especially Silver on the Tree. I will be going back to it as soon as I can afford a box set.

Every Heart A Doorway: I used to be a weird little girl even though I’m not now. I have never felt as seen by a book before.

Meh:

Light from Uncommon Stars: I was drawn in by the promise of Good Omens, but this didn’t quite scratch that itch. I kinda back flipped out when the meet-cute ended up being over a bathroom break. And it took too long to really get to Katrina, the character I was interested in most. I want to try again later when I have more time, though, because I love the prose.

Once & Future: I finished this strictly because I really liked the interplay between Ari and Merlin. The plot was jerky and a little bland, and the prose was not super evocative. I gave up on the second book when it started feeling like I was being preached to about how ancient times were horrible—bad case of telling where they should have shown.

A Wizard from Earthsea: I loved the prose, but the story felt a little light for my taste. It didn’t feel like a world that existed so much as a world that was just there to facilitate the story. I prefer worlds that have some heft to them.

Dislike:

A Song of Ice and Fire: Violent, sexual, depressing, multiple main character deaths. No. Just no.

Harry Potter: This is just on here to keep anyone from suggesting it. I used to love it, but J. K. Rowling broke my heart with her rhetoric and the more I learn about it the more I realize she’s also super antisemitic in her portrayal of goblins.

Midnight Riot: I am not interested in listening to the internal complaints of a guy who hasn’t proven to me that he’s good enough to do what he wants to or who is salty a girl is getting to do what he wants to. It’s not pleasant and it was exceedingly distracting from a promising mystery.

by silentsnowdrop