Just curious (seriously not looking to fight): Any overarching reasons why you don't like the recent award-nominated stuff? I don't recall reading a book from the recent nominees that I didn't think was at least good, and a couple of the series ("Broken Earth" and "Lady Astronaut") are among my all-time favorites.
It's been a few years since I really looked closely at the lists, but when I phased out it was a combination of books being too ostentatiously Serious (either depressing and dystopian, or ham-handed commentary about current issues), and books that just used the speculative elements as window dressing for other kinds of plots in ways that I found unsatisfying. It's not that they were bad books in any objective sense, more that the authors were primarily interested in doing things that I didn't find enjoyable. I was doing a lot of heavy sighing and forcing myself through stories I didn't find engaging in the ways I want from genre fiction.
I will give these a try!
Just curious (seriously not looking to fight): Any overarching reasons why you don't like the recent award-nominated stuff? I don't recall reading a book from the recent nominees that I didn't think was at least good, and a couple of the series ("Broken Earth" and "Lady Astronaut") are among my all-time favorites.
It's been a few years since I really looked closely at the lists, but when I phased out it was a combination of books being too ostentatiously Serious (either depressing and dystopian, or ham-handed commentary about current issues), and books that just used the speculative elements as window dressing for other kinds of plots in ways that I found unsatisfying. It's not that they were bad books in any objective sense, more that the authors were primarily interested in doing things that I didn't find enjoyable. I was doing a lot of heavy sighing and forcing myself through stories I didn't find engaging in the ways I want from genre fiction.