I was playing with Bard last night and gave it a list of books I’ve read and enjoyed recently, and asked it to recommend other books I might enjoy.

Here’s my prompt

The following are the title and author of books that I read and enjoyed recently. Can you recommend other books I might enjoy?

  • Project Hail Mary, Weir
  • Fall, Stephenson
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman
  • A Memory Called Empire, Martine
  • A Desolation Called Peace, Martine
  • Murderbot Diaries books, Wells
  • The Kingston Cycle trilogy, Polk
  • Ancillary Justice, Leckie
  • Ancillary Sword, Leckie
  • Ancillary Mercy, Leckie
  • Gideon the Ninth, Muir
  • All Clear, Willis
  • Blind Lake, Wilson
  • Nettle and Bone, Kingfisher
  • The Graveyard Book, Gaiman
  • Saturn’s Children, Stross
  • The Anomaly, Le Tellier
  • The Daughter of Dr. Moreau, Moreno-Garcia

Bard response

Based on your reading history, I can recommend several books you might enjoy:

Science Fiction:

  • The Martian by Andy Weir: If you enjoyed Project Hail Mary, you’ll likely appreciate Weir’s other work. The Martian is a gripping story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his fight for survival.
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson: Like Fall, Seveneves explores a near-future disaster scenario where the moon is destroyed and its fragments threaten to destroy Earth.
  • The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor: This humorous series follows the adventures of Bob Johansson, whose brain is uploaded into a computer and who then travels the galaxy aboard a self-aware spaceship.
  • The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu: This award-winning Chinese science fiction novel tells the story of first contact between humanity and an alien civilization.
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: If you enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries, you may also like Wells’ Raksura series, which features shapeshifting creatures and political intrigue.

Fantasy:

  • The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Like The Ocean at the End of the Lane, this book features a magical setting and a cast of memorable characters.
  • The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin: This award-winning trilogy explores themes of race, gender, and power in a post-apocalyptic world.
  • The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater: This YA series follows a group of teenagers who discover they have magical powers.
  • The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss: This epic fantasy series tells the story of Kvothe, a legendary musician and adventurer.

Other:

  • The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: This timely novel explores the challenges of climate change and offers solutions for a more sustainable future.
  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid: This magical realist novel follows the story of a young couple who are forced to flee their war-torn country.
  • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: This experimental novel tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s grief over the death of his son.
  • The Overstory by Richard Powers: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores the interconnectedness of all living things.

In addition to these specific recommendations, I can also suggest some general tips for finding books you might enjoy:

  • Read reviews and recommendations: Look for books that have been praised by critics and readers with similar taste to yours.
  • Explore different genres: Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and try something new.
  • Ask for help: Librarians and booksellers can be a great resource for finding new books to read.
  • Join a book club: This is a great way to discuss books with other readers and get recommendations for new titles.

I hope this helps!

  • AFK BRB ChocolateOPEnglish
    2•7 months ago

    Hmmm, well, I’d put the two Weir books and the Teixcalaan books in different categories, but I liked all of those as well.

    I’m guessing you’d very much like the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie, the first of which is Ancillary Justice. You should for sure give it a try.

    Of the books you have on your shelf, I’ve read them all except children of time. I didn’t really care for 3 body, but it was very popular. All the others are all top notch and among my favorite books. Like Wier, Kim Stanley Robinson is a hard SF author (that is, his science is well anchored). His Mars series has lots of characters and politics, but also good science. Necromancer is on my short list of all time favorite books - one of the first cyberpunk novels. Really, all of those are excellent.

    You would probably also like the series that The Expanse show on Prime was based on - the first is called Leviathan Wakes. I’m reading that one now, almost done with it, and I think it would check your boxes. Very well anchored science with three dimensional characters - really good.

    I don’t want to oversaturate, so I’ll stop there, but if those recommendations work out for you and you’re looking for more, let me know!

    • @[email protected]
      2•7 months ago

      Thanks a lot for your comment!!

      Yes I understand that the Weir books and Teixcalaan duology are not that similar :)

      I’ll keep that one on my list once I go on another shopping spree. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve seen all of the expanse and really like it but because I’ve seen it I’m not too keen on reading the books. Even though I’m aware that there are differences.

      Regarding the ones I had, yesterday I read more and yea 3 Body Problem seems like I’ll leave it aside for now.

      I’m currently debating between the Mars Series or the Cyberpunk. I guess the question is if I want hard SF like you mentioned or not. There was this Mars TV show that I watched a few years ago and I really liked it so maybe there’s that, but I watched Cyberpunk EdgeRunners on Netflix and also liked it and made me want to try the game again. So it’s a hard call.

      The Mars series seems quite beefy (in terms of size/pages) while Necromancer is like half the size. Would you say however that the Mars series is an “easy read”? What about Necromancer etc? What I mean by this is that the Weir books are quite easy to go through, especially PHM which both me and my gf devoured. Not only is the story more linear (not necessarily a thing I want it’s just a reason) but it’s also more simple language? The first Teixcalaan book was very interesting but at some point I was a bit lost with all the names and hidden plots.

      As you can see I also like to write testaments in comments so no need to refrain. I will take any info/feedback that you want to share :)

      • AFK BRB ChocolateOPEnglish
        2•7 months ago

        Necromancer is going to be the faster read of those for sure - if it were me, I’d probably do that one first.

        Looking forward to hearing what you think of them!

        • @[email protected]
          2•7 months ago

          Thanks again for the input. I will probably read a few pages of those two and see what I feel like reading the most.

          I’ll try to remember to let you know in the future :)

          Have a great weekend

        • @[email protected]
          2•6 months ago

          Merry Christmas!!! In the end I had to choose one quickly before I went home for the holidays so I quickly read one page or so from these two and decided to go with Red Mars.

          I’m now about 100 pages in and while I’m not in love with it, it is definitely intriguing. The writing style is very sober and not embellished almost at all. He does also go on quite a bit about random stuff from time to time but it’s quite clear that he put a lot of thought into so many things so I’m curious to see how it will pan out. The book is also rather long so I feel ( and in a way hope) that it will pick up a bit more and soon.

          • AFK BRB ChocolateOPEnglish
            2•6 months ago

            Yeah, the story is really three long books so you can forgive some long setup. KSR never seems to be in a hurry, but his stuff is well thought out.

            Let me know how you liked it when you’re done.