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Here a couple of fun sites to try if you love books by a certain author and want to find similar authors.



Just type in the author's name and you'll get a "map" of other authors you might like. The closer the new author's name is to the one you put in, the more similar they are.



Make a list of books you love, then click 'what should I read next?'

I just tried the "Literature Map" with two of my favorite SF authors, Iain M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton, and for both of them, Alastair Reynolds came up as the top match... so now I'm thinking I really need to check him out. Any recommendations on where to start?

Stefan--people told me to start with Chasm City by Reynolds, and I did enjoy it. I have yet to read anything more by him, but at some point (when my TBR pile gets smaller) I'll be going back to him.

eta--I just tried the literature map with Richard Morgan & Richard K Morgan (the same person) and got two totally different groups--and each showed the other Richard on the map, but not closely. odd!

Another books is Pushing Ice which is a good standalone novel by Reynolds.

I hate this it makes no sense :(

I dont understand this place. I thouhght it was supposed to be like the yahoo was. I am just out of hosp again. I ask it to send me emails it just sends me links. I do know the chemo and meds are imparing me focus but I just dont understand this. How do I get it to send me the emails? This is too hard to follow

Renee, I find the best way to follow groups is to just come visit the group. Click on "unread" and you'll get a list of all the topics with new posts. When I post, I try to remember to uncheck the box under the comment that says "Email me when people reply" because I don't like having my inbox flooded with e-mails that link back to the message.

Of course, I always followed the Yahoo group by logging on to the group. I signed up for the daily digest, but found it very confusing. I think once you get used to coming to the group instead of checking your e-mail for updates, you'll find that this way works quite well.

I hate this its such a step backwards. Back to the old yahoo way. Its sad to see this happen.

Hey Renee,

Sorry to hear you don't like the new site. You are literally the first person who has said something negative about it. Everyone else so far really likes all the additional features this site offers.

If you just want to get email messages, it's still possible --- the only real difference right now is that you have to click on a link to read the message instead of getting the message in the body of the email. We thought this was a very minor change when you weigh it against all the extra things GoodReads offers.

If you want an easy way to get to all the new messages in one page, bookmark this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/unread...

We definitely won't be moving back to Yahoo. I'm keeping the group open there because it has 8 years of archived messages, but nothing new is really happening there anymore.

If you need help using the site, please drop me a message or feel free to send me an email --- I'll be very happy to help you. I really hope you'll give this site a chance because we'd hate to lose a valued member!

Stefan

This is very hard for me. The chemo makes me so tired that its almost painful to move my hands. one page is not the issue with a line of emails it was just on click there are still many many things to get one message.

yet one more pleasure that I cant have anymore. Cancer sucks, this sucks and sorry i usually can keep the positive attitude they tell me will help me beat this crap but this week so many things are just getting taken away from me.

hugs all

Hi Renee,

I am so sorry you are so ill and this format isn't working for you. However, I suggest you try this. Go to this page:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/user_su...

The site will probably ask you to log in if you're not already. On this page, you can opt to subscribe to all topics in this group without having to subscribe to each topic individually. They can either be mailed to you as a daily digest or individual emails (I opted for digest, because there are a lot of responses!).

I hope this works for you. Please get some rest and take care.

Rennee
You can get a daily mail that actually has all the updates.
Go to this link
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Follow the intructions

Renee - best wishes, and hope that you find yourself on the mend soon.

no it will only send links. i hope to rejoin eventually but things are trully bad this time. I have had much fun here. thanks for the good times

Renee, I'm sorry you're having trouble. I can't imagine how hard this is for you.

If you follow Betsy's instructions, though, and make sure "digest" is checked, you will receive a digest. I receive a digest for a couple of groups and every message posted that day comes to me. I don't like it because I'd rather follow a thread from start to finish but it should work like the Yahoo group. It does have links it in it if you want more info, but it does have the whole post. Also, make sure you're checking the box for the actual group, not the individual threads. If it's the latter you do only get the link. But for the whole group you'll get the digest.

Nancy wrote: "Here a couple of fun sites to try if you love books by a certain author and want to find similar authors.

Literature Map

Just type in the author's name and you'll get a "map" of other autho..."

The second site isn't currently working but I'm thrilled about the first one. Thanks for sharing this!

How do you define "similar authors"?
I have been looking to literature-map and could not find the similarity between Jane Austen and J. K. Rowling and between and C. S. Lewis.

I like Jane Austen, but cannot stand C. S. Lewis.

I ran into the Literature Map link a while back. It didn't really seem to work then and I still have problems with its results. For example: I type in Nancy Kress and find Kage Baker almost superimposed on her name. But If I type in Kage Baker, the two names are almost across the entire page from each other.

Jim wrote: "I ran into the Literature Map link a while back. It didn't really seem to work then and I still have problems with its results. For example: I type in Nancy Kress and find Kage Baker almost superim..."

Jim wrote: "I ran into the Literature Map link a while back. It didn't really seem to work then and I still have problems with its results. For example: I type in Nancy Kress and find Kage Baker almost superim..."

Yes... similarities are a little beat odd.
I found that problem also in here:



To me, similar authors could be authors that wrote about similar subjects (e.g. Jane Austen and Emily Bronte, J. K. Rowling and C. S. Lewis (maybe)) or authors with the same type of audience (meaning, authors of children stories, history books, etc).

I cannot find resemblances between J. K. Rowling, for example, and Jane Austen (apart from both being women!!!)

By the way, with these two authors happens the same problem with the distances that you mentioned.

Just had a go at the map, it says I need to read Terry Goodkind, any suggestions?

Helen wrote: "Just had a go at the map, it says I need to read Terry Goodkind, any suggestions?"

I suggest you pretend you didn't see it. :-)

But, if you must forge ahead, you probably should begin with Wizard's First Rule which is the first of 12 (count 'em, 12) books in the Sword Of Truth series. He published the last one in 2007 and is now apparently in the middle of some new book contracts. But I wouldn't be surprised to see another volume at some point. He is a very popular author and has a huge dedicated band of followers. But his style does not please everyone.

12! I might follow your earlier suggestion and pretend, thanks Jim.

Helen wrote: "Just had a go at the map, it says I need to read Terry Goodkind, any suggestions?"

Run away.

I enjoyed the Sword of Truth series; I especially liked the fact that the author had a satisfying ending for each book even though you knew there were still more volumes. I'd say for her to read Wizard's First Ruleand decide if she wants to continue

Like "Dune", "Wizard's First Rule" works best as a stand alone for me. I liked both a lot. Additional books didn't do anything but disappoint me.

It's true - I take back my last message. The first book isn't bad. I found the second one disappointing, and gave up halfway through the third. Still, he has a huge following so it might be worth checking out, especially if you enjoy authors like Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks.

Just scroll down the reviews on the Wizard's First Rule page and you'll get a pretty good idea of the range of reactions to Goodkind's work.

Looks like I might have to try the first one then, I shall investigate!

Well, if you don't check the reviews, just know that evil manifests its impact to the reader through sexual torture. Many find it tedious (at best) to wade through that aspect of the books. Anti-welfare beliefs are the backdrop for society and "some people have to be killed" is the rallying cry that you can't call subliminal programming of the series because there's nothing sublimal about it. I did get through quite a few before I gave up on the series. For me, was one I'd have preferred not to begin had I known at book one how the story would progress.
But, I am a bit of a Pollyanna when it comes to books and can do without any kind of torture descriptions. Not my thing, might be yours.

I liked Wizard's First Rule well enough to read the second book, but stopped after that.

Wizard's First Rule was ok. The writing is very plain. I liked his world and how the story unfolded
I made it through three books and they just didn't pop out for me. Plain Jane reading plus I didn't want to end up reading a never ending series.
After the TV series came out I went out and picked up the rest of the series.

I found out his last book, The Law of Nines is a modern version of the Sword of Truth. Its main character is a Rahl and he meets a character that is implied to be a Mother Confessor.
He also has a new book coming out. Another Richard and Kahlan story.

Nancy wrote: "Here a couple of fun sites to try if you love books by a certain author and want to find similar authors.


Thanks for both these links. The second one, especially, came up with some new suggestions
The problem with recommendations is that they can only really operate on the subject matter rather than the style. My favourite author is Lois McMaster Bujold and I always get David Weber in the results. But I find the Honor Harrington books just awful Mary Sue crap. Both are mitary sf, true, but they are worlds apart in every other way. oh well, it's understandable that these systems are limited.