Big Dumb Objects (Sci-Fi)

I am a huge fan of those books (and movies) where someone stumbles across an alien artifact, or the remains of an anicent alien civilisation, and its on massive scale. Like, it something so big it generates a sense of wonder at its mere existance. It might be a monolith, or an enormous alien spacecraft. Just anything that dwarves us humans and makes us go, WOW.

Robots exploring their humanity

There's a certain curiousity about robots who strive to be human-like. Especially those robotos who are faster, stronger, better than humans. My favourite of these is the society of robots in Becky Chamber's Monk and Robot series. Those robots retreat to the woods to live a peaceful existance amongst nature, content to spend eons just watching the world breathe.

Hopepunk

I love me a good apocalypse but sometimes I just want to know that humans live on. Whether thats a hundred years after an apocalypse, or just far into the future. I like stories that give me hope for humanity.

Isloted/Trapped

I love stories where people are trapped and have to survive. My favourites are high stake situations, where the opportunity to breath is at risk. For example underwater, high up a mountain, or in space. But I also like regular stories where someone is trapped in a room/elevator/cave etc.

Cozy novels

This is a new one for me, but I have found I quite like cozy novels with low stakes. Just the day to day of someone running an inn, or a bookshop where not a lot happens. Slice of life stories.

Romance

yeah, look, I don't mind a bit of romance as the C plot in a novel so long as its not the main focus.

Teen Paranormal

This is mostly because 90% of teen paranormal novels are actually thinly disguised romance novels. no thanks.

Most but not all Fantasy

I have never really been a fan of Fantasy. Lately I have become interested in Cozy Fantasy but I think thats because they are somewhat light on the fantasy. The kind of fantasy I really dislike though is the High Fantasy novels that are focused on politics, war, monarchies, armies, etc. I'm also not a fan of Elves or Fairies.

Becky Chambers

I think I have loved everything Becky Chambers has written. My first was "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" but I feel like every books written after that just improved. They are all so good! Especially if you love your scifi diverse and hopeful for humanity.

Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers

My favourites! Starts with "A Psalm for the Wild-built", about a travelling tea monk. Its set several hundred years after a robot uprising, but instead of robots destroying humanity, they just left to find their own path. Without them humans switched to sustainable renewable lifestyles. In the first book Dex (the tea monk) meets a robot named Mosscap who has come to check on humanity and see if there is anything they need. In the second book Dex and Mosscap make their way into the woods to find a monastry and Dex connects with the Robot society - who are living in the woods communing with nature. Its such a unique story and I love it so much.

Matthew Reilly

Matthew Reilly writes mostly action novels that I would call a mix of Dan Brown, Indiana Jones, and maybe The Expendables. Two of his series are about ex-military characters. There's the Scarecrow series which focuses on Shane Scoffield, and a series focusing on the character Jack West. I prefer the Scarecrow ones over the Jack West novels but they are both good series. The Jack West series focuses on end of the world events that are prevented via using secret archaeological items at various hidden historical locations - the hanging garden of babylon for example. Scarecrow's adventures are more military in nature and smaller scale, although still high stakes. Matthew Reilly has written some other novels too, and they are mostly good.

Wool (Silo) series by Hugh Howey

I read this series a long time ago, long before the TV Series was ever a thing. I really enjoyed it particularly the world building and the reveal that happens in the later books.

The Writer and The Witch by Robin Sloan

This is a short story, a sort of fable/fairy tale about a man that is cursed by a witch and has to live his life beside a river.

Displaced Person by Lee Harding

This is an Australian novel. Its about a teenage boy that finds people start to ignore him, and he slowly finds himself fading out of our world and into a kind of "grey" world. I had to read it in High School in the 1980s and its stayed with me to today.