Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Is it just me? I look at my book recommendations several times per week. I know there's lots of new stuff out there in the realm of LGBT fiction and non-fiction yet my GLBT recommendations are almost always for books that are 10-15 years old or more (back when it still was GLBT and not LGBT and later iterations). So many of these books, other than actual early histories and biographies are so dated.

I get recommendations for books on marriage equality that were written 10 years ago. We've seen the world move in the areas of gender transition in the last 10 years and yet the books that are recommended are all at least 5 years old. And frankly, if I get one more recommendation for a book from the '90s that's 'groundbreaking' I'm going to scream.

The fiction side is no better. Even though I've rated LGBT themed books that I've read that have been published in the last few years - and there's been an explosion in the digital publishing industry in that time with plenty of LGBT themed fare - I'm still getting recommendations for books that were written light years ago only.

Is this happening to anyone else? Why do you think it's happening?

I assume you're talking about the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ recommendations that are based on what is on your various shelves.

I don't pay attention to these. If I need a recommendation, I generally get it from someone I know and whose reading interests reflect mine. Many have also come from group reads on various groups I belong to. Also, since much of my professional life is spent reading the scientific literature, I generally only read Fiction. If I feel like exploring a new discipline, I generally use primary sources.

I don't think fiction ever goes out of date and I have such a backlog of unread books laying around in piles, I don't really explore recommendations from GR. I don't fully trust their motives, their being owned by Amazon. I mostly read by author and most new publishings come from these authors new works or series I'm continuing. Besides I still have to catch up with White, Chabon, Isherwood, and Hollinghurst, et al. ;-)

BTW, I still use GLBT as well as LGBT. Is that not considered pc by the au courant?

Yes, Kernos, I was talking about the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ recommendations. Thank you for making me clarify.

Your point about fiction never going out of date is valid but it would still be nice to see fiction recommendations that are not at least 10 years old. Yes, Amazon does own this site now but, frankly, they're the ones standing at the forefront of the digital publishing revolution and they're the ones offering all you can eat ebook subscriptions. It doesn't make sense that the only things that get recommended are things that mostly have not made it past print because publishers hold the rights to them.

Methinks this either has something to do with the aforementioned publishers (because, now that I think about it, a lot of recommendations in all of my categories are pretty dated) or, in the case of the GLBT stuff it may be an algorithm issue that may or may not have something to do with using only that acronym.

LGBT is now in more common use than GLBT. Either is correct but, since we've moved past just those four letters, you often see LGBTQIA with 'Q' equaling Queer (but not necessary identifying as L, G or B), 'I' equaling Intersex (which has to do with physical characteristics more than sexual orientation) and 'A' equaling Asexual. The GLBT acronym is disappearing with the winds of time and change.

I've always read what I like, and what I like are authors who, regardless of when their books were/are published, write well, and inspire me to do the same. Keros noted a few: White, Hollinghurst, Chabon, Isherwood. I would add Holleran, Picano, and others. Whether these authors are writing during the GLBT or LGBT, or, as you note, Anne, LGSTQIA eras, is superfluous. At least for me it is. To believe that "dated" books by worthy authors are not, oh, relevant, is, I think, denying yourself the opportunity to discover some fine writing, by accomplished authors whose storytelling is as relevant now as when it was written...regardless of, um, labels, or the crudities of current publishing practices.

I've been misunderstood and I do apologize. I wasn't saying that there aren't great books recommended or that I disliked everything that was recommended. On the contrary, while plenty of good books are offered, the recommendations are so dated that I find that I've read most of what is being recommended already. I rate them since I've read them and refresh and the books are promptly replaced by more books that are, at a minimum, at least 10 years old.

Anne wrote: "I've been misunderstood and I do apologize. I wasn't saying that there aren't great books recommended or that I disliked everything that was recommended. On the contrary, while plenty of good books..."

Anne, I suppose I didn't make my point adequately. And no need to apologize. I was arguing, though I didn't actually say it, that I don't even look at recommendations. I just know what I like--usually authors as opposed to genre--and read away.

That's my point Don, exactly. Thank you. Lots of what is recommended to me I read years ago - I'm no spring chicken - and quite a bit of the non-fiction stuff that gets recommended is extremely dated.

I too like fiction - Lesbian themed fiction. There's boatloads of it out there but it seems that one in every 20 recommendations might be lesbian themed fiction and it's all older. I've played with my settings to choose eBooks too but I almost never get one recommended. And, heaven help me, I once was presented with some classic children s books that I had either read myself years ago or I'd read to my son while he was little. Because I dared to rate those my "fiction" recommendations now get inundated with books for children.

The recommendations system here leaves a lot to be desired.

Anne, I agree with you about GR recommendations being outdated. I don't like what it generates for me. They are imprecise at best. If I read one book which has a few scenes in Russia, then GR recommends a bunch of books on Russia. I've had much better luck with Amazon recommendations because (I think) they have a profit incentive.

It would be nice to know that books are current (or somewhat current) and that authors write them and publishers publish them. And yes, I’d like to know when a favorite author has something new.

Also, I think GR has an algorithm that focuses only on one book AT A TIME and not on a member's reading patterns or characteristics. This is a huge mistake. Amazon counters this, somewhat, because it shows what a customer bought in addition to the one book being viewed. I think LibraryThing has a nice feature where it looks at your library and will find other users with similar libraries. Then you can then find other titles from their libraries.

Hi Ming. You've brought up some very interesting points. I do agree that the system here relies a lot on looking at one particular book that you've read and then making recommendations based on that single book. I see a lot of this in the mystery genre especially. I've read hundreds of mysteries by dozens of authors but I'm repeatedly recommended international spy thriller type stuff because I rated some Tom Clancy and John Le Carre stuff that I read eons ago.

If something pops up and I've read it, I rate it and move on. Perhaps, with Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, that's a bad practice. It's almost as if their system takes that as you're reading that currently. I mentioned that I had the same thing happening because I dared to rate a few children's books I'd read or read to someone so now I'm getting a lot of Children's book recommendations.

The odd thing is, when I read something that's been published in the last couple of years and rate it, their algorithms seem to completely ignore it. It's as though they have nothing to compare that book against - regardless of the number or ratings or reviews - so it's discounted or completely disregarded in the algorithm.

As for my original post, yesterday one of my recommendations in the GLBT category was a book written in 2005 (10 years old) about the era of lesbian pulp fiction. It looked interesting so I marked it as "Want to Read". I was promptly recommended lesbian pulp fiction books from the 1940s to the 1960s setting the aging of my recommendations back even further. That just proves to me that the age of a title and its popularity over time is one of the biggest factors in the recommendation algorithm here.

I enjoy playing around with GR recommendations. I am pleased with the recommendations I am getting now, and I actually get quite a few recent ones. But I also know the reason for that: I read a lot of Young Adult LGBT fiction, and on the whole that is quite a recent genre.

I recommend checking out all options GR offers for recommendations. There is a pretty big difference between my recommendations by genre (GLBT) and recommendations based on my own LGBT shelf. The latter is definitely more accurate for my tastes.

What honestly bothers me more about the recommendations is that in the genre recommendations I get a lot of fanfiction-like romance novels that I suspect are aimed at a heterosexual audience (I am sure you know the type of books)... eh.

I've created my own LGBT shelf too and I add what I've read in the past, what I'm currently reading and what I want to read to it too. My recommendations have improved a little since I first posted this and I've made more of an attempt to pay attention to that shelf.

I'm not getting the fan fiction and romance novel recommendations that you are but then I don't read YA Fiction or romance so that probably makes a difference in that and in my overall site driven GLBT recommendations. I do know the type of work you mean. There's a lot of m/m fiction out there written by straight women for straight women and an almost equal amount of f/f fiction written for straight women and the occasional straight man who reads such fluff and dreams of threesomes.

I don't read any romance, in fact I actively avoid it ;-) And especially that type of M/M and F/F fiction. That's why it annoys me so much, it's such a waste of space on my recommendations list...

Carola wrote: "I don't read any romance, in fact I actively avoid it ;-) And especially that type of M/M and F/F fiction. That's why it annoys me so much, it's such a waste of space on my recommendations list..."

I don't totally avoid it, esp if part of SciFi, Historical Fiction or Fantasy genres, but I am prone to read the more 'literary' authors and tend to avoid self published examples. If you like I can list my favorite novels that have m.m romance, but which is not the only reason for the novel.

I definitely read books that have romance in them, but they almost always cross over into another genre :) Like you I especially appreciate sci-fi and fantasy (and occasionally historical fiction as well). Even with young adult fiction I tend to pick the novels that do not have the romance as their main focus.

But even then I do think there is a huge difference between books that have romance (or even LGBT+ romance novels), and M/M or F/F fiction/fanfiction by and for a straight audience.

Anyway, definitely interested in your recommendations, Kernos!