Book Meme, Parts 1 and 2

So, I am not sure where this began, but it looks uberfun. AND WE BEGIN!

Part I: A series you wished had gone on longer or one you wished would just END ALREADY (or both!): Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos. There are some issues with Simmons' work and philosophies and style, but zomg his writing is ambitious and fun to read. I LOVED Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion and even though Endymion/Rise of Endymion are somewhat related to the Hyperion Cantos, they aren't as good or as mind-bending. Moar Hyperion plz. A genre I wish would just end already is chick-lit. EVERY BOOK IS THE SAME JEEBUS H CRISTOBAL. And I have read a fair few--I don't hate without some experience. I just--guh. The same recycled covers, the same bubbly font, the same hip heroine-who-writes-for-a-big-city-magazine-a-la-Carrie, the same duality of male characters, the samezzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Make it go away.

(the Shrike: it's comin' for you)

Part 2: A series or book that you wish more people were talking about and reading: This is a loaded question. I mean, of course I wish more people would read MY favorites, so I'd have something to talk to people about (so that would mean people diving into Hardy, lots of YA, cheap fantasy, and ethnographies). But overall, as a major fantasy fan, I wish there were more titles based around non-European myth bases, like N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead. There are some fabulous bloggers on the Internet talking about fantasy that doesn't deal with dragons (as it were, and please note I do love Patricia C. Wrede), but as yet there doesn't seem to be a lot of that in the market. As an anthro-nerd and as a person who likes to travel, I love reading about different cultures, and let's face it: European myth stories are pretty tired. New blood is needed, literally; I want to see fantasy involving Maori spirits, Inuit deities, Native American myth cycles. Fantasy and science fiction are great vehicles for innovation and speculation (der) and new themes and tropes...why are we still stuck in medieval times?