I’ve discovered a new-to-me wondrous website for readers, Literature-Map.
It’s a “if you like this author you should try this one” map. You type in an author’s name, and a page pops up with that author’s name in the centre, surrounded by other authors read by people who read the first. The closer they are, the more people read both.
I typed in Philip Pullman, and there’s Garth Nix and Tamora Pierce and Diana Wynne Jones, and Madeleine L’Engle and Cornelia Funk and …
If I click on Tamora Pierce I get a new map, with Pierce in the centre, surrounded by a whole new bunch of authors, some of whom I don’t know. And I want to, because I love Tamora Pierce and this is a way to find more books like hers.
When I click on Lloyd Alexander, a childhood favorite, I find Susan Cooper, Tamora Pierce, Mary Stewart and Diana Wynne Jones cuddled up close, and other writers I love nearby. And those new ones? I’ll have to check them out.
I have spotted some typos – Le Guin and Ursula K. Leguin are both on the Lloyd Alexander map, in different locations. But that’s a small quibble. I find this an enormously useful website, with a brilliantly simple design.
Maureen