That's interesting. I grew up with no-one around me interested in that kind of reading material either. I got into it from reading excellent kiddies' stuff (and I still love Diana Wynne Jones), and then the library near where I lived as a teenager had a surprisingly good SF/F section. I wonder if I can track down who was responsible for Juvenile Fiction in the 80s there, and shake their hand.

I can count on one hand the lovers or friends I've had who've also read SFF. I don't consider myself to be a "fannish" person at all, although I have attended the grand total of two SF cons now. One for 5 hours and the other for 2 hours. I'm Not Worthy either. :-)

But yay for having people around doing recs. That does help with the plunge into the new, because while I'm a fast reader, I don't want to waste my time on a POS.

I'm on the LMB mailing list (as is kikibug13, which is why she's in pimp mode too), and the listees are excellent for all kinds of recs. And other things, like explaining what "polyamory" means (that was a big DAH-DING moment when I was 30), and putting people onto time-sucking sites like L/J. :-)

Well, I hope that when you get to the LMB books, they'll agree with you. It's good you're not wildly excited by spaceships and gunfights, because while that goes on in some of the books, it's really action to fill in the gaps to move the real plot on. IMO, again. Heh.