Alif the Unseen is more a mashup of sci fi and fantasy, but it is a great book and I would highly highly recommend it!

Kij Johnson's novels set in Heian-era Japan are The Fox Woman and Fudoki.

Upvoted for mentioning Saladin Ahmed. Love that book!

I second the recommendation for Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon, which is wonderful and has some great characters, especially the older ones.

I have read Case Histories and hated it; I can remember all too much of it, especially the dumb twists at the end so that it "subverts" the detective genre.

I cannot second this enough.

I cannot think of a worse insult than "Ready Player One meets Harry Potter"…although "Ready Player One meets" anything is a pretty convincing STAY AWAY sign!

Have you read The Man with the Compound Eyes by Ming-Yi Wu? It combines sci fi with magical realism with, well, I'm not even sure what else, but I loved it. Kind of like watching a new genre form before your eyes, and I really cared about the characters.

I've heard really good things about the Paper Menagerie and Other Stories—good to know I should try that before The Grace of Kings!

The Haunting of Hill House is a classic haunted house story—a ghost-hunter invites 3 people he believes to be psychic to spend a week in a cursed house—and the source of the oft-imitated scene in which someone thinks they're holding their companion's hand, only to discover that the hand in question doesn't belong to…

P.S. You have great taste!

I love The Night Watch, but would not call it thoughtful escapism. It's one of the best books about WWII I've read, but it can (understandably) be depressing.

I love the Sparrow, but I am not at all a fan of Children of Men (which to me destroyed its interesting questions with its terrible structure), and a bit fascinating to find someone has the opposite experience!

I would second that summary, and add that the author's experience of growing up Catholic and later converting to Judaism makes her thoughtful about religion in interesting ways; she is both respectful and critical of her characters of faith in ways I enjoy.

I am one of the many people who adore The Sparrow and would recommend trying it. As other commentators note, it's a book most people either hate or love.

The Sparrow is such a great book.

I was very disappointed by this season of Elementary—and I hope CBS airs an hour of paint drying before I have to sit through more Morland Holmes—but GV's reviews have been a delight, and have reminded me of the things I liked and made me look at certain episodes in entirely new lights. I really appreciate how much…

Given all the pushback in the comments here, I just want to note that I appreciate this piece. It's telling how hard many of the commenters here have to work to flatten the argument into a straw man, or just to a simplistic "lesbians can't be murderers" idea that is far from the reviewer's point.

It's also that this couple was under-characterized even for bit players in the mystery-of-the-week on Elementary. At its best this show gives talented actors a chance to make an impression with even short scenes—I remember relatives of victims who really affected me, and others who channeled strong personalities.

Love and Friendship just opened in the US, and it is a very enjoyable frothy little concoction. I hope you find a way to see it.