What Should I Be Reading?

I’ve read some disappointing stuff lately. Either the subject matter didn’t float my boat, or the book was structured badly— with 200 pages’ worth of padding, say, or with a climax that happens two-thirds of the way through the book instead of toward the end, or with a protagonist so dumb that he makes a box of hammers look like Einstein.

Or, y’know, the writing just sucked.

So I’m open for suggestions. What should I be reading?

Will I really enjoy Neal Stephenson’s 600-page recapitulation of Western Philosophy with all the terms changed? Especially as I’ve already read Western Philosophy?

Should I really try to start the Kushiel books even though I’m not into leather and whips?

Should I be reading about Naomi Novik’s Napoleonic dragons even though I’m a genuine expert on Napoleonic stuff and might really be pissed by what I find?

You tell me.

My tastes are eclectic. I’m not into generic fantasy, generic space opera, generic military SF, generic anything. It has to have the tang of the true and at least a modicum of ingenuity.

I want your opinion. Please offer it to me.