I would like to spread the word on a release party of sorts for a small publication that specializes in experimental poetry, literature, and conceptual writing.
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posted by archivist
on Jun 10, 2013 -
5 answers
I don't have as much hair as I used to, and I understand this is not uncommon! It seems like the sort of thing Updike would have written about, or some other self-reflective male writer of a certain age, and I'd like to be able to read (and ideally quote) something well-written or epigrammatic for when the subject comes up.
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posted by piato
on Jun 7, 2013 -
33 answers
Take your field, your sport, your hobby, your area of occupation and tell me the best way to become really good at some aspect of it. Don’t hesitate to name some form of practice that is heavily monotonous and laborious if it manages to yield awesome results. I don’t care how tedious it is. All I’m interested in are forms of practice or exercises that do elicit measurable improvements in a person’s ability to complete some task or exhibit some skill.
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posted by RapcityinBlue
on Jun 3, 2013 -
39 answers
I'm nearing completion of a book of very short stories that riff in various ways on the 'joke' form. The pieces are 1-2 pages. I want to publish this book. I'm not sure the best way.
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posted by skwt
on May 27, 2013 -
4 answers
For a project I'm currently working on as part of my graduation in Graphic Design, I wanted to compile something like an atlas of fictional cities. These may be from books, legends, stories, video games, advertisements, comics, really whatever... Even "real" cities but alternate versions, imagined or in some way deviate from their real counterpart are valid.
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posted by ahtlast93
on May 18, 2013 -
47 answers
Due to persistant recommendations on AskMe, I am finally reading (well, listening to) The Golden Compass. It's amazing. Now I want to read
about The Golden Compass.
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posted by latkes
on May 13, 2013 -
15 answers
A group I belong to plans to have a book-themed
Cupcake Wars party. Everyone's supposed to make a batch of cupcakes with a name based on a book title. Example: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cupcakes.
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posted by BibiRose
on May 11, 2013 -
27 answers
I'm looking for the unexpected, overlooked masterpieces hiding within conventionally marginal artistic genres: novelty Christmas music albums, mass market cowboy novels, direct-to-video action movie sequels, etc.
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posted by Iridic
on May 7, 2013 -
16 answers
I'm looking for recommendations for contemporary(ish) literary fiction written by folks who are not white men.
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posted by shakespeherian
on May 7, 2013 -
55 answers
Asking for a friend: I like to read, but I don't like reading Literature. I feel really crappy about this. What literary books might I like that do not read like literature?
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posted by goosechasing
on Apr 24, 2013 -
51 answers
Crowd-sourcing a student's question: I'm looking for contemporary novels about Iraq, Afghanistan, 9/11, and the war on terror that have been authored by women.
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posted by gerryblog
on Apr 24, 2013 -
15 answers
I have in mind two (fiction) classics on the subject: An Enemy of the People (Ibsen) and The Winter of Our Discontent (Steinbeck). I would appreciate it if you could guide me to other valuable works on this issue.
posted by Basque13
on Apr 23, 2013 -
27 answers
If I were to choose 10 fiction and 10 non-fiction books to read within the next year to make me a better, more well-rounded conversationalist (for argument's sake, let's say within a college-educated professional audience), what books would give me the most bang for my buck?
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posted by dynamiiiite
on Apr 23, 2013 -
37 answers
Where is this mystical land where it is acceptable to answer statements with: "So?"
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posted by 256
on Apr 5, 2013 -
40 answers
Why do horror stories often feature mysterious relics that often have information encoded in them, such as accursed old books, runes, etc.? What kinds of anxieties is this trope meant to express?
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posted by Ambrosia Voyeur
on Apr 4, 2013 -
34 answers
So I've been doing a little bit of teaching of free adult classes in my erstwhile academic specialty, an area of literature. (I am not an academic and do not teach except for community stuff.) I have trouble with big group discussion and balancing my role in the class.
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posted by Frowner
on Apr 3, 2013 -
13 answers
My kids (a boy and a girl) are now five years old, and my wife or I read to them every night before bed. I'd like to start reading larger books to them which we can stretch out throughout a week or more, by reading them a chapter a night. Please help me put together a great reading list of age-appropriate books that will capture their imaginations and inspire happy dreams.
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posted by zarq
on Apr 2, 2013 -
61 answers
I have a hazy memory of a piece of writing that I would like to identify. It might have been poetry or prose. It might have been modern or not. It might have been in Italian, French, or English. It's an exchange between the protagonist, a man, and an antagonist - possibly a devil? The antagonist is comparing cow's milk to urine, saying that they are both liquids that come out of cows and are essentially the same. The protagonist says that they are essentially difference and if the antagonist can't articulate why, that simply means the lack is in his understanding. Then he is whisked away somehow.
It's been a long, long, time since I read this, but it made a big impression on me, and I'd like to find up where it is from. If anyone recognizes this exchange please let me know. Obviously google searches are problematic given the subject matter.
posted by bq
on Mar 20, 2013 -
1 answer
I'm looking for a specific article that claimed that Mikhail Sholokov did not write And Quiet Flows the Don (or at least not the first and best part of it), but instead he plagiarized it.
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posted by lewedswiver
on Mar 16, 2013 -
1 answer
I'm working on a creative project about somebody who gets his brain removed and put in a vat. What should I read?
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posted by HeroZero
on Mar 15, 2013 -
27 answers
The British seem to have a particular talent for this (e.g. Wodehouse and Jeeves, Amis and Lucky Jim), so I'm eager to hear more about British authors, but I'm also open to other suggestions.
posted by jtothes
on Mar 14, 2013 -
18 answers
I have (late-diagnosed) ADHD & I've just become a graduate student. I'm medicated, and under the care of professionals. This question is about best methodologies in graduate studies, particularly in remembering research I've read.
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posted by b33j
on Mar 12, 2013 -
9 answers
I was linked a book some time ago via twitter, but that account is now gone and with it went the link.
Things I remember:
Pretty sure it was called "Daylight" (maybe not that, but definitely a time word. daytime? morning?)
Content: the text was just the entirety of a single day's New York Times transcribed
The link went to the publisher, I recall seeing it on Amazon also.
I believe published in the early 90s. 93ish? But still purchasable
Currently going crazy trying to find it with such not-so-limiting search terms. My browser history doesn't go back far enough to find it there. Hoping someone familiar with it happens upon this, I guess.
posted by arsey
on Mar 8, 2013 -
1 answer
If anyone recognises this story, please can you tell me the author? I think the story is about five years old. An ordinary man with low self-esteem is dumped by his beautiful intelligent accomplished girlfriend. She gives him a dog as a pity present, with a snide subtext that the dog is better than he is. Gradually through caring for the dog, a magnificent Alsation, and taking pride in it, the man recovers his self-esteem and becomes sought-after. It's a story that feels as if it has a lot of undercurrents and as if it's not as simple as it looks: in some way the dog stands in for the guy, or represents the guy or becomes a totem for him. Or something.
posted by glasseyes
on Mar 3, 2013 -
3 answers
Hi Mefites!
So I'm wondering if anyone can help me in finding something to argue in a 5-6 page paper regarding 'cultural contact zones' in Orwell's essay ' A Passage to India'.
Specifically, "the concept of a “contact zone” emphasizes how subjects are constituted in and by their relations to each other, usually involving conditions of coercion, inequality, and conflict. It treats the relations among colonizers and colonized not in terms of separateness but in terms of interaction and interlocking understandings and practices, often within radically asymmetrical relations of power." ( this is part of the prompt). Any suggestions? I'm usually a fairly competent writer but am having trouble here.
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posted by marsbar77
on Mar 2, 2013 -
15 answers
Which works published anytime in the last century are Platonic-style dialogues on philosophical themes?
posted by shivohum
on Feb 12, 2013 -
27 answers
I'm halfway through
A Canticle for Leibowitz and am enjoying it so much that I'm doling it out slowly. It reminds me in a lot of ways of another favorite book
The Name of the Rose. I'd love recommendations for books that have that combination of erudition and imagination/fantasy.
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posted by the sobsister
on Feb 6, 2013 -
46 answers
Seeking recommendations for fiction that features matriarchy / female led societies.
posted by travelwithcats
on Feb 4, 2013 -
36 answers
I work for a small literary magazine. The incoming managing editor wants us to have a magazine app for tablets that appears on those virtual magazine racks. Is this a good idea, and if so what's the best way to do this?
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posted by Cantdosleepy
on Feb 1, 2013 -
6 answers
Simple enough question. I've never read any Elmore Leonard, and think I will give him a whirl. Where should I start?
posted by Alaska Jack
on Jan 21, 2013 -
18 answers
How do you decide what books to read? Recommendations? Reviews? Go to the bookstore and read a chapter? I often find myself overwhelmed with the zillions of choices. How do you narrow it down?
posted by SampleSize
on Jan 9, 2013 -
40 answers
My taste in novels has generally tended towards the classics but lately I feel like reading some good contemporary fiction. Please recommend some recent-ish books that are well-written and well-crafted, have emotional depth and deal with human relationships in insightful and moving ways. Kazuo Ishiguro is an example of the kind of writer I'm looking for.
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posted by zeri
on Jan 4, 2013 -
24 answers
I'm traveling to Moscow (and likely St. Petersburg as well)! Tell me all your best resources, materials, and hacks!
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posted by greta simone
on Dec 18, 2012 -
12 answers
I'm looking for some good armageddons. I'm MCing an End-of-the-World poetry reading on December 21st and I want to read a few short passages from apocalyptic texts. I've already settled on the Book of Revelations and Ragnarök, but I'd like to cast a wide net and find some non-Western and/or non-religious/mythological descriptions of the end times. Can you recommend a good doomsday for me to read?
posted by Kattullus
on Dec 17, 2012 -
26 answers
I've been asked to put together a longish reading list for a BA Art/Literature module, and I'd love some ideas for texts outside my current knowledge. The list should cover a series of genres and contexts, with writing from, and about, the history and theory of art, journalism, academia, design, architecture and film. Writing on design and architecture are particularly outside my knowledge. What innovative and critically significant writings can you recommend across any of these subject areas?
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posted by 0bvious
on Dec 14, 2012 -
8 answers
Recommendations for fiction about the rich and all their trappings, imposters within that world, or stories where the mighty fell and then rose again?
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posted by dean winchester
on Dec 12, 2012 -
27 answers
I've been tasked to find metasatirical horror novels: horror novels (or short stories, I suppose) that explore, criticize and parody their own genre tropes. What are the prose equivalents of
The Cabin in the Woods and
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon?
posted by Faint of Butt
on Nov 30, 2012 -
15 answers
I am looking for examples of authors who have used unconventional graphical conventions in their work, published in traditional dead-tree form (books, magazines etc.). Excluding graphic novels, comics etc. Obvious example would be e.e. cummings using lower case; perhaps other poets who use text unconventionally. but novels? There's the big S at the start of Joyce's Ulysses. But what authors have exploited the graphical possibilities of the printed medium in an extensive way? thanks.
posted by cogneuro
on Nov 27, 2012 -
46 answers
