Origin of the Matrix relating to a Science Fictional setting... [more inside]
posted by madmamasmith on Dec 24, 2009 - 19 answers

I'm interested in getting a print copy of Zhuangzi to read. What's a good translation or edition?
posted by Arturus on Dec 14, 2009 - 7 answers

Please help me remember the title and author of a short story I read maybe 15 years ago. A handicapped woman, living with her sister and her sister's family, sees a man in church she feels quite sure is the devil. In order to get away from him, she struggles to regain the physical independence she had given up. (She had gone into a wheelchair because walking was possible, but too painful.) She does manage to become self-sufficient enough to move out on her own--and then wonders if it was worth it, after all. I am almost sure the author was Italian. Can anyone help?
posted by uans on Nov 16, 2009 - 0 answers

Recommend some great literature in the Steinbeck tradition. [more inside]
posted by Go Banana on Oct 14, 2009 - 18 answers

I need a book recommendation for my girlfriend; her favourite book is Yann Martel's "Life of Pi". Any ideas? [more inside]
posted by mizike on Oct 7, 2009 - 28 answers

I've taken responsibility for a very small children's library and I'd love your ideas for making it awesome. [more inside]
posted by serazin on Sep 3, 2009 - 14 answers

I demand to know your favorite short story anthologies. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic on Jun 23, 2009 - 30 answers

People talk about "writing the Great American Novel." What do you think are valid examples of the G.A.N.? What novels, American or otherwise, did you enjoy reading and wish you had written?
posted by Busoni on Jun 20, 2009 - 70 answers

What should I read to my 6 year old? What should she read to herself? [more inside]
posted by serazin on Apr 7, 2009 - 51 answers

Help me keep her reading filter: My wife is tearing through the Twilight series right now, and I'd love to keep her swamped in books once she finishes. But the vampire-ness of the series is the least interesting part to her. [more inside]
posted by ekstasis23 on Mar 24, 2009 - 47 answers

I'm looking for readable accounts of revolutionary movements. [more inside]
posted by serazin on Dec 18, 2008 - 13 answers

Can you all help me with some summer vacation reading recommendations? I trust your tastes implicitly. Helpful guidelines inside. [more inside]
posted by Otis on Jul 17, 2008 - 25 answers

Starting a book club for literature of the decadent movement. Starting with Against Nature. What next? What else?
posted by Astro Zombie on May 23, 2008 - 12 answers

What are the classics of genre fiction? What are the best thrillers, mysteries, westerns, horror, romances, etc? [more inside]
posted by TheophileEscargot on Apr 3, 2008 - 27 answers

I am in a search of a program that will help me memorize words... [more inside]
posted by GrooveStix on Jan 22, 2008 - 14 answers

Should I finish off the Harry Potter series of books even though I get totally depressed after reading them? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Nov 30, 2007 - 26 answers

Help me find some good atheist reading materials for my birthday. [more inside]
posted by internet!Hannah on Nov 6, 2007 - 31 answers

(Asking for a friend) What Book is this? I remember reading a book back in High School..... [more inside]
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Oct 31, 2007 - 6 answers

I want to read Russian literature - what do I read? [more inside]
posted by beezy on Oct 17, 2007 - 41 answers

Help me choose some books to nominate for book club. No, no, no, this one's a tad more complicated. :) [more inside]
posted by grrarrgh00 on Sep 17, 2007 - 3 answers

I plan to read a novel from every country. Which books are most worthwhile, both as a means to gain the truest insight into the soul of each land, and also from a literary standpoint? [more inside]
posted by Black Spring on Apr 4, 2007 - 96 answers

Which book would you consider a "universal" book? [more inside]
posted by Jaybo on Mar 14, 2007 - 57 answers

Looking for more fantastic reads, now for 2007. Please help. [more inside]
posted by karen on Dec 26, 2006 - 43 answers

Books/writing on death, loss and grief. [more inside]
posted by cosmonaught on Dec 19, 2006 - 41 answers

I remember a friend of mine telling me about a short story/novel/novella about a baseball pitcher whose pitched balls disappeared after leaving his hand, only to reappear in a totally different place and kill someone. There's [more inside]
posted by reenum on Nov 22, 2006 - 9 answers

I just finished the last book on my Must Read list. Help make me a new one. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic on Oct 27, 2006 - 57 answers

I like to go to dark, smoky, dive bars and sit there with a drink and a book for hours. Unfortunately, I'm running out of good bar reading. Can you help me find more? Examples inside. [more inside]
posted by dersins on Sep 27, 2006 - 48 answers

Please help me select a book as a present for my nephew. He's 19, and when I gave him a Chapters gift card for his high school graduation last spring, he used it to buy a complete set of Tom Clancy novels. Political espionage/intrigue/adventure has to be the genre I know the least about. If my nephew likes Tom Clancy's and Frederick Forsythe's works, what other books in the same genre would he enjoy?
posted by orange swan on Sep 17, 2006 - 25 answers

Help me create a comprehensive reading list on American history [more inside]
posted by dead_ on Jul 17, 2006 - 37 answers

What should I read in Russian and where can I get it? [more inside]
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel on Jul 15, 2006 - 11 answers

Please recommend a good book blog where I can hang out. Because heaven knows I don't fritter away enough time on the Internet. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on May 19, 2006 - 13 answers

I'm looking for the longest sentence in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. [more inside]
posted by rorycberger on Mar 24, 2006 - 16 answers

I'm interested in learning more about language/literature-based events. Not so much the traditional poetry reading, more like innovative ways people come together in a relaxed environment to do some sort of activity that revolves around reading stuff aloud and telling stories. [more inside]
posted by lalalana on Mar 4, 2006 - 7 answers

Researchers, academics, and readers: how do you deal with taking notes, recording passages, keeping a common-place book, and reading long books? What is your note-taking workflow? [more inside]
posted by josh on Jan 19, 2006 - 30 answers

Please recommend some good novels about people between 25-35. [more inside]
posted by callmejay on Aug 30, 2005 - 24 answers

What's your favourite work of trashy fiction? I'm looking for some good, fun, trashy yet smart reads in which I can unabashedly wallow. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Jul 19, 2005 - 47 answers

Help me find a new author in the style of Patricia Cornwell, Iain Banks, Christopher Brookmyre, Ian Rankin etc. [more inside]
posted by Leud on Jun 28, 2005 - 13 answers

How can I learn to read faster? [more inside]
posted by horseblind on Jun 8, 2005 - 10 answers

Can you recommend any great books on fashion and style? [more inside]
posted by orange swan on May 18, 2005 - 7 answers

Fuzzy Memories Please help me identify a book I read as a child. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Mar 22, 2005 - 8 answers

Solve This! I love mystery novels and have a hard time finding some that I like. What do you recommend? [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Mar 8, 2005 - 35 answers

I'm trying to learn about the Edwardian era especially (but not exclusively) in England, Ireland, and Canada. What excellent materials (fiction and non-fiction books, movies, websites, etc.) have you read and seen about this period?
posted by orange swan on Mar 1, 2005 - 17 answers

What are your favourite historical fiction novels? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Johnny Assay on Dec 11, 2004 - 46 answers

The lights along the dim hallway flickered as she walked toward the door at the end. The floor of the old house creaked underneath her webbed feet, but otherwise all was still. Until she heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and she turned and saw.... I love ghost stories. Can any of you recommend some good ones? To give you some idea of what I would like, I loved Edith Wharton's creepy tales and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, but I'll pass on any more Stephen King or Peter Straub. I want good writing, subtlety, suspense, and enough thrills and chills to scare the feathers right off me.
posted by orange swan on Oct 30, 2004 - 16 answers

I just got done reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn for class. Now, I have to find a book that also deals with nature in the same regard to read (ie, we're destroying it- go fix it! Though it could be how nature is ours to control and we should actually exploit it more). Preferable, though not necessary, for my own pleasure would be something that intertwines religion and science with nature (from a negative or positive standpoint) into the book.
posted by jmd82 on Sep 8, 2004 - 15 answers

When reading David Foster Wallace, do you stop for every footnote, or read the piece all the way through and go back and read the footnotes later? Or are you too anti-hip cool to read David Foster Wallace¹? [more inside]
posted by alan on Aug 6, 2004 - 55 answers

Please recommend fantasy novels for someone who doesn't like fantasy novels (more inside). [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Mar 23, 2004 - 58 answers

I've recently had a schedule change at work that leaves me with large chunks of time that I usually fill with reading. Since January 1st I've read 9 books. The problem is that I seem to have exhausted my personal "to read" list and end up in the public library empty-handed. What is the best book you've read in the past year? I'm open to any genre.
posted by ttrendel on Jan 15, 2004 - 68 answers

This is yet another "help me identify a book I read in childhood" question [more inside]. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Dec 19, 2003 - 6 answers