Looking for books where a person or people are searching for a long lost person. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Dec 18, 2009 - 22 answers

I love Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball". What should I read next? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Dec 8, 2009 - 11 answers

I loved the plot of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Any recommendations for similar books, shows, or movies? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Oct 28, 2009 - 10 answers

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. [more inside]
posted by BitterOldPunk on Oct 22, 2009 - 26 answers

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?
posted by odinsdream on Oct 9, 2009 - 17 answers

Is this a real book? All I remember is that 1 or more characters could activate some kind of special powers or transformational abilities by imagining the shape of a particular object in their mouth. [more inside]
posted by vytae on Oct 3, 2009 - 4 answers

In Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks there is a part where one of the Estodiens say to Quilan, 'I hope you have the wit to realise you past two little tests there, Major, not one'. It appears that I do not have the wit. Possible spoilers inside. [more inside]
posted by Nufkin on Sep 20, 2009 - 5 answers

Please help me understand aspects of the ending of the novel "The Terror" by Dan Simmons! Super spoiler-icious details inside (definitely don't read unless you've read the book, or are sure you never want to)... [more inside]
posted by taz on Aug 21, 2009 - 12 answers

What are some good books (novels, preferably, but willing to look into really excellent non-fiction) to get in the mood for my trip to Sri Lanka in August?
posted by monkeygenius on Jun 22, 2009 - 13 answers

I crave a great novel that's as addictive as a popcorn movie. Please recommend me some literary page-turners. [more inside]
posted by Beardman on Jun 5, 2009 - 104 answers

I'd like to read some mindless romance novels. I'm looking for books that have the drawn-out, difficult, possibly unrequited string-you-along love of a television series. [more inside]
posted by IWoudDie4U on May 21, 2009 - 28 answers

Novels/ book series suggestions? [more inside]
posted by jschu on Mar 30, 2009 - 46 answers

Anybody have recommendations for good historical fiction/nonfiction books set in China or Southeast Asia? [more inside]
posted by ebeeb on Feb 19, 2009 - 20 answers

Stand-alone fantasy book recommendations? [more inside]
posted by Jaybo on Feb 19, 2009 - 57 answers

Dated Young Adult Book Filter: Ad copywriter's boyfriend sleeps with a man? [more inside]
posted by Jonathan Harford on Feb 4, 2009 - 6 answers

Bookfilter: Help me remember this trashy romance novel from my adolescence. [more inside]
posted by messylissa on Dec 11, 2008 - 8 answers

ID That Story: novel (novella? short story?) in which a man is standing in line. Pretty much the entire story is his experience while waiting in line. It's a future/dystopia story. The man is waiting in line to make a complaint. He falls in love with the girl in front of him, though she's not allowed to turn and look at him. It's a parable about overpopulation. It was probably written in the 60s or 70s. That's all I remember.
posted by grumblebee on Nov 20, 2008 - 8 answers

I'm looking for book recommendations along the lines of David Schickler's literary fiction. Fresh, tender, sweet, sexy, steamy, intimate, unabashedly earnest, contemporary literary romance. What has all that and more? [more inside]
posted by cowbellemoo on Aug 26, 2008 - 3 answers

I need a longish, interesting, well-written book (fiction) to read on an upcoming trip. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by mosessis on Aug 21, 2008 - 58 answers

[spoilers within] Please help me understand the ending of Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. [more inside]
posted by drgonzo on Jul 30, 2008 - 11 answers

Can you recommend some good mystery novels for me to read? The last mystery novels I read that I really liked were the Hilary Tamar series by Sarah Caudwell. I liked those because they were fairly light and not gory. But I especially liked them because the dialogue/narration was sharp, witty, and wry. What are some other mystery writers who write like this? [more inside]
posted by bluefly on Jul 25, 2008 - 33 answers

Book recommendation: Looking for a modern novel that revels in the modern metropolis: its mass of strangers, dark pockets, finds beauty in filth and filth in beauty. Examples: Witchgrass by Raymond Queneau, Bright Lights Big City by Jay McInerny, Paul Auster
posted by Jason and Laszlo on Jul 23, 2008 - 23 answers

Help me find this book about people abducted by nontraditional faeries! [more inside]
posted by overglow on Jun 26, 2008 - 4 answers

About six years ago, a friend lent me a fantasy book, I'm trying to figure out what it was called. The main character was raised (and possibly summoned) by a wizard deep in the forest, near the beginning of the book the wizard's power starts to flag and the young boy has to leave. He ends up in a castle and when he hears certain words it triggers memories from his past life.
posted by atrazine on Jun 8, 2008 - 6 answers

Can you think of examples of movies based on novels (or short stories) that are very, very faithful to the source work? [more inside]
posted by zardoz on Jun 1, 2008 - 70 answers

What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region [more inside]
posted by reenum on May 6, 2008 - 16 answers

The title of the novel also appears in the book as a chapter title. Apparently, there's a name for it. What's it called?
posted by mordecai on Apr 29, 2008 - 4 answers

MysteryNovelFactFilter: I'm reading a mystery novel and the protagonist triumphantly announced she knew who did it because a) the victim broke his neck after a long fall and b) the police revealed this info to her. Is this actually possible? [more inside]
posted by arnicae on Mar 29, 2008 - 11 answers

Looking for books about the absurdity of life in an office or corporate environment [more inside]
posted by reenum on Mar 5, 2008 - 32 answers

I want to read this book again. [more inside]
posted by essexjan on Feb 28, 2008 - 6 answers

Help me remember title of really explicit and racy romance novel from the 70s or 80s please! The main character was a young orphaned woman who was in love with her rich caretaker who was a male family member who took her virginity so roughly that she required surgery and was left barren. [more inside]
posted by citystalk on Feb 16, 2008 - 3 answers

I remember reading this sci-fi book a long while ago, but I can't remember anything easily googleable. Can anyone help identify it? [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Feb 10, 2008 - 2 answers

What is the 19th Century illness that disfigures Esther Summerson of Dicken's Bleak House? [more inside]
posted by oneirodynia on Jan 6, 2008 - 9 answers

Help me find a specific type of time travel novel. [more inside]
posted by OpinioNate on Dec 10, 2007 - 20 answers

BookFilter: I've recently gotten done with Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (link here). I'm looking for more books like it. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Apr 23, 2007 - 19 answers

Is there a definitive resource on the web for finding literary agents who represent science fiction and fantasy? [more inside]
posted by JWright on Apr 6, 2007 - 13 answers

Anybody know any good novels either about or a good chunk of which is set in the Caribbean? [more inside]
posted by Heminator on Mar 21, 2007 - 40 answers

I'm going to Barcelona this weekend and wanted to get a book for the flight and for when I'm relaxing over there. Does anyone know of any good books that feature the city quite prominently? I'm happy to consider fiction, non-fiction, sporting, historical or political books, anything that you might have enjoyed and that you think might help me engage that little bit more with what Barcelona has to offer.
posted by uk_giffo on Feb 25, 2007 - 10 answers

Help me find a Sci-Fi / Fantasy book whose title I've forgotten! [more inside]
posted by arnicae on Feb 13, 2007 - 3 answers

Once I've made my sci-fi novel available via Lulu.com, will it still be viable to shop around to agents and editors for potential mass-market publication? Are there factors that influence it? For example, if it sells a lot, is it considered a good buy by a publisher, or has it basically had its first run?
posted by JWright on Dec 8, 2006 - 9 answers

Has Finnegans Wake ever been translated? How?
posted by dead_ on Oct 20, 2006 - 36 answers

What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers

I am trying to remember the titles and authors of two possibly linked young adult novels. [more inside]
posted by interrobang on Apr 12, 2006 - 10 answers

BookFilter - I'm trying to remember the title of a book involving two RAF pilots who bail out and end up exploring an underground world. [more inside]
posted by greycap on Mar 6, 2006 - 6 answers

What is this post-apocalypse book that features "New Sealand"? [more inside]
posted by jonesor on Feb 28, 2006 - 11 answers

What is the Great Australian Novel? [more inside]
posted by Nelson on Jan 18, 2006 - 49 answers