Help me find that perfect novel for a Christmas present. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 10, 2009 - 15 answers

Pulp Filter: I'm looking for books (fiction or non) that read like the recent Bond films: dark, thrilling, brutal, and glamorous.
posted by roger ackroyd on Nov 6, 2009 - 25 answers

BookFilter: I'm looking for a novel that I read several times in the early '90s; despite having read and enjoyed it several times, I've forgotten the title and author! [more inside]
posted by Skoloxia on Oct 21, 2009 - 9 answers

[LibraryFilter] What are your best resources for (fiction) reader's advisory (children, YA, adult)?? [more inside]
posted by tamarack on Jul 24, 2009 - 7 answers

Recently finished 2666. It is on a pedestal by itself, with my award for "Best Novel Ever." Now, everything I try to read seems jaded, inferior, or doesn't measure up. Help me get beyond this and find something interesting to read
posted by Xurando on Jun 2, 2009 - 37 answers

Who are the new exciting, young novelists of the 21st century? I suddenly find myself with a lot more time on my hands for reading. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 2, 2009 - 24 answers

Since I began a reading life (at about age eight), I have had a problem: my mind automatically places action in just a few places familiar to me from my life: my house, the main street of my hometown. Whether the action in a novel takes place in 16th century Scotland, or the Black Forest, or under the Unisphere. Are there ways to get around this, or to learn to read fiction more actively, and, fantastically/creatively? [more inside]
posted by Tufa on Jan 29, 2009 - 30 answers

NovelFilter: Hive mind, I have come to the shocking realization that my to-read queue is empty. I really enjoy the surreal side of Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, etc.), and I've recently been remembering the absolutely wonderful creations in Perdido Street Station. Help me find new novels that will send my mind to weird and fantastic places! [more inside]
posted by DoubleMark on Aug 2, 2008 - 46 answers

Two of my favorite books for summer are "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin and "Smilla's Sense of Snow" by Peter Hoeg; I'd like suggestions for other (preferably hefty) novels with complex/absorbing story lines and wintry settings or themes to help me stay sane 'til September. Got an ice book to recommend?
posted by taz on Jun 10, 2008 - 46 answers

I'm looking for popular books, novels, magazines, comic books...in European French (not Canadian French). I'd also like to be able to easily order/purchase them from home (preferably from places like Amazon.com). [more inside]
posted by iamkimiam on Dec 4, 2007 - 8 answers

Classic Novel filter : What would be considered classics in 1980s, 1990s, 2000s? Must reads? [more inside]
posted by boyinmiami on Sep 14, 2007 - 37 answers

Recommendations for historical fiction about Paris? I'll be there for a couple of weeks, and have found that historical novels can really help me sink my teeth into a place. I have no particular era in mind, so the period is less important than the setting and the writing.
posted by walla on Dec 15, 2006 - 21 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

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

What are some good Swedish novels? [more inside]
posted by fire&wings on Mar 20, 2006 - 17 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

To all Philip K. Dick fans: Dick seems to have published a formidable amount of work, and rather than trying to read all of his novels/short stories, I'm wondering if any MeFites are familiar with his books and could recommend his best 5 or so. [more inside]
posted by Malachi Constant on Apr 28, 2005 - 38 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've just finished both David Gilmour's Sparrow Nights and Scott Spencer's Endless Love, each for the second time. They're even better than I remember them. What's your favorite book about unrequited love? I'd like to keep up the streak.
posted by dobbs on Apr 27, 2004 - 17 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

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