Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Novels

Looking for a seaworthy gift for my dad.

synecdoche — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:41:18 -0800

Book-recommendation-filter: help me choose a book to get for my dad for Christmas. I'm hoping somebody can recommend a book for my dad for Christmas. Growing up, I remember him reading mostly books about naval warfare (he is a former merchant seaman), World War I and II, and British Cold War spy novels. He loves anything to do with ships; his favourite movie is The Cruel Sea and he is a fan of Monsarrat's novels as well, including The Master Mariner. He also LOVES documentaries like Victory at Sea and more modern ones about naval warfare, especially in World War I and II. He's also expressed a fondness for Frederick Forsyth (especially The Shepherd). Lately, however, he's also enjoyed Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and The Road.

I had originally thought about getting him either Blood Meridian or All the Pretty Horses but I don't think he'd enjoy those as much as the McCarthy he has read. Blood Meridian is too abstract and possibly too violent, and All the Pretty Horses might be too much of a Western and maybe, for lack of a better phrase, too "American." (My dad's Irish.) As much as I love it, I don't think Moby-Dick would be up his alley either, in spite of the nautical material.

Any ideas for books I should consider? I guess it needn't necessarily be a book—interesting DVDs would work, too, but this is a supplement to another main gift so I'm hoping to keep it fairly inexpensive.

The perfect novel?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:28:34 -0800

Help me find that perfect novel for a Christmas present. Sorry to post this anonymously, but someone close to the recipient is one my contacts!

Now, I spent a good part of yesterday perusing book stores, eventually walking away empty handed.

The person receiving this book is a mid-fifties male who is an avid reader of good popular fiction. E.g. really likes Frank McCourt; really dislikes Dan Brown.

I considered Netherland by O'Neill but decided against it because I haven't read it and thought it might be too political. (Is it?) So if you need a gage to go by then it'd be McCourt.

The suggestion needn't be a heavy story, for well-written, humorous, insightful prose works just as well. What I want is a story that will stick with this person for time to come.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Being an inquiry into extant instances of prolix and lapidary prefatory remarks upon a narrative.

meadowlark lime — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:03:33 -0800

What are some good long-winded title pages from old books and novels? I am looking for examples of the kinds of long-winded (and ornately lettered) title pages that used to appear in novels and other books before the 20th century.

You know the kind I mean: "Being the story of a young woman who sojourns into the depths of her soul, receiving kindness from many divers and unexpected personages".

In my mind I associate this with "loose baggy monster" novels from Dickens and Thackeray, although I can't think of any novels that actually do this at the beginning. Tristram Shandy, maybe?

I am looking for suggestions, and also places where I might view scans of these original pages online. I want to see the lettering and the layout, so Project Gutenberg won't quite give me what I need.

I saw a previous MeFi post about Victorian chapter headings, but I'm looking more specifically for title pages.

Academic novels from student perspective

alicat — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:21:46 -0800

I'm looking for academic novels from the student's perspective (apparently this is a subgenre of campus novels called varsity novels). Bonus for books considered "young adult." Ideally, I want books like Tam Lin by Pamela Dean: fiction set at a university, narrated by a student, written for an adolescent audience.

But I'll also take adult fiction such as Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Novels that include students among other point-of-view characters, such as Jane Smiley's Moo, are also fair game.

Already on the list:

YA
Ivy League novels by Diana Peterfreund
Light Years by Tammar Stein

Adult
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand
Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
Joe College by Tom Perotta
The Magicians by Lev Grossman

I'll take any genre: literary, mystery, SF/fantasy ... Thanks!

Modern novels of youth [20s-30s] and figuring out life?

mattsweaters — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:49:28 -0800

Modern novels of youth [20s-30s] and figuring out life? I just read "Norwegian Wood" this afternoon and remembered how much I love first person novels about first loves and trying to figure out what you want in life. I'm kind of one of those spots in my life.

Some examples of what I'm thinking of..
Ask the dust, Catcher in the Rye, Goodbye Columbus, On the Road/Dharma Bums, Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Moviegoer, The Sun Also Rises, Bright Lights, Big City, Play it as it Lays.

I think The Stranger, The Great Gatsby, The Sportswriter would also fit into the same mindset. Any ideas? Thanks!

Pulp Filter

roger ackroyd — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:53:39 -0800

Pulp Filter: I'm looking for books (fiction or non) that read like the recent Bond films: dark, thrilling, brutal, and glamorous.

Recommend a sequence of novels leading from action trash to literary treasure

hifimofo — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:21:50 -0800

I am looking for recommendations for a sequence of novels that might lead an adult fan of very trashy action to the real gold. The sequence needs to start at Matthew Reilly's Temple and I don't know where it would end. It doesn't have to make it to Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow^* but if you think you could plot such a path then go for it. If you want to specify what each step gains/loses I'd love to see that, too.

Take as many steps as you like. Given that people's tastes tend to change slowly more steps might be better.

You don't have to stick to the action genre, but please no horror. Sci-fi is okay, but the reader in question is not a big fan of it.

Thanks

(I'm secretly hoping we are going to witness the birth pangs of a giant flowchart of readerly goodness.)

^*Insert actual pinnacle of literature here.

I am looking for excellent, quick reads...

ieatwords — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:16:14 -0800

What are some of your favorite novels under (or around) 150 pages? I am breezing through Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" and would love some suggestions on other quick reads. What have you read in a sitting or two?

Political extremism in literature

thesailor — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:34:29 -0800

Novels where political extremism is an underlying theme. I'm looking for some novels that depict the protagonist descending into political extremism (any type) after some sort of extreme event or troubling past. I'm interested in the way the personalities and thoughts of these people are portrayed in writing. Something like Mishima's Runaway Horses would be good. Many thanks!

Perhaps a chair coated with glue?

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:09:03 -0800

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. Realizing that the point is to get 50,000 words written, I've jettisoned all illusions of producing quality, publishable prose. My only goal is to finish without having to copypaste "All work and no play makes BOP a dull boy" five thousand times. I have a (rather vague) outline, I have some preliminary character sketches, and I have every expectation that the first ten thousand words will flow fairly quickly. But. I suck at follow-through. I have the attention span of the common housefly. So, writers: how do I stick with it, fight through discouragment and ennui, and produce 50,000 reasonably coherent words?

Note: I'm not looking for tips like "prepare moar" or "work your plan". I'm looking for how to stay motivated when the fun stuff stops and the hard work begins.

Help me find this possibly Young Adult novel.

Skoloxia — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:28:42 -0800

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! I have some very fuzzy, and possibly misleading, details:

- It was published in the late '80s-early '90s, give or take a decade.
- The protagonist is a high school girl who falls for a college student.
- She has day of the week underwear.
- She thinks a one night stand is called a nightstand.
- The girl's older sister is named Sarah who has saved a condom in a jar.
- The college guy she falls for is named Moishe/Moshe; he goes to Columbia University and is a misanthropist of sorts.
- The girl and Moishe have a troubled relationship and eventually break up, possibly over a misunderstanding.
- He takes a college age girl to a dance he and the protagonist were supposed to attend together.

I'm pretty sure it's not by Norma Fox Mazer, Norma Klein or even Judy Blume. I've pored through MeFi archives, Google search, Wikipedia's lists of books by genre and year, and even some ALA lists.

Halp! I have a feeling I'll be horrified about having enjoyed it so much in my youth when I finally get my mitts on it again, but the complete blank in my memory has been nagging me for months!

Novels about early Christians but not about Jesus?

empath — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:10:33 -0800

Non-religious novels about early Christians that aren't about Jesus. Are there any good novels about early Christians that don't revolve around Jesus himself? I'm thinking of something like Last Temptation of Christ, but about someone like Paul or an early gnostic church, or even ones that aren't about early Christianity per se, but have Christian characters. In fact, I might be even more interested to read something set in a melting pot city like Alexandria where pagans and jews and christians were interacting daily and Christianity hadn't been fully formed yet.

I'm interested in anything from Augustine up through the beginnings of the Byzantine Empire.

I'm not very interested in anything that's written from a religious point of view, so that might eliminate a lot of books for me personally, but they'd probably be worth mentioning, anyway, if you can think of any.

Can you recommend American female novelists who've had their debut novels published within the last 3 years or so?

Kattullus — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:29:25 -0800

Can you recommend American female novelists who've had their debut novels published within the last 3 years or so?

Pan and the what?

tylerfulltilt — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:17:33 -0800

What is the name of this fantasy book that I only vaugely remember? I'm looking for the name of a fantasy book that I came across on someone's list of fantasy books they've read. But I don't remember where that page was or the exact google keywords that I used to find that list.

I remember that it's out of print now. It was the story of a little roman boy who was cast out of his family, possibly, something along those lines.

At the start of the story he's crying under a bridge and the demi-god pan comes along and inspires him to go on a journey to find his dad. That's all I remember.

It's not The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen.

The title is something like Pan and the boy or the god pan and the child or something like that.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Bonus internets to anyone who can find the list that I heard it from originally.

Name that Book!

computech_apolloniajames — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:18:20 -0800

What is this book?-Filter: I read a novel some 20 years ago, and cannot remember who wrote it or the title. Please read It was about a filmmaker who had made the purportedly most beautiful movie in the world. It had an extremely difficult creation and had gone missing. The book is about the quest on the part of several people who are looking for it. They find it at the end, watch it, and are dazzled. Then in an unfortunate series of events, the film is destroyed.

What is this book? I read it during the '80s, but have no recollection about any more specifics.

Have 125 romance novels. What can I BUILD them into?

Quarter Pincher — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:47:53 -0800

RedGreenShowFilter: I've got a bunch of crisp paperback romance novels I've scavenged from dumpsters around town, and I'd rather turn them into something than read or try selling them. What can I build using them? I'm thinking clear box tape instead of duct, so the corny covers will still be visible. Bonus points for something handy. There's about 125 of them, at 4.25" x 6.25 " x (varying thickness, avg .75"). I can get hundreds more at local used book shops for less than $.50 each.

No idea too crazy, as long as it's feasible with 125 books, or more within reason.

That pretty much eliminates a giant Gundam, alas.

Where's the sci-fi with actual characters?

colinmarshall — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:04:18 -0800

What are some or how can one best find science-fiction novels that are good by general literary standards? Bemoaning the disappointment I've repeatedly endured at the hands of science fiction is, to those who know me well enough, a well-worn leitmotif. You'd think I'd be at least as smart as children who refrain from touching red-hot burners twice, but no: I pick up a sci-fi novel, more often than not get burned by it, and no sooner have the blisters subsided than I'm back at the shelf. My problem perhaps reduces to desire for speculative stories featuring actual characters. It's not that the sci-fi novels I've read are literally missing invoked human (or alien, or robot) entities; it's that they present these entities as lists of traits rather than as nuanced, thinking (as distinct from simply speaking), changing beings whose lives extend beyond the page.

I've found this disease pervasive in and crippling to the genre, but the diehard fans I talk to don't seem to notice it. And if they do notice it, they don't mind. I once read a forum-dweller grumble about his wish that sci-fi's lack of character depth just stop being considered a weakness already. At a panel, I heard one veteran sci-fi novelist pronounce that, in the genre, character is necessarily subordinated to speculation. But can't character and speculation sit on the same tier? This may seem a matter of wanting to have my cake and eat it too, but I'd say I simply want to eat my cake in the context of an actual meal. Isn't complaining that weak characterization is regarded as a flaw like complaining that a computer's inability to accept input is regarded as flaw? You can junk speculation, plot, aesthetics, form, comedy and tragedy and your work will still come out a lot better than if you'd played loose with character.

Beyond science fiction, I suppose I'm generally long for novels of ideas whose ideas don't displace their people. Perhaps no genre is flexible enough to provide this combination, and I'd do better to camp out in the categorical borderlands.

Children'sBookFilter: Please help me identify these two young reader novels which I read many years ago.

dave99 — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:18:09 -0800

Children'sBookFilter: Please help me identify these two young reader novels which I read many years ago. The first novel is about young people who find a prison type complex, where the prisoners are tortured, and there are references to Hieronymus Bosch throughout. There is also reference to a black electric netting, which catches those who try to escape.

The second novel is a science fiction novel about children who live in an underground city, with each level of the city connected by a circular ramp to the next level up. Everyone in the city has no idea of any world above ground. The children go up further and further to higher and higher levels to see what is at the top. They finally reach disused cargo ramps, and then get above ground. They are the first to emerge from the underground city in many years. It comes out at the end of the novel that much of the world population is being held underground in these cities.

I've been searching Google in vain for these for some time - any help you could give would be fantastic.

Recommendations for erotica

ninebelow — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:56:03 -0800

Recommendations for erotica I'm interested in reading erotic novels but I need a bit of guidance. Virgin Books are the biggest erotica publisher in the UK and I've dipped into a few of their titles at random but they've been uniformly awful. Google has not been my friend either because there is a lot of chaff out there. So I am looking for (ideally) a good reviews/recommendation site or (failing that) individual recommendations for novels, authors or publishers.

I'm a straight male interested in the porn rather than romance end of the spectrum and when I say novels I mean actual printed books. Bonus points for science fiction or fantasy recommendations (although I am not after a million recommendations for Jacqueline Carey).

Help me drag my uncle out of the literary dark ages!

badmoonrising — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:04:13 -0800

My uncle recently mentioned to me that he's never read any book written by a woman. Apparently this is because he doesn't think they'll be any good - he seems to think women can only write romance novels. I find this both horrific and hard to believe, but he seemed serious. So, Hive Mind, I need your help in drafting a list of the very best books written by female authors. Help me teach him the error of his ways! I've checked out a few previous questions, but I am somewhat hampered in my list-making by the fact that many of the obvious classics (and most of the books that sprang to my mind) are books that I think he will not enjoy, e.g. the works of the Brontë sisters or Jane Austen, or even Toni Morrison.

Specifically, he likes crime novels and thrillers, and fast-paced storylines without too many descriptive passages. (Or, as he put it, books "where it doesn't take the author three pages to describe a table.") So suggestions vaguely along those lines would be especially appreciated. I immediately suggested Agatha Christie and Patricia Cornwall to him, but crime is not generally my preferred genre so I'm having trouble coming up with much else.

The books do not have to be thrillers, but I suspect he will abandon anything too romance/family-orientated. So no Pride and Prejudice or The Thorn Birds, please. We're coming up with a list for a rather conservative, old-fashioned, golf- and rugby-loving Englishman in his late sixties. (So no Tipping the Velvet either!)

So, AskMeFites, please fire away!

(Also, I'm well aware of how sexist and misogynistic my uncle may seem, and I'm not interested in hearing any commentary on that, thank you. I myself want to batter him over the head with something heavy until he sees the error of his ways, but he IS family and I love the guy. So if I can rein in my violent urges, then I hope AskMeFi can too.)

Reader's Advisory Resources

tamarack — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:06:12 -0800

[LibraryFilter] What are your best resources for (fiction) reader's advisory (children, YA, adult)?? Right now I need the most help for the YA (teens and preteens) reader's advisory. My scope of knowledge doesn't seem to extend far enough, and (who knew) teens are a little shy. I'm new on the (public library) ref desk, and in general feel I need better tools for getting beyond Twilight ('cause surprise-surprise, all the copies are out).

My library has NoveList. If I can get an author, I sometimes use Fantastic Fiction's links. There is Amazon, but c'mon...it's pretty lame.

What is the best list of Science Fiction books?

samuel1613 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:57:51 -0800

Show me the Best Online Science Fiction book list... Not a title, but a list! Since I have limited time, I like to read the "best" of whats out there in a genre, I so far have read these recently in Sci Fi:
Slaughterhouse, Snow Crash, 1984, Neuromancer, Ender's, Dune,
2001, Foundation, Stranger, Do Androids, Clockwork, etc. (these may or may not be the best in your opinion)

Now I'd like metafilter to do what it's designed for, create a list of lists! I really want to know where I should go to find the list of the top sci fi books of all time, the last 100 years, the list of the most awarded, whatever. Please don't give me what you think is the top book, there are plenty of threads regarding this, I want a "true" metafilter a "list of lists" the list of top sci fi books lists. Then I can use those to make my selections. Also if you have a reason why this list is the best list to use, that would be appreciated.

Help me avoid literature in Spanish.

itsjustanalias — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:06:36 -0800

No quiero literatura: I'm looking for recommendations for genre fiction in Spanish. Help me avoid being overfaced when I arrive in the library. I live in Spain and use the local library, but aside from the 'greats' I'm pretty stumped about what to take out. This thread and this one both have fine lists of novels in Spanish, but I'm not after literature, or magic realism or high art... in fact I want low art, I want SF, thrillers, detective novels, chick lit, bloke lit, historical fiction and the like, preferably not translated from any other language.

Name some good Warhammer 40K novels.

thewittyname — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:28:34 -0800

I've just finished reading Let The Galaxy Burn, a collection of Warhammer 40k short stories, and I really liked it. What are some other good Warhammer 40k books? I'd be interested in suggestions for both other short story collections or novels.

Also, I've heard that the Horus Heresy line of books is good, but it appears that there are quite a few to choose from. Are they all good, or are some worth skipping?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Looking for Hot Fiction!

Ennui — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:29:27 -0800

Looking for good sexy action novels. Not really interested in porn or erotic fiction where sex is the primary conceit; rather I am interest in action, thrillers, suspense, etc., but with a healthy dose of sex. Not really interested in romance either; I tried Jacqueline Carey and Emma Holly but could not get into them. I will try any other genre though. Sex with Aliens? Yeah -- that sounds interesting. I liked the Species movies. Sex with Vampires -- sounds biting. I enjoyed True Blood. I guess I am looking for good erotic thrillers in print but something I can take to the pool without looking too much like a pervert. Bonus points if it comes in an audio version so I can listen at work. Thanks!

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Novels

Looking for a seaworthy gift for my dad.

The perfect novel?

Being an inquiry into extant instances of prolix and lapidary prefatory remarks upon a narrative.

Academic novels from student perspective

Modern novels of youth [20s-30s] and figuring out life?

Pulp Filter

Recommend a sequence of novels leading from action trash to literary treasure

I am looking for excellent, quick reads...

Political extremism in literature

Perhaps a chair coated with glue?

Help me find this possibly Young Adult novel.

Novels about early Christians but not about Jesus?

Can you recommend American female novelists who've had their debut novels published within the last 3 years or so?

Pan and the what?

Name that Book!

Have 125 romance novels. What can I *BUILD* them into?

Where's the sci-fi with actual characters?

Children'sBookFilter: Please help me identify these two young reader novels which I read many years ago.

Recommendations for erotica

Help me drag my uncle out of the literary dark ages!

Reader's Advisory Resources

What is the best list of Science Fiction books?

Help me avoid literature in Spanish.

Name some good Warhammer 40K novels.

Looking for Hot Fiction!

Have 125 romance novels. What can I BUILD them into?