I commute to and from work, which involves busses and trains transfers and other general distractions, and while I really enjoy reading on this commute, I can't sink my teeth into heavier books that require a ton of concentration to comprehend and follow (I save those for the weekends). I have found that lighter books with shorter chapters and engaging storylines are easiest to read in this atmosphere. What are your recommendations?
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posted by wordsmith
on May 3, 2013 -
20 answers
I am a reader of fiction. I read a lot, and I read all sorts of fiction genres. I do not, however, read non-fiction because the couple of times I tried to I found them desperately dull. I am sure that can’t be the reality for all non-fiction books… right? Teach me something interesting and make me learn to like non-fiction please. Specific requests inside...
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posted by PuppetMcSockerson
on Dec 18, 2012 -
83 answers
Students of art, lovers of philosophy, can you recommend a book I can buy as a gift for a friend?
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posted by Chichibio
on Jul 25, 2012 -
17 answers
Can you recommend something to read from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library? I have trawled through there for ages this month and last month and I'm having trouble finding something good that I haven't read before.
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posted by dragonplayer
on Jul 5, 2012 -
18 answers
Help me optimize my vacation reading! I’m headed out to the Outer Banks next month, and there’s nothing on the agenda but reading and relaxing. I’m having trouble coming up with a week’s worth of new reading material that won’t take up significant space in our truck, though. Can you recommend me lengthy or dense books--in other words, books that will give me maximum entertainment minutes per page--that are still fun vacation reading?
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posted by House of Leaves of Grass
on May 4, 2012 -
34 answers
Book recommendations please! I need fiction about difficult or complicated relationships.
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posted by gursky
on Apr 17, 2012 -
38 answers
What are some books, appropriate for an approx. two-year-old, that have the same sort of rhythm and/or rhyming mechanism as The Night Before Christmas?
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posted by meggan
on Dec 23, 2011 -
16 answers
More non-fiction please! As a strange antidote to having to read a lot of dry academic articles, I enjoy pleasurable non-fiction writing about jobs and work. Books I've liked in the past include May Roach (
Stiff); Atul Gawande (
Complications, Better); Barbara Ehrenreich (
Nickeled and Dimed); and Tracy Kidder (
House, Among Schoolchildren). I'd like recommendations for more non-fiction along those lines.
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posted by jeanmari
on Sep 23, 2011 -
36 answers
I'm reading (and really enjoying)
The Glass Castle, and my wife and are about to have our first kid. What other memoirs or non-fiction books should I read that focus on parenting, raising kids in unorthodox ways, or just plain unique families?
posted by nitsuj
on Jul 14, 2011 -
20 answers
I am about to embark on a massive technical book reading escapade. Please share your information retention methods.
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posted by Sentus
on Mar 1, 2011 -
7 answers
BookFilter: I think the book takes place on Earth, and I think the book was written recently. A disaster of sorts happens and the only area of survival is a narrow strip of land, perhaps wrapping around the world, and perhaps powered/maintained by pipes. If people venture away from this strip, their worst fears/nightmares materialize and attack. I came across it somewhere on MetaFilter. Thanks in advance!
posted by Korou
on Jan 2, 2011 -
5 answers
Dad gift filter: Hive mind, what are your favorite books I can get as a gift for my father that are easy-to-digest-in-snippets kind of book? Topics such as self-help, wisdom, psychology, philosophy, biography, and creativity are all great.
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posted by parma
on Nov 29, 2010 -
14 answers
My book club is looking for some book recommendations. We’re hoping to find books that will be a bit out of our comfort zone, but will still be engaging. In particular, we’d like to try something outside of the literary fiction or historical fiction genres. Sci-fi, fantasy, mystery or even a short story collection would be welcome. We like good writing, but we love ideas and themes that lead to interesting discussions even more.
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posted by shesbookish
on Nov 13, 2010 -
45 answers
Your best recommendations for well-researched, well-argued books addressing issues of poverty, sentencing, crime and drug policy in the U.S. in the last ten years? Mass market or academic press are fine.
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posted by crush-onastick
on Oct 18, 2010 -
11 answers
Help me identify this book from my childhood, please. It's set in a fictional (?) city with a canal system.
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posted by joyeuxamelie
on Sep 13, 2010 -
2 answers
I'm looking for the name of a novel in which God, portrayed as a gigantic being thousands of feet tall and weighing millions of pounds wearing robes and having a flowing white beard, quite literally falls to earth from heaven, stone dead. The story is all about the repercussions on Earth after this event.
posted by DrDreidel
on Apr 27, 2010 -
16 answers
Is there a physical (not online) edition of
Finnegans Wake that includes any sort of annotation
in the same volume with the novel?
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posted by ollyolly
on Apr 14, 2010 -
5 answers
How can I track my reading? Looking for suggestions on a: spreadsheet/program/website...?
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posted by teststrip
on Apr 6, 2010 -
17 answers
Please recommend an excellent historical novel about life in 17th-century North America (preferably New England). I'm re-reading Toni Morrison's
A Mercy right now, and I'm looking for more stuff about the day-to-day life -- chores, food, bartering, the intersection of European colonists with indigenous American populations, etc. I s'pose I'd be okay with a nice non-fiction book, too, but the preference is for fiction.
posted by Greg Nog
on Mar 10, 2010 -
34 answers
What is the best ergonomic setup for reading heavy (literally!) books for long periods of time? Are some chairs better than others? How high should the table ideally be? What kind of lighting is best - direct, indirect, or something else? Are there other helpful tools (eg something to hold the book flap down as you're reading)?
posted by shivohum
on Jan 19, 2010 -
5 answers
I need a book recommendation for my girlfriend; her favourite book is Yann Martel's "Life of Pi". Any ideas?
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posted by mizike
on Oct 7, 2009 -
28 answers
Please help me fuel my new-found obsession with comic books! What are some of your favorite recommended reads, as well as comic book resources, tips, and tricks?
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posted by joshrholloway
on Sep 28, 2009 -
31 answers
I'm working on my PhD in artists' books at the moment. Recently, pursuing aspects of creativity from a cognition-and-creativity viewpoint has become interesting to me. I need a toehold on the science, here.
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posted by aesop
on Mar 3, 2009 -
5 answers
Hi, I am currently attempting Nietzsche's
Thus Spoke Zarathustra with some difficulty. What I'm really looking for is a chapter-by-chapter explanation of the book; the meanings, metaphors, and significance of the characters and events. Thanks in advance.
posted by FuckingAwesome
on Feb 23, 2009 -
5 answers
What great children's books are there for little girls beginning kindergarten. Ramona the Pest is a book about a girl in Kindergarten and I like that one.
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posted by lynnie-the-pooh
on Feb 19, 2009 -
14 answers
What is the brain chemistry involved in reading a good book?
What areas of the brain are stimulated? What chemicals experience an uptick? Is there a particular combination unique to reading for pleasure?
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posted by SaharaRose
on Feb 17, 2009 -
10 answers
What are some other "intellectual" or though-provoking websites like:
TED.com
BigThink.org
Fora.tv
Also, what are, in your opinion, some of the best books in the following topics:
-economics
-investing
-psychology
-design
-religion
-self-help
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posted by meta.mark
on Jan 16, 2009 -
27 answers
With all the presidential talk, I'd like to read a good book on what it's like to be President of the United States.
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posted by nitsuj
on Nov 5, 2008 -
12 answers
ReadmeFilter: Desperately in need of suggestions for books for upcoming Europe trip.
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posted by kjs4
on Sep 23, 2008 -
16 answers
I'm the first-time father of a one-year old boy. Having recently finished "The Road" and "The Prince of Frogtown" and enjoyed the movie "The Kite Runner", I'm looking for suggestions of other books (or movies or songs) that are about the relationship between fathers and sons.
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posted by Jaybo
on Aug 4, 2008 -
32 answers
What-Was-That-Book filter: It's a children's book - probably a few decades old. A young girl goes to live with her two maiden aunts in a large estate (possibly English?). They are strict, I think. The girl finds a magic pony boy with colourful (like, pink and blue, etc), magic horses. She befriends the boy and spends her days learning to ride the ponies and do circus-style tricks on them.
I just re-thought of it the other day, and now it's driving me mental. Thanks in advance!
posted by InfinateJane
on Aug 1, 2008 -
4 answers
I love Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. It's a non-fiction book about Chicago in 1893 which reads much like a novel. I'd like to read other books written in the same novel-esque style about some other cities or historic events. Know of any novel-like non-fiction reads?
posted by melodykramer
on Jun 29, 2008 -
47 answers
