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
A while ago I read an essay/article/rant online re a fantasy author / series and I'd like to read it again but google is failing me because I can't remember any specifics.
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posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Apr 23, 2013 -
2 answers
I tend to like humor, but other genres are acceptable. If this is too broad a category, we can limit recommendations to those where being in one's mid-20s is somehow central to the novel.
posted by jtothes
on Apr 9, 2013 -
19 answers
Somewhere between '80 and '82, I read this book that featured spiders... [arachnophobes: do not click!]
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posted by batmonkey
on Mar 28, 2013 -
7 answers
I was linked a book some time ago via twitter, but that account is now gone and with it went the link.
Things I remember:
Pretty sure it was called "Daylight" (maybe not that, but definitely a time word. daytime? morning?)
Content: the text was just the entirety of a single day's New York Times transcribed
The link went to the publisher, I recall seeing it on Amazon also.
I believe published in the early 90s. 93ish? But still purchasable
Currently going crazy trying to find it with such not-so-limiting search terms. My browser history doesn't go back far enough to find it there. Hoping someone familiar with it happens upon this, I guess.
posted by arsey
on Mar 8, 2013 -
1 answer
I'm just finishing up
the third book in Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series, and I've really enjoyed these books. What fantasy book(s) should I read next to suit my current mood?
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posted by taz
on Dec 18, 2012 -
12 answers
I work at a university library and one of our professors has requested we purchase 2 books that were only published in Finland. I have tried all of my usual book vendors and none of them have these books. Does anyone have any idea who I could contact in Finland to see if these books are still available there? Any ideas would be welcomed. I am all searched out...
posted by libraryleah
on Dec 10, 2012 -
13 answers
I would like access to a supplemental resource for a textbook that I purchased, for non-school-related use, but only instructors for a course can have access.
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posted by zeek321
on Dec 6, 2012 -
3 answers
Looking for specific book recommendations that are
superb and by female authors/female authors of color.
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posted by jsturgill
on Nov 8, 2012 -
53 answers
I'm almost done with my divorce and in the process of starting a new life. Are there any books out there that might help me steer clear of making the more common corny-recent-divorcee' mistakes? Stuff related to love, the kids, housecleaning, finance, alcohol, furnishings, loneliness, stress, etc.
41 yo male living in the US, three preteen daughters on 50/50 time, comfortable financially, stressful job, amicable split from STBX, big D because I ended up being an employee and not a husband/man.
posted by TheManChild2000
on Oct 29, 2012 -
11 answers
I just got an offer to publish my first novel. I know very little about the publishing industry and the business aspect of being an author. Help!
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posted by inire
on Oct 22, 2012 -
13 answers
I would like to buy a good book on how to sew. I don't mean a beginner's instructional book, since I can already sew quite well, but a comprehensive reference book that covers everything from the basics to advanced tailoring and couture techniques. I want a sewing book that is the equivalent of
Vogue Knitting, which is revered among knitters as the knitter's Bible. I've come across
Vogue Sewing, and
Power Sewing by Sandra Betzina. Would you recommend either one of these as the best choice, or do you know of another book you think is better?
posted by orange swan
on Sep 21, 2012 -
10 answers
I'm looking for novels where the protagonist loses weight / gets fit. This doesn't need to be the central thing in the book, but while the protagonist saves the world from the zombie apocalypse, finds true love or destroys the ring in the fires of Mordor, can s/he also get in shape?
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posted by uncreative
on Aug 27, 2012 -
44 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
Requesting intelligent, well-written "realistic" epic fantasy book suggestions. Having George R.R. Martin withdrawals. Need more severed heads & engaging dialogue and relatable bleakness, less "you're the one," stilted conversations and Randomly capitalized Words.
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posted by apostrophe
on Jul 10, 2012 -
57 answers
I want to read more nonfiction. About anything, really. I'm having trouble capturing the way to describe the kind of nonfiction I want to find.
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posted by atomicstone
on May 30, 2012 -
30 answers
I have a large number of books that I want to donate to a library or sell. I want to give my friends and family first pick at anything they want (my primary aim is to quickly reclaim the physical space used up by the books). I need a workflow that will allow me to scan the books' UPCs, etc. with my iPhone 4's camera and end up with an email-able spreadsheet
pre-populated with ISBN/Title/Author. Columns for genre, edition and/or year, and short blurbs would also be welcome.
I have a PC laptop with the MS Office suite in addition to the iPhone. What are my options? Thanks, hivemind!
posted by Inspector.Gadget
on May 20, 2012 -
6 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
Please recommend some non-fiction books about Philippines, and fiction set in Philippines.
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posted by vidur
on Apr 17, 2012 -
14 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
I have an extremely boring, third shift job, so I'm looking for some book recommendations: fun, exciting, fluffy, silly, funny books - any sort of light reading that will make my excessive downtime at work pass quickly.
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posted by madelf
on Apr 5, 2012 -
33 answers
I'm looking for a book or story I read about a Jewish baby who is thrown from a crowded train on its way to a concentration camp during the Holocaust. The baby was sick, and some passengers thought he/she had died.
When his mother fell asleep, they threw the baby from the train.
I think the book mainly focused on what happened to the baby after it was found near the train tracks, but I mainly remember the child's mother.
After losing her baby, she took to standing in her closet, trying to recreate the feeling of being on that crowded train with her child.
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posted by last_fall
on Mar 21, 2012 -
2 answers
Children's novel: Protagonist is the son of deceased missionaries, retaining only a comforter and a photograph. He lives with an aunt and uncle, and the plot concerns his reintegration into non-missionary society. Setting is an island in New England, and there are scenes of driving on the ice in the winter to get to the mainland.
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posted by longtime_lurker
on Mar 20, 2012 -
0 answers
We are a group of mid-20s to mid-30s life-science phd students that have started a book club. Our first book was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and was a great fit for us. Please recommend others that you think might appeal to such a group. Thanks!
posted by sickinthehead
on Jan 12, 2012 -
38 answers
Another children's book question. I have been trying to find this for years. Read it in the 80s. It took place in NYC. For the kid's birthday party, he decided to invite everyone in the phone book who has the same name as him. One of the guests was elderly, and they made sure to make him
kasha varnishkes. Thank you!
posted by frescaanddietcoke
on Oct 25, 2011 -
3 answers
Is it actually possible or enjoyable to read
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell as an ebook?
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posted by cabingirl
on Oct 1, 2011 -
13 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
Please help us find a book my friend saw mention of somewhere. Or recommend other books.
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posted by KChasm
on Aug 5, 2011 -
10 answers
If I was to read one book about the Wars of the Roses, what book should it be?
posted by shothotbot
on Aug 1, 2011 -
7 answers
What politically neutral book(s) should I read on multiculturalism and Islam, immigration/integration politics and/or ethnic/religious tensions in Europe?
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posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Jul 25, 2011 -
11 answers
Help me be sad. Recommend to me depressing, sad, mournful fiction. Books that made you sad and a tad tearful. I just want to access these emotions and be taken away in good writing and wonderful characters. Any genre is acceptable except YA (unless you can prove it is real exceptional YA I suppose). Less cliched angst situations as well.
posted by kanata
on Jul 21, 2011 -
88 answers
What-was-that-book-filter: 70's or 80's (?) heist (?) novel that involved shutting down L.A. by closing a couple of freeways and the central telephone switching system.
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posted by dersins
on Jul 15, 2011 -
10 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
Help find me a Book of Short Stories that you could use as introductions for various talks/discussions/presentations...
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posted by fozzie33
on May 26, 2011 -
6 answers
I'm trying to find a Twilight-related blog that I remember seeing recently. The blogger cut all the pages out of a copy of
Twilight, scanned or photographed them, and rearranged snippets of text to highlight and criticize odd or repetitive choices of language.
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posted by Orinda
on Apr 23, 2011 -
3 answers
A large hardcover collection of Little Nemo comic strips I bought cheaply turned out to be very valuable. What's the best way to preserve it so, if I decide to sell it, its still worth its full value? I live in a small apartment full of dust and bugs. I currently have it on a top bookshelf sitting in a plastic bag.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn
on Mar 23, 2011 -
6 answers
I need a non-fiction companion to 'Frankenstein' for my book club.
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posted by bq
on Mar 21, 2011 -
17 answers
