Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with books and fiction

Can you recommend Science Fiction novels for me?

tumbleweedjack — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:57:52 -0800

The only science fiction novel I've read is "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Can you recommend me more? I like Contact because I feel like it dealt intelligently with humans discovering alien life. I saw that there are other threads about science fiction books, but I am in particular interested in books that explore the theme of 'first contact' between humans and aliens. Outside of that, if there are any absolute must-reads, like a Great Gatsby of Science Fiction, I'm open to that too.

The Origin of the Matrix

madmamasmith — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:30:53 -0800

Origin of the Matrix relating to a Science Fictional setting... I am reading Neuromancer by William Gibson and the main character mentions "the matrix", as something he "jacks in to". Now this is my first foray into sci-fi and I am only about 20 pages in but I was wondering where the term originated. Did The Matrix movie steal this term and its meaning from Gibson or was it already being used in previous sci-fi works? I have only ever heard it used in a sci-fi context so that's why I;m wondering. I'm admitting my lack of knowledge in this area, so please don't make me feel like a ding dong if the answer to this question is blindingly obvious to you! Also, while on the topic of Sci-fi, the last book I read in the genre was Ender's Game in junior high and I loved it, so please suggest any sci-fi reads I should check out.

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.

Please recommend books similar to Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball

reenum — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:44:05 -0800

I love Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball". What should I read next? I'm in the middle of Simmons NBA opus, and it fascinates as to how he's able to pack in so much info, yet have the book remain accessible. I especially love how he makes fun of and injects humor into the various characters and events in the NBA's history.

Are there other books that are basically all encompassing, sprawling accounts of a particular entity, field, event, etc., yet remain fun to read?

I know some folks might suggest Mary Roach, but I just couldn't get into her stuff.

I prefer nonfiction, but well written fiction would work too.

Thanks!

Lookin' for words in all the wrong places

Madamina — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:53:09 -0800

Between my iPhone's Stanza app and the loooooong quiet days ahead of me in the office during the holiday season, I'd like to read some stuff online. Any suggestions? I'm basically looking for good stories: things with a bit of a narrative that will keep me wondering what happens next. They should be easy to get into and not particularly deep (I will likely be interrupted a lot).

Nonfiction: longer articles with a bit of a twist, like New Yorker or Vanity Fair pieces about interesting people or events. Not commentary (unless it has some sort of unique backstory).

Fiction I've already enjoyed on Project Gutenberg: anything by the Brontes and L.M. Montgomery. I've also read pretty much everything that appeals to me (thus far) in the Harlequin online reads library, although I don't generally read paper romance novels.

I've seen this thread and this one too.

Thanks!

Book recommendations for a new Christian!

schmoo — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:37:43 -0800

I'm looking for book recommendations for a young woman who has recently become interested in religion. Ideas please! I would like to buy my younger sister a book as one of her Christmas gifts. She is 19, and about four or five months ago was introduced to religion when she joined some college friends on a trip to Africa to do the normal Christian aid type work. She's since become more and more involved with the church and interested in religion - to the point that she was baptised a couple of weeks ago. The church is the most relaxed I've ever been to - it's in a purpose-built barn/hall, and they have a live band playing covers of modern songs. It's all very youth-orientated and all about friendship, community and fun. (I'm giving this information to try and give an idea of the kind of church/religion she's into. I'm not religious at all so apologies if I sound a little clueless.)

I would like to buy her a book for Christmas with some kind of spiritual/religious/Christian theme, to show her that while I'm not religious (and have probably been quite scathing about religion in the past) I respect her and am pleased that she's found this and that it makes her happy. However, I don't want to get herself anything with too strong a message - as I said she's only starting to be involved in the church, she's young, and I think she'd only be embarrassed by any too overtly religious gift as she knows how unreligious I am.

When I was younger I flicked through one of the Chicken Soup books at a friend's - I seem to remember that these had a vaguely religious theme to them, am I right? Something like this is what I'm looking for.

So - please give me your recommendations!

To sum up- I'm looking for

- nothing too strong in its religious message
- probably fiction, but non-fiction ideas welcome
- something appropriate for a 19 year old girl who loves going out, seeing friends, parties - all the normal teenage stuff!
- something well written, with an inspirational or thoughtful message.

Thanks!

Protagonists named 'Scarlett'

beniamino — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:30:59 -0800

I am looking for all kinds of fiction, especially for children, featuring a protagonist named Scarlett or Scarlet. Children's stories, novels, poems, movies, songs etc etc are all of interest. Thanks! No need to mention 'Gone with the wind'.

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.

What is this book I very vaguely remember and thus can only vaguely describe?

santojulieta — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:52:01 -0800

Name This Book: Help me figure out the title of a YA novel I read in middle school before I go bonkers! I read a pretty cheesy young adult novel in 8th grade in 1994, and I'm trying to figure out some details about it.

Here's what I can remember:

There's a female, teen aged protagonist who either goes on summer vacation or visits family during the summer somewhere where there are beaches. I very distinctly remember references to dunes and sand and whatnot. The protagonist is socially awkward or shy or not popular. There is another girl in the story who is popular and snobby but I think she was the only other teenager in the neighborhood, so they hang out. At some point, there is a party and the popular girl goes off with an older boy and is presumably raped by said boy. I think it was first person perspective.

The author was a woman, and I remember the cover of the book having subtle pastel shades and dune grass on it. And the title of the book didn't specifically reference "summer" or anything.

I am NOT thinking about Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

I can't believe I'm using an AskMe for this... Help!

What well-known novels lack any character description aside from names?

odinsdream — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:05:32 -0800

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?

Name that book series I barely remember

nomisxid — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:41:18 -0800

Back in the 70's/80's, I remember seeing a series of scifi/fantasy books, where the cover art for all the books had a consistent theme of a red/orange sun that figured prominently. What was it? I remember there seemed like a lot of books in the series.
As I recall, most of the covers were pictures of a character, with the omnipresent red dot in the background sky. At the time, I shied away from them because I was more into hard sci-fi, and it looked likely to be very fantasy-y.

What happened to the H.M.S. Terror, a la Dan Simmons? Please?

taz — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:16:10 -0800

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)... It's driving me crazy! Who sailed the Terror 200 miles south of it's original ice-locked position near the Erebus? Who was the rat-toothed corpse in Crozier's bunk?

Am I wrong in understanding that the top-deck hatches had been nailed shut from the outside? And this would indicate that the (apparently) single remaining seaman aboard had been locked inside either for the protection of others, or for his own protection?

Failing the possibility that the mystery corpse was one of a party of rescuers (and I reject this theory because the ships were never found in real life), logic dictates that he would have had to be one of the three - Reuben Male, Robert Sinclair, and Samuel Honey - who set out cross country to return to the Terror. Simmons is specific that the corpse in the bunk is about the height of Crozier, but elsewhere, Reuben Male (the more significant character of the trio) is described as shorter than Crozier, and there is almost no mention or development in the novel at all regarding Robert Sinclair or Samuel Honey (who is not Honey, the carpenter, but a blacksmith with the same last name who is basically never mentioned except for being included in that group that chose to try to return to the Terror).

However, one detail seems to suggest that it wasn't one of those three: the corpse is swathed in heavy clothes and blankets, which puzzles Crozier, since if the three had managed to make their way back to the Terror, it would have still been summer. (I mention this because it's specifically pointed out in the narrative. In fact, since this discovery happens 2+ years later, they could have returned, sailed the ship out during summer, and then this individual could have died at a later time.) Earlier, much was made of checking every nook and cranny of the ship before abandoning it, which seems to have been explicated especially to put aside any notion that whoever the corpse was (and whoever sailed the ship and nailed the hatches shut) weren't sailors who had surreptitiously stayed aboard. The constant head-counting by Crozier also indicates that nobody is unaccounted for after the crew leaves the ship.

Simmons is also quite specific that the Terror was anchored in a place that didn't make any sense; instead of harboring in the shelter of the various nearby inlets, it is anchored in open water (later, ice), leaving it exposed to the terrible storms. Was this, again, an effort to isolate the one left on board? Or was it just an indication of extreme incompetence? (Wouldn't pretty much any sailor know to seek some kind of safe harbor?)

And wtf, the rat teeth?

It also makes me crazy that Simmons writes this:

How Terror could have ended up here, almost two hundred miles south of where she had been frozen fast near Erebus for almost three years, was beyond Crozier’s powers of speculation.

He would not have to speculate much longer.

eh? Why not? He doesn't seem to have reached any conclusion (or none that were shared with us poor readers) about this after inspecting the ship.

It just doesn't make sense to me that Simmons would have put all these extremely specific details/clues - not to mention the relocation of the Terror at all - just to leave it all as a hanging mystery. Why? Why? What am I missing?

In space no one can here you scream, he wrote

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:41:29 -0800

What's the best literary equivalent of Alien/Aliens? Well obviously there's the Alan Dean Foster adaptations for a start... and the comics.

And I'm not limiting it to 'monster on a spaceship' or 'monsters on a planet + space marines' but anything that successfully merges Space Fiction/Opera and Horror.

I need famous drinks from famous books.

Sully — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:16:33 -0800

I need famous drinks from famous books. Kind of like how Holden Caulfield always drank Tom Collinses in Catcher in the Rye. Or how the Famous Five always had Tea with their scones. Thanks!

Short stories like this are the only stories here.

zoomorphic — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:42:08 -0800

I demand to know your favorite short story anthologies. I recently realized that my brain isn't cut out to read novels on the subway, so I've made a left turn to short stories. Single author collections of short stories are great, but I'm looking for anthologies that include various authors to keep things lively. I love the Best American Non-Required Reading series, as well as My Mistress' Sparrow Is Dead. I've also got Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules on my list.

My favorite short story authors are Lorrie Moore, Amy Bloom, Chekov and Flannery O'Connor, but I'm looking to expand.

What else should I pick up?

Help me keep my nose inside a book all summer

CrazyLemonade — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:40:06 -0800

I need to compile my summer reading list ASAP. Please give me some suggestions. Two years ago I asked for some book suggestions and MeFis, as always, turned out to be great at just that. This time I'm looking for books to keep me entertained all during the summer, as I'll have a lot of free time (I'm a teacher and master's student).

I like fiction novels, long-ish, and prefer if they're recent books (as in, "not in the mood for oldish classics").

Books I've read and liked (some of them because I learned of them in here in the Green):

Middlesex
The Historian
I Know This Much Is True
The Time Traveller's Wife
The Kite Runner
Life of Pi
Pillars of the Earth (and) World without End
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Books I read and didn't like very much:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay
The Loser's Club (I think amazon suggested that one, and it sucked)

I figure whoever's read any of these recognizes them without needing the author.

I know there's already tons of questions about books here, but in this community with lots of types of readers, I'm hoping you can help a lot better than Amazon's "people who bought this, also bought this."

What is this book?

kumonoi — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:28:54 -0800

Please help me identify this comical children's adventure story book from the 80s... From what I remember, the plot featured 2 boys who leave their house through the bedroom window and travel in baskets on some kind of pulley system to a sort of fantasy world (or at least to somewhere that they've never heard of before). When they leave they are wearing dressing gowns and wellington boots into which they have stuffed sausage rolls, which they use as bait to distract some birds which attack them as they're travelling in the baskets. IIRC the birds are called Scissor Birds or Razor Birds or something.

The only other details I can recall are even more vague. Possibly the boys are searching for a golden cactus (or maybe just a cactus or maybe no cactus at all, but i'm pretty certain one features in the plot somewhere).
I think they meet a character from either legend (e.g. Robin Hood) or from another children's book (Captain Hook rings some bells), but it might just be they meet a characrter like that, rather than the character themselves. Either they get captured and escape using a key that they made by making a mold for it out of chewing gum, or they steal something (maybe the cactus) using that key.

Finally, I think the title may contain the word(s) "Adventure"/"Adventures" and/or "Captain". It was published in the 1980s I reckon. I think it may have been published by Corgi, the cover was white with a coloured, cartoonish picture on the front which I think featured some people trying to jump over a crocodile. I have it stuck in my head that the author's surname was Bushell, pretty certain it was a male author and I would have said that he was from the UK or maybe Australia. It seemed like the book might be part of a series but I never actually read any others if they were published.

I know this is a long shot but this has been bugging me for years!

The anti-On Chesil Beach, please

minervous — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:47:53 -0800

What should I (a late-marrying, book-crazy, somewhat institution-of-marriage-wary bride) read on my honeymoon? Inspired (in a way) by this question, I'm looking for novels to help me reflect on, process, and understand marriage. I've been a voracious reader since I was little, and I still understand the world best by reading stories. So now I'm in love and thrilled to be marrying my fiance, I'd like read novels that might help me think about this whole new thing. Can you help me plug the hole in my reading history with some big, enthralling novels?

(Bonus points for novels from a woman's POV. Paperback availability is appreciated.)

Future of immigration?

sarahkeebs — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:56:49 -0800

Looking for sci-fi/speculative fiction that deals with the issue of colonization, immigration, and refugees. The more details the better! Specifically looking for stories that deal (at least partly) with the stories of the immigrants themselves, and not just the abstract idea. Similar books I have enjoyed:
Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Ender's Game series
and the Children of Men movie (haven't read the book)

Please help me find the title of this book.

miratime — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:43:57 -0800

KidsBookFilter: I've been racking my brain for hours trying to dredge up the title of a book I read sometime in the 90's while in elementary (or possibly middle) school. I remember very little of the plot and sparse details beyond that: at some point the main character's personal clubhouse was vandalized by a classmate--with mustard. I believe there was much retaliation in-kind by the protagonist and her friends, also involving condiments (a baggie of mustard? That seems to be a particularly vivid image), and that someone was called out as a "punctilious pig" on their classroom's chalkboard.

Usually my Google-fu is strong, but this one's got me stumped, so I'm hoping the hive mind has the answer that's eluding my grasp.

Odd tales

Rinku — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:21:43 -0800

I'd like recommendations for short stories that are strange, humorous, or have a surprising twist. I'm in an english class where we're reading long, kind of dull, "straight" novels, one after the other. I'm enjoying the class but I need some antidotes - stories that are off the wall, exotic, mysterious, or... something like that. They need to be short enough that I can read them in one sitting.

My favorite short story ever, which definitely qualifies, is Borges' The Secret Miracle. Donald Barthelme's short stories, which I've been reading recently (and enjoying very much), would also count. Recommendations for genre short stories - fantasy, science fiction, horror, whatever - would be very much appreciated as well.

Recommendations for specific short stories, rather than collections or authors, would be appreciated - but if everything an author's done is amazing, well... go for it.

21st Century Fiction

netbros — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:32:58 -0800

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. A couple months ago you gave me a good list of biographies. Now I'm looking for new writing talent that has appeared since the turn of the century. I like historical fiction and action/adventure, but generally just like a good read. Thanks, as always, for your assistance.

Historical art fiction

One Second Before Awakening — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:33:47 -0800

I'd really like to find some good historical fiction about modern art movements, scenes, or artists. I'm a huge fan of modern art from around 1900 to 1970. I'm especially fascinated by dadaism, Futurism, and most of all, Surrealism. I very much enjoyed the scenes with Dalí and the Surrealists in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, and Robert Irwin's The Exquisite Corpse, with a surrealist artist as a protagonist, blew me away.

I'm very much interested in finding some quality historical fiction that either centers on this period in modern art or has significant scenes relating to it. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Fictional Almost-Factual Encounters

taramosalata — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:39:21 -0800

Seeking relatively well-known, canon-caliber fictional accounts of imaginary encounters between actual, historically significant figures -- especially encounters that could well have taken place, but which we know did not or remain undocumented. Philip Levine's poem "On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca and Hart Crane" typifies what I'm looking for. Mark Twain's _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_ does not (respectable evidence out there of a historical Arthur notwithstanding). The literary field is rife with examples, I know -- say, some novel casting Charles Lindbergh and Adolf Hitler into a tete-a-tete. But, ack, I'm drawing a blank. Two addenda:

1) I'm not really looking for contemporary sci-fi, especially as possible encounters wouldn't have required time travel....

2) I confess disapproval of AskMeFi users who amass answers as shortcuts to journalistic brainstorming or dissertation research. Your answers will purely be helping me to compile a personal reading list around a curious subgenre.

Thanks!

How do you read vividly?

Tufa — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:07:58 -0800

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? Do you actively visualize a setting when you read? Do you see anything at all? (Does viewing a movie adaptation change this?) Do you study a historical novel's setting and time before or while you read? I have been reading Obama's Dreams From My Father, and searching on Flickr tags when he mentions a place name. It helps.