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

I am looking for recommendations for a sequence of novels that might lead an adult fan of very trashy action to the real gold. [more inside]
posted by hifimofo on Oct 29, 2009 - 11 answers

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. [more inside]
posted by BitterOldPunk on Oct 22, 2009 - 26 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

Recommendations for erotica [more inside]
posted by ninebelow on Aug 6, 2009 - 8 answers

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! [more inside]
posted by badmoonrising on Jul 29, 2009 - 92 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 - 36 answers

I need to compile my summer reading list ASAP. Please give me some suggestions. [more inside]
posted by CrazyLemonade on May 16, 2009 - 27 answers

[BookRecommendationFilter] Looking for funny, happy books. [more inside]
posted by natalie b on May 13, 2009 - 58 answers

I want a book that I have to put into the freezer. I've read this question, which was looking for thrillers, and this post looking for short stories, but I can't seem to find a thread looking for scary, engrossing novels where supernatural is okay. [more inside]
posted by Addlepated on Mar 31, 2009 - 31 answers

What are your favorite novels from an aesthetic/writing style point of view? [more inside]
posted by archagon on Mar 17, 2009 - 90 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

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. [more inside]
posted by taramosalata on Feb 5, 2009 - 31 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

I like novels where the setting is almost as much of a star as the characters. What should I be reading? [more inside]
posted by cloudsandstars on Jan 23, 2009 - 48 answers

How does one sell a (mystery) novel? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jan 13, 2009 - 7 answers

Can I use viral marketing techniques to get my first novel published? [more inside]
posted by letahl on Nov 29, 2008 - 39 answers

I want to read novels about pirates. I don't care about genre, I don't care about quality (much), I just want lots and lots of Age of Sail pirates. [more inside]
posted by Katemonkey on Nov 12, 2008 - 40 answers

How much of book one do I have to explain in book two, if book two is part of a series I'm writing? [more inside]
posted by Xurando on Nov 7, 2008 - 9 answers

What are some good novels set in the US of the mid-late seventies? [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Oct 21, 2008 - 17 answers

Why do publishers slap on "A Novel" to the titles and/or covers of, well, novels? [more inside]
posted by CKmtl on Oct 16, 2008 - 22 answers

ProseFilter: Nabokov's Lolita was once hailed as "a love letter to the English language." I'm looking for modern and contemporary authors with similar aspirations. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic on Sep 12, 2008 - 43 answers

I need a longish, interesting, well-written book (fiction) to read on an upcoming trip. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by mosessis on Aug 21, 2008 - 58 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

I'm looking for books and graphic novels that are meant to be read multiple times. [more inside]
posted by spec80 on Jul 25, 2008 - 49 answers

Please recommend me some great books about the home front during WWI or WWII. [more inside]
posted by booksandlibretti on Jul 21, 2008 - 26 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

Did the Generic Food people put out Generic Books? [more inside]
posted by suki on Jun 2, 2008 - 5 answers

My mother likes Jodi Picoult novels. I don't know much about the author but I am looking for similar novels. What novels should I be looking for?
posted by 517 on May 9, 2008 - 9 answers

Help me remember title of really explicit and racy romance novel from the 70s or 80s please! The main character was a young orphaned woman who was in love with her rich caretaker who was a male family member who took her virginity so roughly that she required surgery and was left barren. [more inside]
posted by citystalk on Feb 16, 2008 - 3 answers

Looking for the name of a sci-fi book. Man is injected with a serum that causes him to shrink forever, eventually discovering there are universes smaller than atoms. [more inside]
posted by Gudlyf on Feb 7, 2008 - 9 answers

If you please—I urgently require a few good recommendations of novels that have India as a backdrop. [more inside]
posted by hadjiboy on Jan 13, 2008 - 55 answers

Looking for good used bookstores in Denver.... [more inside]
posted by reenum on Dec 27, 2007 - 3 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

What are some intelligent, very clever (funny is OK, but not necessary) recent novels that are readable but not trashy? Think along the lines of Zadie Smith's White Teeth and Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Avoiding verbosity (Rushdie) and anachronism (The Great Gatsby, etc.), what's left? [more inside]
posted by stvspl on Sep 16, 2007 - 52 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

Please recommend novels whose heroines are similar to the protagonist of Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym? [more inside]
posted by thehmsbeagle on Aug 23, 2007 - 16 answers

What novels are on the middle school syllabus these days? or What novels should be on the middle school syllabus? [more inside]
posted by Wayman Tisdale on May 23, 2007 - 24 answers

BookFilter: I've recently gotten done with Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (link here). I'm looking for more books like it. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Apr 23, 2007 - 19 answers

BookFilter: I’m pregnant and would love recommendations for fictional books including or centering on pregnant characters. [more inside]
posted by lynda on Apr 20, 2007 - 24 answers

I loved fairy tales as a child, and now that I am (nominally) a grownup, I love the "retellings" of fairytales — the fleshed-out versions which, for example, feature actual character development instead of lines like "she was as beautiful as she was good". I love Robin McKinley's retellings of "Donkeyskin", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast" (which she did twice for good measure), and Gregory Maguire's surprisingly political Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. What other good grown-up fairytales are out there?
posted by orange swan on Apr 11, 2007 - 60 answers

I'm doing research (for a writing project) into Film Noirs and Mystery Pulps, and I'm looking for good selections of a certain plot type: the "missing person" scenario. [more inside]
posted by SmileyChewtrain on Mar 11, 2007 - 20 answers

How many type written pages make up a novel? [more inside]
posted by finitejest on Feb 9, 2007 - 12 answers

Looking for inspiration in two kinds of books. Perhaps you've got some recommendations? 1) Novels with very short "chapters" or fragments or pieces, that combine to make a whole; 2) Books boldly written, whether that be a writer being bold with timelines, punctuation, language, etc. (examples of both types of books inside). [more inside]
posted by dobbs on Dec 6, 2006 - 54 answers

Where can I find sales figures for novels (new and/or classic)? I am aware of Bookscan and Publisher's Lunch, but those are very expensive.
posted by Gnostic Novelist on Oct 26, 2006 - 9 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

Need suggestions for good reads to bring along on a two week vacation to (mostly) rural Germany for an American Lit and Creative Writing teacher. [more inside]
posted by ontic on Jul 10, 2006 - 12 answers

Has anyone done an epistolary comic book? It's not obvious to me how such a project could work and I'm interested in seeing what, if anything, artists have done with the form. I'm also interested in recommendations for good epistolary novels. I've already looked at the wikipedia page on epistolary novels and I plan to read some of the novels mentioned there.
posted by rdr on Jun 15, 2006 - 7 answers

What is the most profane novel ever written? I'm talking about the absolute dirtiest work of fiction. And by "dirty" I don't really mean sexual content, like a de Sade book. I'm more interested in sheer volume of swears. Thanks!
posted by ktoad on May 9, 2006 - 36 answers

Later today I'm teaching a class on Ian McEwan's Atonement. I'd like to juxtapose the extremely complex kind of atonement depicted in this novel with other, structurally simpler stories of atonement. Any ideas? [more inside]
posted by josh on Apr 6, 2006 - 7 answers