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
Last week I read David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" (thanks to
this FPP), while in the middle of reading Moby Dick. I found them resonating together so well: the high tragedy mixed with low comedy, the elaborate descriptive asides, the playing with formatting, the casual authorial self-hatred, the obsession with morality, to say nothing of the mechanics of the ship and the sea. All this without a single over reference back to Melville.
What are some other great co-reads (or movies/TV/opera/album/etc.) to get that enriching resonance? Subtle is good: think tone, theme, shape more than plot or character. If you've caught Laurence Weschler's McSweeney's series of Convergences (published in book form
here), that's more what I mean. The reader/viewer makes the connections without being led by the author (So, for instance, King Lear & Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres are too overtly linked).
Bonus points for something that goes well with Cloud Atlas (the book, not the movie).
posted by rikschell
on Feb 18, 2013 -
17 answers
Can you recommend me a book with interesting, well-drawn characters and a page-turning plot that is not horribly depressing? Maybe (but not necessarily) something of the chick-lit variety?
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posted by lunasol
on Jan 24, 2013 -
38 answers
Spoiler filter - novels/scripts where the protagonist was in a coma/dead (etc) the whole time?
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posted by tzb
on Jan 18, 2013 -
46 answers
Seeking recommendations for (non-American/British) crime novels that also serve as interesting social commentary
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posted by 1901gunner
on Dec 2, 2012 -
17 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 looking for a novel that strikes a tone between the strange and the intimate/everyday. I've been watching a lot of Fringe lately and I've been in the mood for a book that provides characters interacting with Lovecraftian, Lynchian, or Cronenbergian horrors while the characters themselves remain (or attempt to remain) relatable and slice of life.
posted by sendai sleep master
on Oct 12, 2012 -
56 answers
I just finished
Gone Girl the other day and am looking for similar reads. Without spoiling anything this book features intelligent and unpredictable characters with twisty plotting, including a significant script flip halfway through. Would love similar page turners that keep you guessing without being too formulaic or lowest common denominator!
posted by yellowbinder
on Sep 24, 2012 -
26 answers
I am looking for literary works about mountains. I imagine they exist, because being in mountains and climbing them and seeing everything from up high is such a powerful experience. I know there are movies about this (for instance the silent ones by
Arnold Franck), and I suppose there must be an equivalent in writing. Ideally, they would be rather lyrical or poetic texts. Any ideas, hive-mind?
posted by MrMisterio
on Sep 14, 2012 -
21 answers
Please recommend books that are similar to 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' (not just ones about autism).
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posted by fix
on Aug 29, 2012 -
22 answers
The Internet having destroyed my abilities of concentration, I'm looking for anything, preferably a web app, that can help me read large texts, like novels on a sentence-by-sentence basis.
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posted by Senza Volto
on May 26, 2012 -
6 answers
What are some great (somewhat) recently released novels/books/memoirs with queer/LGBTQ themes or characters?
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posted by kylej
on May 23, 2012 -
31 answers
Please recommend me some novels (or movies) about the confusion and ridiculousness of being in your early 20s.
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posted by ad4pt
on May 9, 2012 -
28 answers
Please recommend stories about mental battles. Specifically, people overcoming deep-seated fears or beliefs.
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posted by fix
on May 3, 2012 -
7 answers
What are the books and films that The Hunger Games
rips off pays homage to?
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posted by zardoz
on Mar 23, 2012 -
36 answers
I read
An Instance of the Fingerpost, which presents four narrators remembering one event, and
loved it. I also love epistolary novels (oh, Dracula) for the same reason, but most of them don't quite play with narrator unreliability enough. What other Rashomon-style novels are there? Or, barring that, other dense, complex novels with
one extremely unreliable narrator?
posted by flibbertigibbet
on Jan 13, 2012 -
37 answers
Help me MeFites! Help me find the books that will allow me to space out during the holidays.
I'm looking for some engrossing, non-taxing, but not stupid, novels to read that will take me away from my ordinary modern life and its attendant pressures. Can you help?
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posted by A Terrible Llama
on Nov 22, 2011 -
48 answers
I'm looking for novels that explore jealousy in romantic relationships, particularly featuring a partner who is jealous or insecure about the other person's romantic past. Ex-boyfriends/ex-girlfriends haunting the relationship would be excellent. Any recommendations? ("Literature" preferred--i.e., trashy novels aren't my thing.)
posted by melancholyplay
on Nov 20, 2011 -
25 answers
I entered graduate school in literature six years ago, and since then I feel like I've lost track what's happening in contemporary literature. Help me catch up: What are the essential works of the last six years?
posted by gerryblog
on Nov 15, 2011 -
17 answers
Can you recommend some good books that have characters that I would actually aspire to be like?
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posted by chevyvan
on Sep 22, 2011 -
16 answers
I'm looking for novels or movies that feature teenage protagonists suffering from depression, schizoid tendencies or similar psychological defects.
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posted by Senza Volto
on Sep 9, 2011 -
48 answers
"Happy families are all alike," which presumably makes things difficult for novelists, who need conflict to drive plot. But since I don't have a lot of great relationship models in my life, I'd like to read some novels about people with good marital or romantic relationships. Suggestions?
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posted by ThisIsNotMe
on Aug 11, 2011 -
27 answers
What are some contemporary novels about potheads or that feature weed-smoking?
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posted by fryman
on Jun 9, 2011 -
19 answers
Give your best examples of the SF/ Survivalist/ Wish Fullfillment sub-genre "libertarian engineers do everything better" or "objectivist superman saves history". More specifically ones where someone is the last man on earth/sendt back in time and constructs a free market utopia through sheer smarts and rationality ( with himself on the top of it, of course).
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posted by The Whelk
on Jun 9, 2011 -
28 answers
I need mystery novel recommendations! Looking for good mysteries with unconventional characters as the lead.
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posted by echo target
on Jun 3, 2011 -
57 answers
I'm up for tackling some big all-time classics, especially
Don Quixote and
War and Peace, and I'm wondering which translations to get.
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posted by Rinku
on Apr 29, 2011 -
19 answers
I'd like recommendations for books, stories or non-fiction accounts of women wrestling with societal norms to achieve their goals and having trouble overcoming their own internalized ideas of gender.
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posted by DeusExMegana
on Apr 23, 2011 -
26 answers
Looking for titles for two fantasy books from childhood, the publishing time frame is 1970~1990ish. Scenes from Game of Thrones reminded a friend of them...
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posted by nightchrome
on Apr 18, 2011 -
11 answers
History is full of unsolved mysteries and crimes. I'm seeking novels with mysteries (murder, chiefly) where the crime is not solved but the ending is nonetheless totally satisfying.
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posted by IndigoJones
on Apr 12, 2011 -
20 answers
Help me prove my friend wrong. What are some works of fiction (novels, short stories, even poetry) written by women, but from the first-person point of view of a male character?
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posted by Nixy
on Apr 1, 2011 -
61 answers
I love superhero fiction. I love stories that look into what superhero powers would be like--its psychological and social ramifications. I love the mythology that has developed around superheroes. I love the darkness and moral complexity many modern superhero stories involve.... But I just cannot get into comics or any visual storytelling of that sort. So, can you point me to any good novels about superheroes?
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posted by meese
on Feb 6, 2011 -
33 answers
What are some novels in which the plot primarily revolves around a marriage?
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posted by Nixy
on Feb 5, 2011 -
46 answers
I'm taking a roadtrip through the United States and am looking for book recommendations - books that have been written by authors who are from the cities I'm visiting, books that take place in some of the cities I'm visiting, or even book about travel in general.
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posted by makethemost
on Dec 19, 2010 -
19 answers
SF book filter: cyberpunk novel in which a virtual-reality programmer discovers a way to make nerve-induction interfaces write thoughts and feelings to the brain, in addition to merely manipulating sensory perceptions. Powers that be do not like, hilarity ensues...
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posted by lordcorvid
on Dec 6, 2010 -
3 answers
All great libraries have books in them, but how many great books have libraries in them? I just finished reading "Big Machine" by Victor Lavalle, and am currently reading "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami
(yes, finally!), and it's purely coincidental, but they both happen to feature libraries prominently. So now I'd like to know what other really good novels feature libraries in a significant way.
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posted by taz
on Dec 2, 2010 -
31 answers
