I'm looking for some Christ-centered sex-positive how-to books. For a friend. No, really. [more inside]
posted by fuzzbean on Nov 30, 2009 - 21 answers

Book recommendations: Recently I have discovered that I really enjoy a certain type of flawed character in television shows. Think Gregory House on House or Dr. Cal Lightman on Lie to Me. Wounded inside with a tough smart exterior that push people away with sarcasm or slight jerkish behaviour. Help me find examples in literature so I can continue my current obsession when I shut the tv off. [more inside]
posted by beautifulcheese on Nov 25, 2009 - 47 answers

Books recommendation for an industrial engineer [more inside]
posted by Carius on Nov 14, 2009 - 13 answers

Book Collectors: Is my new signed collector's edition book more or less valuable with a cutting machine error? [more inside]
posted by trixare4kids on Nov 11, 2009 - 3 answers

As a writer trying to press into the next stage of my career, how can I emphasize in my publishing history that "small press" isn't always a euphemism for "vanity press"? [more inside]
posted by 256 on Nov 11, 2009 - 17 answers

Have you read an informative, engaging book on German history? If so, what is it? [more inside]
posted by bluishorange on Nov 10, 2009 - 18 answers

Does anyone know of some good reads on conversation and social skills? I'm not suggesting that you can learn these subjects entirely by a book, but what I'm looking for is some methods to make communication a little bit easier when meeting someone or groups of people. [more inside]
posted by Garden on Oct 30, 2009 - 8 answers

Okay, fantasy novel ID two-fer. Book One: people live in villages that are suspended on the side of an enormous cliff and a girl is born who has wings. Book Two: set in a world made up of bits of earth suspended in a void, cape-fighters, a spider-god.... [more inside]
posted by otolith on Oct 28, 2009 - 7 answers

I loved the plot of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Any recommendations for similar books, shows, or movies? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Oct 28, 2009 - 10 answers

Library of the future? [more inside]
posted by fifilaru on Oct 23, 2009 - 25 answers

I am looking for a certain type of non-fiction book. These books are very often instructional with the words handwritten (or typed with a font that imitates handwriting) and the illustrations hand-drawn giving the book the appearance of a photocopied notebook. [more inside]
posted by wannalol on Oct 22, 2009 - 14 answers

When I was a kid, I remember a series of biographies in the library, either in the kids or YA section. They were short biographies of American figures, and I'm sure I read all the ones with female subjects. Can anyone help identify this series? I'd love to have some of these books for my niece when she's old enough. [more inside]
posted by whitearrow on Oct 19, 2009 - 12 answers

BookClubfilter: I'm tasked with picking the next book. I have some ideas, but could use the Hive's help. [more inside]
posted by indiebass on Oct 19, 2009 - 41 answers

Are there any great books about surfing or skateboarding?
posted by EnormousTalkingOnion on Oct 16, 2009 - 8 answers

Recommend some great literature in the Steinbeck tradition. [more inside]
posted by Go Banana on Oct 14, 2009 - 18 answers

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?
posted by odinsdream on Oct 9, 2009 - 17 answers

A friend of mine is writing a memoir about traveling to every country in Europe at the age of 23. He wants to compare being stuck in a crappy part of Romania to a well known literary or film hellhole. We can't think of any. [more inside]
posted by Jason Land on Oct 8, 2009 - 25 answers

Long-lost childhood books: a history book printed after one of the World Wars. I don't know the title or author, but I'll tell you everything I remember. Hivemind, please help me find it! [more inside]
posted by cmyk on Oct 8, 2009 - 5 answers

[Book/Story-filter] Trying to place a book or maybe short story from my youth (child of the late 70s-80s). The only thing I can remember is a guy going swimming at the Y. He thinks he sees a towel stuck in the drain at the bottom of the pool, but once he gets down there he realizes it is a rat coming out of the drain. It could be a really popular book for all I know. I just know that it scared the crap out of me and still freaks me out to this day a bit. Any ideas?
posted by speeb on Oct 5, 2009 - 2 answers

Woohoo, it's October! Lets get some Autumn/Halloween reading suggestions! [more inside]
posted by CZMR on Oct 1, 2009 - 18 answers

Calling all music Mefites: Can you recommend any good books about indie music or musicians? [more inside]
posted by bibliophibianj on Sep 14, 2009 - 24 answers

I am looking for a young child's easy reader book from the late 1960s/early 1970s about a bear and his bus. [more inside]
posted by goml on Sep 10, 2009 - 6 answers

Please help me figure out what book this is. [more inside]
posted by magnoliasouth on Sep 2, 2009 - 3 answers

I'm looking for a book I read in year 6 (1995), and I loved, but can't remember much about it. I think it was "world of O", or "secret of O", or something along those lines, but searches on that don't come up with hits on Google or Amazon. I remember that on the cover, the O had a sinuous line through it (like the yin/yang symbol), and there was a bit where the guy was given special gloves and socks that allowed him to cling on to a sheer cliff face (might have been a deep hole instead, not sure). Does anyone recognise this book? Help appreciated :)
posted by Anon Ymous on Sep 1, 2009 - 5 answers

I'll be speaking at a conference in New York City, and I'd like to figure out how best to get there. [more inside]
posted by fake on Aug 28, 2009 - 16 answers

DonatingTextbooksInAustraliaFilter: How would I go about donating a heap of recent secondary school textbooks to worthy causes. I'm in Melbourne, Australia. [more inside]
posted by micklaw on Aug 25, 2009 - 6 answers

Help me identify a book about an amazing Italian man with obsessive compulsive disorder. [more inside]
posted by Wordwoman on Aug 24, 2009 - 1 answer

I'm trying to remember the name of a series of preschooler picture books. They were written a few years back and the main characters are two animals that look like bunnies but aren't. One is white and one is black. I can't remember their names, hence my dilemma since their names are also the title of the series. I think one name is odd and starts with a B and the other is ordinary, maybe Maggie? Anyway, they are wonderful oddball characters who mange to find their way in and out of trouble. Their charm lies in being different. What are their names?
posted by Lorna on Aug 20, 2009 - 8 answers

christopher hitchens' edited the portable atheist is probably the most current book which by using the word "portable" purports that it is an essential reader in condensed format. but there are so many other titles which use "the portable such-and-such". how and when did this tradition start? [more inside]
posted by sardonicsmile on Aug 20, 2009 - 4 answers

Need some book recommendations. Just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula...and am getting through the Historian. In the past I have enjoyed The List of Seven, Club Dumas, The Alienist, Name of the Rose and so forth. So I guess I like the mystery-within-history sort of suspense/horror/thriller. The things I didn't get into were Dan Brown, Ian Pears, and anything having to do with Templars or Mary Magdalene. Can you recommend me your favorites? -- Thanks so much.
posted by snap_dragon on Aug 15, 2009 - 35 answers

Jules Verne. Hans Christian Anderson. Don Quixote. The Brothers Grimn. Pippi Longstocking. They say that Americans don't read books in translation (only 874 of the 185,000 books published in the US in 2004 were adult literature books translated from other languages, according to this link), but I'm sure that more than 0.4% of my childhood canon was from non-English sources. Help me add to the list! [more inside]
posted by math on Aug 14, 2009 - 41 answers

IDThisBookFilter: I'm looking for a fantasy book by several authors which features a family of painters who can trap people in a painting if they mix their bodily fluids in with the paint. [more inside]
posted by snoogles on Aug 5, 2009 - 3 answers

What are some good recent military history books? [more inside]
posted by mkb on Aug 5, 2009 - 18 answers

The Adventures of the Black Hand Gang, are there other books that are similar? [more inside]
posted by dejah420 on Jul 30, 2009 - 12 answers

Help me find a website/software for making lists about interests like music, movies, books, etc. [more inside]
posted by GrooveStix on Jul 9, 2009 - 5 answers

What's the best reading available for a summary of "Junk Science"? [more inside]
posted by Neale on Jul 1, 2009 - 21 answers

I'd like to learn about biology. Can you recommend some books to get me started? [more inside]
posted by SamuelBowman on Jun 30, 2009 - 21 answers

What are the best nonfiction sources about the atrocities surrounding the Mexican-American War and related Native American wars? [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse on Jun 29, 2009 - 12 answers

What are the best recent books on emerging infectious diseases? [more inside]
posted by msharp on Jun 28, 2009 - 3 answers

I'm trying to locate three books from my childhood (mid-80's) about UFOs, monsters and ghosts. [more inside]
posted by DakotaPaul on Jun 26, 2009 - 11 answers

How can every man be his own Daniel Plainview, or at the very least write like he speaks? [more inside]
posted by seansbrain on Jun 25, 2009 - 13 answers

What are some books I can read before my trip to Europe that will help me get in the mood? [more inside]
posted by Dilemma on Jun 23, 2009 - 24 answers

Want to help remember a book title? 'Course ya do! It's from the 80s and, if I remember correctly, involves some kids that discover a new game at the local arcade. There's a pilot's helmet on top of the machine, and when they try it on and attempt the game they find they can travel through time. I believe the cover was a picture of the machine and the helmet. At one point they use it to break into a research facility or something, but before that I think they go back too far and it's still being built (leading to some fretting about jumping forward in time and ending up halfway through a wall or floor). I know somebody out there can field this one!
posted by Monster_Zero on Jun 23, 2009 - 2 answers

I'm looking for recommendations for some books for my dad, who likes Tony Hillerman, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and John LeCarre. [more inside]
posted by creepygirl on Jun 13, 2009 - 25 answers

Please suggest movies, TV shows and books that feature unrepentant, amoral characters [more inside]
posted by reenum on Jun 10, 2009 - 71 answers

Children's books in Spanish in Canada? [more inside]
posted by ricochet biscuit on Jun 8, 2009 - 9 answers

Namethatbookfilter: Post-war Britain about a disaffected male office worker who thinks about (possibly acts on) poisoning the water cooler at his office. Ring any bells? [more inside]
posted by Edwahd on Jun 7, 2009 - 7 answers

Science fiction - filter: I used to read and love Dick, Farmer, LeGuin, and others who coupled great writing with directly confronting sex, violence, and societal change. What contemporary authors might I like? [more inside]
posted by Forktine on May 28, 2009 - 40 answers

I need your suggestions for interesting, exciting and thought provoking philosophy for me to read this summer! [more inside]
posted by tumples on May 27, 2009 - 38 answers

I need a new "big think" book! I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and I loved his other books as well. I've read everything Jared Diamond has published (Collapse, Guns, Germs & Steel, The Third Chimpanzee etc.) I like books that stretch your brain and reveal the hidden factors in life, the world and society. [more inside]
posted by musofire on May 10, 2009 - 65 answers