Posting for my sister. Can anyone recommend a good book about the stock market for a smart beginner and layperson?
posted by orange swan
on Jan 17, 2013 -
12 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
Woodworkers of MeFi, what reference books about wood do you recommend? Please note that I'm not looking for books on the craft of woodworking so much as for reference books on the varieties of wood and their properties.
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posted by orange swan
on May 18, 2009 -
11 answers
Can anyone recommend a solidly researched and well-written book that critiques Ronald Reagan's administration?
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posted by orange swan
on Apr 18, 2009 -
8 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 want to write a Christmas-themed essay for my book review blog, and I'm trying to come up with some Christmas lit to review. It might be fun, for instance, to gather together a selection of Christmas tripe such as
Santa's Christmas Prayer (link not safe for those who have any literary sensibilities and have just eaten) and go to town on it. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, to write something about Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol. Which Christmas novels/stories/poems do you love and loathe? I don't review movies, so text only please...
posted by orange swan
on Nov 28, 2006 -
13 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
Please recommend a good book blog where I can hang out. Because heaven knows I don't fritter away enough time on the Internet.
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posted by orange swan
on May 19, 2006 -
13 answers
What's your favourite work of trashy fiction? I'm looking for some good, fun, trashy yet smart reads in which I can unabashedly wallow.
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posted by orange swan
on Jul 19, 2005 -
47 answers
Solve This! I love mystery novels and have a hard time finding some that I like. What do you recommend?
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posted by orange swan
on Mar 8, 2005 -
35 answers
I'm trying to learn about the Edwardian era especially (but not exclusively) in England, Ireland, and Canada. What excellent materials (fiction and non-fiction books, movies, websites, etc.) have you read and seen about this period?
posted by orange swan
on Mar 1, 2005 -
17 answers
The lights along the dim hallway flickered as she walked toward the door at the end. The floor of the old house creaked underneath her webbed feet, but otherwise all was still. Until she heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and she turned and saw.... I love ghost stories. Can any of you recommend some good ones? To give you some idea of what I would like, I loved Edith Wharton's creepy tales and Shirley Jackson's
The Haunting of Hill House, but I'll pass on any more Stephen King or Peter Straub. I want good writing, subtlety, suspense, and enough thrills and chills to scare the feathers right off me.
posted by orange swan
on Oct 30, 2004 -
16 answers
