Can you recommend a good book on papal history that is solid on facts and theology, honest about blemishes, but doesn't revel in scandal? Oh, and I hope I can find it in a Kindle version.
[more inside]
posted by OrangeDisk
on Feb 26, 2013 -
6 answers
We just got back from a lovely weekend in Vermont. I like reading about places I visit. Your favorite non-fiction books about Vermont, please!
posted by ocherdraco
on Feb 25, 2013 -
18 answers
[Book Filter] Does anyone have recommendations of books that are either about Laos, or starring characters that are Laotian?
[more inside]
posted by ruhroh
on Feb 25, 2013 -
7 answers
So, physicists like Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Kip Thorne, and others have written books aimed at an interested lay audience.
What are similar books written by mathematicians?
I'm aware of Godel, Escher & Bach. And that's about it.
posted by dfriedman
on Feb 25, 2013 -
23 answers
I enjoy memoir-style books written by people who have lived in interesting places/cultures and provide a political and historical perspective of the events in their lives. I have a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble that's burning a hole in my pocket. I'd like some recommendations.
[more inside]
posted by phoenix_rising
on Feb 23, 2013 -
22 answers
When you read Lionel Shriver's
We Need to Talk About Kevin what did you know, and when? And also, can you recommend books with similar techniques?
Spoilers inside. (Presumed Innocent and Defending Jacob are also mentioned in a way that may be spoiler-y to some.)
[more inside]
posted by BibiRose
on Feb 22, 2013 -
34 answers
I'm trying to find out the most popular guides to NYC (in particular) that people around the world use. In the US, this would include guidebooks like Frommer's or Fodor's. People can also check a site like tripadvisor to find hotel or attraction recommendations.
What books or sites would people in Germany, France, Italy, China, India, and countries all around the world use?
posted by meantime
on Feb 18, 2013 -
9 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
What publications give solid advantages in which lines of work when read regularly? A few examples might be
McKinsey when read by HR managers,
A List Apart when read by designers,
Hacker News when read by programmers, and
Poynter when read by journalists. What else is there in these fields and in others that puts a person ahead?
posted by michaelh
on Feb 17, 2013 -
16 answers
Just too late for Valentine's Day, recommend me some awesome fantasy novels with satisfying romances.
[more inside]
posted by WidgetAlley
on Feb 15, 2013 -
18 answers
So my divorce took a crazy turn for the worst and all hope of reconciliation has flown out the window. Can anyone recommend books for a man in his late 30s / early 40s going through and recovering from a divorce? Any books for either dealing with the divorce itself or dealing with life after and re-entry to dating world would be great.
posted by entropicamericana
on Feb 14, 2013 -
3 answers
Name that young adult fantasy novel: Two boys who are enemies at school are transported to some magical scenario where they have to work together.
[more inside]
posted by latkes
on Feb 13, 2013 -
4 answers
I've just read a section of a novel where the main character trains in a martial art and becomes mildly proficient in it. I realized that I LOVE reading that sort of thing, maybe more than I love a movie training montage (bring on the Mulan and the Dirty Dancing)(the learn how to dance montage is just a subset of the training montage, am I right?). Help me find more of these.
[more inside]
posted by hought20
on Feb 13, 2013 -
22 answers
I need to get some birthday gifts for someone who is off work and stuck at home for weeks due to surgery. This person has no hobbies and doesn't really do much other than shop and watch TV and tends to get depressed easily, so I'd like to get him some things to keep him busy and engaged. He used to really enjoy reading so I think if I got some books he'd get into them while he's stuck at home. Previously enjoyed authors are Edgar Rice Burroughs, Louis L'Amour, Stephen King, Anne Rice and Conan books. So old Sci-Fi, Westerns or Horror. He doesn't like Zane Grey. He also enjoys history, particularly WW2 and Civil War eras. Could I please have your recommendations for riveting books that might be enjoyed by someone with these tastes? Am also happy to hear non-book recs that might fit in.
posted by Polychrome
on Feb 13, 2013 -
27 answers
An adult friend needs help becoming a faster reader. She's not interested in speed-reading classes because she doesn't want to learn how to skim: she wants to learn how to read more fluently. How does she learn to do that?
[more inside]
posted by colfax
on Feb 12, 2013 -
21 answers
I like weird/creepy (but not "boo" scary!) stuff. Do you have that itch too? If so, help me scratch it! What are some good books or sites on the internet that I haven't seen with weird stuff?
[more inside]
posted by agress
on Feb 12, 2013 -
36 answers
Recommendations for dog books seem a common request here, but this one is going to be a little bit more specific:
I'm after a kind of dog book that involves a person getting a dog for the first time, only in their adult life. Meaning, they didn't grow up with dogs, or didn't have any meaningful experiences with dogs as a child, but
as an adult, from a cold start, got a dog. Examples -
My Dog Tulip, he gets the first dog of his life, the dog who changes his whole life, in his 50s.
Dog Man - The guy who was instrumental in saving the Akita breed from extinction, got his first dog only in his 30s. Counter-examples - Marley & Me, they both had dogs as kids.
[more inside]
posted by Elfasi
on Feb 9, 2013 -
7 answers
[BookFilter] Help me find this children's book about a fox that turns out to not be a fox after all!
[more inside]
posted by anaximander
on Feb 9, 2013 -
7 answers
I've been reading a lot of bleak books lately, often with antiheroes. Now I would like the opposite of that. I don't mind if some bad things happen, of course, or if there's conflict - usually that's kind of necessary for a good story. But I would like it if at least one of the main characters were someone I would want to be friends with. And if some of the stuff that they do or that happens in their lives makes me smile.
[more inside]
posted by lollusc
on Feb 8, 2013 -
53 answers
I'm looking for good books detailing the history of film by decade-- as in a book on 1940's Hollywood, the 60's and the French New Wave, 1970's New Hollywood (in that case Easy Riders, Raging Bulls might be a good suggestion).
[more inside]
posted by dr handsome
on Feb 5, 2013 -
6 answers
Seeking recommendations for fiction that features matriarchy / female led societies.
posted by travelwithcats
on Feb 4, 2013 -
36 answers
I've been listening to 'Escape from Camp 14' on audiobook for the past few days, and I was struck by a brief overview of & reference to the story of Charles Robert Jenkins, an American defector to North Korea. I found the concept as mystifying as it was intriguing, so I would like to know if any of you have heard of any non-fiction books about other defection stories that involve citizens of democratic nations obtaining residency in nations that would be deemed objectively totalitarian and renouncing their countries of origin. I'm on the lookout for his book, 'The Reluctant Communist,' but I'd like to hear about other stories of this type as well.
posted by Selena777
on Feb 3, 2013 -
13 answers
There are about a zillion books on starting a new business, being a manager, etc. My base assumption is that they're all lame, and the few I've flipped through didn't make a good impression. Any thoughts?
[more inside]
posted by jragon
on Feb 3, 2013 -
10 answers
Can you recommend short, easy-to-understand math writing I can read before bed?
[more inside]
posted by kristi
on Jan 29, 2013 -
12 answers
Help me identify this book? Hardback, with illustrations of towns & shops; lots of detail, kind of cartoony, escalators & stairs crossing. 1960s/70s? Know it's not much to go on, but it's all he gave me. Have at it guys.
posted by ulanbator3
on Jan 27, 2013 -
8 answers
I would like to finally find a routine I can follow to eat healthy during the week and I am looking for book recommendations. Unfortunately, most nutrition/cooking books are very one-sided (only contain recipes, only discuss cooking skills, or only nutrition theory) and very biased towards some radical approach (vegatarian/vegan, very low-carb, very high-protein etc.). I am looking for the opposite - ideally a single book for learning about nutrition, cooking and planning your groceries and cooking so all the good advice is actually actionable considering having a 40-hour workweek; also without going into any dietetic extremes and based on sound science and actual practice. Details inside.
[more inside]
posted by jarekr
on Jan 27, 2013 -
17 answers
I've been trying on and off for years to remember this YA book. Actually, I think it might be a series, but maybe not. Details within.
[more inside]
posted by fozzie_bear
on Jan 25, 2013 -
6 answers
I only really have time to read a single book on the origins of photography. What do you recommend? Think Daguerre and Talbot, no need for hundreds of pages devoted to the camera obscura. I'd also prefer something heavier on text than actual photographs.
posted by Lorin
on Jan 25, 2013 -
5 answers
Help me find a decent set of books for an 8-yr old niece who is heavily into reading (touch wood). Harry Potter, The Hobbit and some other books are not for her at this point.
[more inside]
posted by theobserver
on Jan 24, 2013 -
68 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?
[more inside]
posted by lunasol
on Jan 24, 2013 -
38 answers
I love the TV show Homeland. It's very different from the kinds of things I'm normally into, but now I'm hooked. I would like to find some books that would scratch the same itch, to keep me going untl next season. Ideally I'd like non-fiction, because I'd like to learn more about how all this stuff goes down, but I realize that due to the nature of the topic, it's hard to get detailed non-fiction accounts. So I'm open to fiction if it isn't really over the top.
[more inside]
posted by primethyme
on Jan 23, 2013 -
10 answers
Someone makes rape jokes at your workplace. If you could make them read and write an essay about an illuminating book on rape and sexual violence, what would that book be?
[more inside]
posted by DisreputableDog
on Jan 22, 2013 -
22 answers
My five-year-old son and I just finished reading
Bone, and we need a new comic to read together. I'd prefer something with an ongoing story, but good non-serial comics are also welcome.
posted by mokin
on Jan 21, 2013 -
19 answers
Simple enough question. I've never read any Elmore Leonard, and think I will give him a whirl. Where should I start?
posted by Alaska Jack
on Jan 21, 2013 -
18 answers
I've been Googling and looking through different lists of recommended books (including some recommended by orgs like RAINN) about healing from sexual trauma, but I'm looking for 1 or 2 good books that are reasonably-priced. (Many of these books seem to be out of print and therefore expensive.) This is about an assault that happened to me as an adult, so books about child abuse are out.
What I don't want: hokey, religious, new-age, preachy, textbooks, "workbooks"
My ideal book would deal with many of the symptoms of Rape Trauma Syndrome, including having "body memories" of the assault.
Hope this is descriptive enough.
posted by anonymous
on Jan 20, 2013 -
5 answers
Help me book-shop! I have $150 credit with Routledge. What are your favorite books from their catalog? I'm in media/humanities but all recommendations welcome.
posted by media_itoku
on Jan 19, 2013 -
6 answers
Spoiler filter - novels/scripts where the protagonist was in a coma/dead (etc) the whole time?
[more inside]
posted by tzb
on Jan 18, 2013 -
46 answers
Asking for advice and book recommendations for letting go of bad family relationships.
[more inside]
posted by yawper
on Jan 17, 2013 -
5 answers
I'm looking for books about parenting in past times -- did the Victorians write about raising children? How about the middle ages? Even early 20th century would be interesting to me. If you have any personal insights about past parenting methods and the day-to-day of child-rearing, please share!
posted by amanda
on Jan 17, 2013 -
15 answers
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 spent 4 years learning French in high school, and have retained just enough since then to vaguely eavesdrop on a fellow commuter's French novel the other day. I would like to brush up on my reading comprehension, and could use some suggestions for some simply written fiction to pick up.
[more inside]
posted by thirdletter
on Jan 16, 2013 -
25 answers
This is a short question, but the internet sucks at poetry books so I've had no luck finding out what I need to know through other channels. Where can I find Tim Seibles' poem "The Groom"? Of his books that actually have a table of contents available online, that poem doesn't appear in any of them, and of course I haven't been able to find it among the other set. Help please! I love that poem and I want to have it again.
posted by invitapriore
on Jan 16, 2013 -
4 answers
What are some good sources - blogs or books - for learning what everyday life is like in different parts of the world?
[more inside]
posted by kristi
on Jan 15, 2013 -
5 answers
Last summer I finally finished Infinite Jest, and looking back on it changed my life in a good way. Recently, I bought a George Saunders collection after reading
this glowing NYT profile of his work and it is starting to do the same thing in many ways. Can you suggest other authors in a similar vein whose fiction speaks to the reality of contemporary experience in a way that is both profound and suffused with kindness? I was recommended Richard Powers, and enjoyed the book of his that I read, but didn't make the same emotional connection that I did with Saunders & Wallace.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory
on Jan 14, 2013 -
20 answers
