I'm looking for an old science fiction novel about an evil, blue giant titled "The Blue Man" - the Google and Amazon search is poisoned by both The Blue Man Group, and a young-adult science fiction novel "The Blue Man" which isn't it at all. [more inside]
posted on Jun 27, 2008 - 3 answers 
Looking for decently written, page-turning historical fiction. [more inside]
posted on Jun 15, 2008 - 66 answers
WhatWasThatBookFilter: a friend of mine needs help tracking down a fantasy/sci-fi paperback she read back in 1997. Full description below. [more inside]
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - 5 answers
Looking for sites or reviewers who review books other than literary fiction [more inside]
posted on Jun 10, 2008 - 4 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 on Jun 10, 2008 - 46 answers
Book recommendations: ecotopian fiction? (Something to read after The Fifth Sacred Thing)? [more inside]
posted on May 26, 2008 - 16 answers
I'm interested in reading more fun books, written in 1945 or earlier, which clearly set themselves in the time and place that they were written. Examples include Anne of Green Gables, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, Pride & Prejudice, and China to Me. [more inside]
posted on May 24, 2008 - 39 answers
Book-Filter: I'm fascinated by very bad priests in fiction. Help me find some more. [more inside]
posted on Apr 5, 2008 - 30 answers
I remember reading this young adult scifi novel as a kid. The basic plot is a girl goes to some special "institute" or something after school. I don't recall all the details of what happened there, something special. But, in addition to that, she got Baked Alaska, which was her favorite dessert. I think the Baked Alaska is the key to this mystery. Please help me find this novel!
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - 18 answers
I'm looking for fictional intragenerational incest narratives -- books, film, television, etc. -- in which the relationship is presented as a tragic love, doomed to failure. I'm not interested in the probably more common (and more realistic) pure trauma narratives. The relationship need not necessarily be physically consummated. [more inside]
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - 49 answers
Please recommend some books set in Singapore. [more inside]
posted on Mar 22, 2008 - 15 answers
I'm looking for some funny and smart fiction books, along the lines of "A Confederacy of Dunces" and "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal." [more inside]
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - 60 answers
If you please—I urgently require a few good recommendations of novels that have India as a backdrop. [more inside]
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - 55 answers
I'm looking for a series of hardback science fiction anthologies I dimly remember from childhood (sometime in the mid 80s). I think it had a one word title with a number, and the series went up to at least number five. I remember two stories in particular... [more inside]
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - 11 answers
Stories about healthy, "normal" marriages? [more inside]
posted on Jan 11, 2008 - 41 answers
Looking for some good, loooong novels. [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2007 - 102 answers
Gay Male Fiction: Please Recommend something good to read [more inside]
posted on Dec 1, 2007 - 25 answers
What is your favorite book or DVD series about Mexico? Particularly historical fiction or contemporary fiction. Preferably in English, but if you have a great recommendation in Spanish, I'd take that too! My grandmother thanks you! [more inside]
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 8 answers
I am looking for some fiction where the main character is a loner and seems to be OK with it. (possible spoilers) [more inside]
posted on Nov 11, 2007 - 45 answers
Can anyone remember the name of a book from my childhood? Kid lit from the late 60’s/early 70’s. Book is about the Holocaust, I think. Bought the book from the Scholastic Book Club (they don’t have lists from back then). The book has a red cover with a picture of a girl with dark brown hair. Part of the story takes place on a train going to Siberia(?). Hope you can help me find this book!
posted on Oct 31, 2007 - 12 answers
BookFilter: Tom Clancy novel from ~10 years ago ... Help me remember the name! [more inside]
posted on Oct 29, 2007 - 10 answers
I've written some fiction. Now I want to see if it's any good. [more inside]
posted on Oct 14, 2007 - 7 answers
I'm looking for books with quirky storylines or quirky characters doing strange things. [more inside]
posted on Sep 20, 2007 - 60 answers
I need to read something in Spanish. I want excellent writing, with involving plots, and it must be in print. Good detective fiction perhaps? [more inside]
posted on Aug 6, 2007 - 22 answers
Realistic accounts of meth use? [more inside]
posted on Jul 31, 2007 - 51 answers
Please help me remember the title of a particular fictional, young-adult book from the 80s or maybe 90s. [more inside]
posted on Jul 21, 2007 - 5 answers
Help me find the perfect book(s) to make my summer complete. I've got a strong preference for almost realistic horror and things that might creep me out. Bonus points for books that involve old school sanitariums. Of course you'll find more specifications in the [more inside]
posted on Jul 3, 2007 - 25 answers
I love finding books and authors who have been forgotten until a long time fan decides to make their work available again through some labor of love small press. Do you know of a publisher that has a somewhat esoteric focus along these lines? Who are they? Fiction or non is fine. It doesn't have to be someone who republishes old books though. If you know a house that has great taste with contemporary authors, go ahead and share. I would also like to hear about small presses that do particularly beautiful editions of good reading books as long as they are reasonably priced (barely breaking a $100). I've got a few examples inside. [more inside]
posted on Jun 21, 2007 - 19 answers
I’d like to read some fiction books where the heroine is intelligent, 40+ years old, not incredibly gorgeous or incredibly wealthy or incredibly famous, but with responsibilities (like teenage kids or a career), who has explicit & hot sex. Chick lit all grown up, you might say. [more inside]
posted on Jun 14, 2007 - 24 answers
"The master's body!" roared the butler into the mouthpiece. "I'm sorry, madame, but we can't furnish it — it's far too hot to touch this noon!"
What he really said was: "Yes… yes… I'll see."
I've always wondered what this passage from The Great Gatsby means. [more inside]
posted on May 24, 2007 - 15 answers
Do you know the title of this young adult novel? It was about a girl, possibly a foster child, runaway, or both, who goes to live in the woods like Thoreau. The more inside contains big spoilers! [more inside]
posted on May 23, 2007 - 14 answers
BookFilter: I’m pregnant and would love recommendations for fictional books including or centering on pregnant characters. [more inside]
posted 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 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 on Mar 11, 2007 - 20 answers
I'd like to find books or movies about feeling happiness while living in a world with plenty of injustice, sorrow, evil, and corruption. [more inside]
posted on Mar 3, 2007 - 27 answers
What works of fiction are most firmly embedded in the American cultural consciousness? That is, what books are most frequently alluded to or drawn from in popular culture and daily life? [more inside]
posted on Jan 30, 2007 - 74 answers
Any recommendations for children's books featuring little girls? [more inside]
posted on Jan 13, 2007 - 37 answers
BookRecFilter: One of my favorite authors has just knocked my socks off with his most recent book. I love what he did so much that I'd like to find other historical fiction like this. *Small spoiler for The Terror inside* [more inside]
posted on Jan 10, 2007 - 14 answers
What are some great depressing, or I should say melancholic, 21st century novels/short story collections? The latest that I have ordered is E. Annie Proulx 'Close Range: Wyoming Stories,' but that is from the late 90s.
I just cannot take the material that is being churned out in the 21st century. Most of it is pretty much the same. If it isn't formulaic mainstream work it turns out to be obscure and pointless POMO drivel.
I've scoured the 20th century and found a ton of titles, but almost nothing from the last 7 years.
The one recent gem I found is Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'.
Thanks in advance.
posted on Jan 6, 2007 - 34 answers
Books for nine year old girl? [more inside]
posted on Dec 21, 2006 - 73 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 on Nov 28, 2006 - 13 answers
I want to read something by Thomas Bernhard. I understand that his works are incredibly bleak, but that they lie on a continuum: ranging from blackly humorous to straight-up splenetic. If I am a fan of Hilary Mantel, which Bernhard book might be good to start with?
posted on Nov 21, 2006 - 11 answers
Book series for children and young adults? Recommendations welcome. There is [more inside]
posted on Oct 23, 2006 - 49 answers
Namethatbookfilter: Anyone remember the title of a children's fantasy about a witch, two kids, and a goblin king? [more inside]
posted on Oct 14, 2006 - 3 answers
I like to go to dark, smoky, dive bars and sit there with a drink and a book for hours. Unfortunately, I'm running out of good bar reading. Can you help me find more? Examples inside. [more inside]
posted on Sep 27, 2006 - 48 answers
When I was a kid, I read a science fiction book. I'd like now to find out what its name was, but, since I didn't read it in English, and it was about 20 years ago, I would have not a clue where to look. [more inside]
posted on Sep 22, 2006 - 8 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 on Sep 17, 2006 - 25 answers
Help find a SF book that my friend can't quite recall, but remembers themes of? [more inside]
posted on Sep 1, 2006 - 7 answers
Has anyone vastly improved -- or just changed -- someone else's already published writing by editing? [more inside]
posted on Aug 30, 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 on Jul 10, 2006 - 12 answers
I need some recommendations for great fiction. And yes, I've read all those other threads. [more inside]
posted on Jun 29, 2006 - 38 answers
Books for a bed bound, intelligent, cynical 79 year old with colon cancer? [more inside]
posted on Jun 21, 2006 - 45 answers
Does anyone know what this book and these films are? [more inside]
posted on Jun 19, 2006 - 9 answers
Family-friendly audiobooks and/or book content reviews? (Have you read The Kite Runner? Never Let Me Go? Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell?) [more inside]
posted on Jun 16, 2006 - 30 answers
The Protagonist: What can you tell me? [more inside]
posted on Jun 8, 2006 - 17 answers
Help me judge this book by its cover. I'm looking for the title and/or author of fairly recently released book that has a man in a suit underwater on the cover. [more inside]
posted on Jun 6, 2006 - 2 answers
What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers
A young adult vampire book, published late 70's, early 80's? Involves a kid who meets the vampire in the basement of a library, falls asleep and wakes up having no memory of it. Main vampire's name is Radu, but I believe there were several other vampires around, also with "traditional" names (a "Carmilla" perhaps?). [more inside]
posted on May 22, 2006 - 4 answers
When I was a kid, I loved Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy, Tacy, and Tib books. What's similar? [more inside]
posted on Apr 28, 2006 - 19 answers
Can you name short stories, preferably from the classics, about a birthday? [more inside]
posted on Apr 13, 2006 - 5 answers
Audiobooks: My Audible wish list is empty -- help me fill it with compelling, commute-friendly nonfiction and literary fiction. [more inside]
posted on Mar 16, 2006 - 24 answers
I'm looking for fiction or non-fiction books (fiction preferred) with modern-day Israel as the setting (I don't want to clog up this thread).
posted on Mar 14, 2006 - 9 answers
What should my book club read next? [more inside]
posted on Feb 26, 2006 - 43 answers
The Great Books: where should I start? I seek timeless wisdom. [more inside]
posted on Feb 21, 2006 - 74 answers
Fiction usually comes in two flavours: 1st person narrative or 3rd person description.
What short stories or novels have been written in 2nd person perspective (i.e. from the reader's viewpoint)? Also, are there any movies shot entirely from this angle?
posted on Jan 17, 2006 - 63 answers
What are your favorite books about submarines? [more inside]
posted on Dec 16, 2005 - 19 answers
Help me find alternative history books [more inside]
posted on Dec 14, 2005 - 30 answers
Kilgore Trout. Napoleon Dynamite. Waring Hudsucker. Martin Chuzzlewit. Egon Spengler. Herman Menderchuck. President Merkin Muffley. What are some other great, creative, bizarre, or otherwise unique fictional character names?
posted on Nov 17, 2005 - 152 answers
Please ID this SI-FI novel [more inside]
posted on Oct 31, 2005 - 6 answers
Please recommend some good novels about people between 25-35. [more inside]
posted on Aug 30, 2005 - 24 answers
Does anyone remember a kids' book about two warring breeds of creatures? [more inside]
posted on Aug 18, 2005 - 6 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. [more inside]
posted on Jul 19, 2005 - 47 answers
I need book recommendations pronto! [more inside]
posted on May 18, 2005 - 55 answers
To all Philip K. Dick fans: Dick seems to have published a formidable amount of work, and rather than trying to read all of his novels/short stories, I'm wondering if any MeFites are familiar with his books and could recommend his best 5 or so. [more inside]
posted on Apr 28, 2005 - 38 answers
Bookfilter: I'm looking for books about the US written by non-USians for a non-USian audience. I'd like to learn how non-USians see the US and how US society is described to non-USians. I'm especially interested in fiction, but travelogues, memoirs, and cultural anthropology would be fine. Even well-written blogs would be ok.
[more inside]
posted on Apr 11, 2005 - 16 answers
I've recently gotten very interested the science-fiction/horror-with-a-religious-tint genre. Can you think of any good books that could fit that description? [more inside]
posted on Mar 31, 2005 - 46 answers
Fuzzy Memories Please help me identify a book I read as a child. [more inside]
posted on Mar 22, 2005 - 8 answers
Solve This! I love mystery novels and have a hard time finding some that I like. What do you recommend? [more inside]
posted 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 on Mar 1, 2005 - 17 answers
Is there any place online (or off) that will allow you to see the total number of books sold for a particular title? I happen to be interested in non-fiction titles, but a fiction list would be interesting too. Is this something book publishers make public? I'm primarily interested in a North American total and it would have to be granular enough to record sales of even a few thousand . . .
posted on Jan 25, 2005 - 8 answers
I read Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland this weekend and really enjoyed its fiction and speculative geometry/mathematics. I guess the logical next step would be to read the unofficial sequel, Flatterland, but can any of you recommend other books that similarly twist math and fiction, or just books that explain mathematical concepts or theories to laymen such as myself in ways that are entertaining to read?
posted on Jan 3, 2005 - 28 answers
What are your favourite historical fiction novels? [more inside]
posted on Dec 11, 2004 - 47 answers
I'm looking for a fiction anthology, and only vaguely remember the title or what the book looked like. [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2004 - 5 answers
More FictionFilter: Nuclear warhead, meet Oz. Sound familiar? [more inside]
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - 8 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 on Oct 30, 2004 - 16 answers
A friend in a sociology graduate program has turned to me for advice and I could use yours: she is required to read a book of fiction (a novel or short story collection) per week for a course, and wants recommendations. [more inside]
posted on Sep 12, 2004 - 56 answers
As a lay...very lay...student of Roman Republic and Empire, and anticipating the upcoming HBO/BBC series Rome with relish, I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about both Republic and Empire. Currently I'm reading an abridgement of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I just inherited. What next? [insert Latin for "more inside" here].
posted on Sep 2, 2004 - 19 answers
i'm reading gibson's pattern recognition. i'd like something the same, but better. more inside.
posted on Jun 20, 2004 - 28 answers
Who can recommend some good time travel fiction? (Yes, I'm a geek)
posted on Jun 10, 2004 - 46 answers
I've just finished both David Gilmour's Sparrow Nights and Scott Spencer's Endless Love, each for the second time. They're even better than I remember them. What's your favorite book about unrequited love? I'd like to keep up the streak.
posted on Apr 27, 2004 - 17 answers
Please recommend fantasy novels for someone who doesn't like fantasy novels (more inside).
posted on Mar 23, 2004 - 59 answers
This is yet another "help me identify a book I read in childhood" question [more inside].
posted on Dec 19, 2003 - 7 answers
