Origin of the Matrix relating to a Science Fictional setting... [more inside]
posted by madmamasmith on Dec 24, 2009 - 19 answers

What titles should be on a "Personal MFA in Creative Writing Fiction" reading list? [more inside]
posted by thepalephantom on Dec 22, 2009 - 14 answers

Help me find that perfect novel for a Christmas present. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 10, 2009 - 15 answers

I'm looking for book recommendations for a young woman who has recently become interested in religion. Ideas please! [more inside]
posted by schmoo on Nov 22, 2009 - 20 answers

Where can I find great works of fiction online or in some sort of text form that I can read on my Mac? [more inside]
posted by 2oh1 on Nov 19, 2009 - 27 answers

Please help me remember the title and author of a short story I read maybe 15 years ago. A handicapped woman, living with her sister and her sister's family, sees a man in church she feels quite sure is the devil. In order to get away from him, she struggles to regain the physical independence she had given up. (She had gone into a wheelchair because walking was possible, but too painful.) She does manage to become self-sufficient enough to move out on her own--and then wonders if it was worth it, after all. I am almost sure the author was Italian. Can anyone help?
posted by uans on Nov 16, 2009 - 0 answers

[LibraryFilter] What are your best resources for (fiction) reader's advisory (children, YA, adult)?? [more inside]
posted by tamarack on Jul 24, 2009 - 7 answers

I demand to know your favorite short story anthologies. [more inside]
posted by zoomorphic on Jun 23, 2009 - 30 answers

What should I (a late-marrying, book-crazy, somewhat institution-of-marriage-wary bride) read on my honeymoon? Inspired (in a way) by this question, I'm looking for novels to help me reflect on, process, and understand marriage. [more inside]
posted by minervous on Apr 30, 2009 - 24 answers

Who are the new exciting, young novelists of the 21st century? I suddenly find myself with a lot more time on my hands for reading. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 2, 2009 - 24 answers

Since I began a reading life (at about age eight), I have had a problem: my mind automatically places action in just a few places familiar to me from my life: my house, the main street of my hometown. Whether the action in a novel takes place in 16th century Scotland, or the Black Forest, or under the Unisphere. Are there ways to get around this, or to learn to read fiction more actively, and, fantastically/creatively? [more inside]
posted by Tufa on Jan 29, 2009 - 30 answers

HELP! middle school/high school short story bookfilter *for Christmas! [more inside]
posted by parmanparman on Dec 12, 2008 - 1 answer

I love The Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel, and am looking to read other series in the same vein (i.e. historical, fact-filled, plot driven awesomeness) What would you recommend?
posted by melodykramer on Dec 7, 2008 - 38 answers

Women writers like Neal Stephenson, are there any? [more inside]
posted by exceptinsects on Oct 5, 2008 - 18 answers

Recent poetry, fiction, histories re: Cork, Ireland? The question title says it all, except maybe to clarify: not looking for authors from Cork so much as stories about or set in Cork. Even better if it's something that is likely to be on the shelves at a book store in the US. Thanks.
posted by quarterframer on Aug 7, 2008 - 3 answers

Looking for sites or reviewers who review books other than literary fiction [more inside]
posted by reenum 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 by taz on Jun 10, 2008 - 46 answers

Book recommendations: ecotopian fiction? (Something to read after The Fifth Sacred Thing)? [more inside]
posted by salvia on May 26, 2008 - 16 answers

What books should I buy for someone in jail? [more inside]
posted by suki on Nov 4, 2007 - 35 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 by tastybrains on Jul 3, 2007 - 25 answers

FictionFilter: Family bookclub. We're convening in Woodstock at the end of August to discuss 3 books. Help me choose one of them. [more inside]
posted by billtron on May 22, 2007 - 17 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 by dersins 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 by bokononito 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 by orange swan on Sep 17, 2006 - 25 answers

I'm looking for the longest sentence in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. [more inside]
posted by rorycberger on Mar 24, 2006 - 16 answers

Audiobooks: My Audible wish list is empty -- help me fill it with compelling, commute-friendly nonfiction and literary fiction. [more inside]
posted by kmel on Mar 16, 2006 - 24 answers

Please recommend some good novels about people between 25-35. [more inside]
posted by callmejay on Aug 30, 2005 - 24 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 by orange swan on Jul 19, 2005 - 47 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 by Malachi Constant on Apr 28, 2005 - 38 answers

Fuzzy Memories Please help me identify a book I read as a child. [more inside]
posted by orange swan 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 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

What are your favourite historical fiction novels? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Johnny Assay on Dec 11, 2004 - 46 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

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 by WolfDaddy on Sep 2, 2004 - 19 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 by dobbs on Apr 27, 2004 - 17 answers

Please recommend fantasy novels for someone who doesn't like fantasy novels (more inside). [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Mar 23, 2004 - 58 answers

This is yet another "help me identify a book I read in childhood" question [more inside]. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Dec 19, 2003 - 6 answers