I'm looking for more poets like Frederick Seidel. I recently read Seidel's
Arabia in the previous issue of
The Paris Review and was drawn to his, what I would term "Lad Poetry" - with lad being the antonym of chick, as in chick lit.
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posted by lrnarabic
on Oct 10, 2011 -
4 answers
More non-fiction please! As a strange antidote to having to read a lot of dry academic articles, I enjoy pleasurable non-fiction writing about jobs and work. Books I've liked in the past include May Roach (
Stiff); Atul Gawande (
Complications, Better); Barbara Ehrenreich (
Nickeled and Dimed); and Tracy Kidder (
House, Among Schoolchildren). I'd like recommendations for more non-fiction along those lines.
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posted by jeanmari
on Sep 23, 2011 -
36 answers
Where can I find out more about people with opposite sexual and romantic orientations?
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posted by Vrai
on Sep 22, 2011 -
5 answers
My best friend is getting married! And I am doing the reading! Yay! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find anything that really
fits the couple. Halp.
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posted by griphus
on Sep 22, 2011 -
20 answers
I'm trying to remember where I would have read this. I remember a discussion of the omnipotence/omniscience of a writer in relation to his story world and its characters -- I think the book must have been about writing fiction. There was a particular example having to do with Time, and how a writer who is interrupted by a knock at the door leaves his character, who was about to sit down (or set the table or something), mid-sentence and in a state of limbo. Come to think of it, maybe this was about philosophy or theology... I may have gotten some/all of the details wrong. Any of that sound familiar?
posted by Cortes
on Sep 20, 2011 -
10 answers
I've read a poem that has intrigued me and piqued my curiosity but unfortunately it also confused me. It would be great if someone here could elucidate its meaning for me. The poem is
The Curse by John Donne.
posted by gregb1007
on Sep 19, 2011 -
6 answers
Ask whether the universe of the story recognizes the existence of persons. Is
this distinction between SF and Fantasy original with Ted Chiang? Can you think of any counter-examples that don't fit?
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posted by straight
on Sep 14, 2011 -
30 answers
Naming filter: Help me name a blog devoted to publishing great exercises, activities, and assignments by and for instructors of college composition and literature classes.
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posted by cymru_j
on Sep 6, 2011 -
12 answers
My Master's exam is coming up in two weeks, and I can't concentrate enough on the poetry to read it, let alone remember it... help?
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posted by patheral
on Aug 27, 2011 -
10 answers
I am looking for a chapter book I read as a kid in the 1970s/1980s in which a princess and her family have to move out of their ancestral home and instead rent all the houses on a street to hold all their things that used to be in the castle. It was kind of an adventure/mystery story after that, I think involving something with the family possessions. Anyone know the title of this book please?
posted by cmp4Meta
on Aug 12, 2011 -
2 answers
Please help us find a book my friend saw mention of somewhere. Or recommend other books.
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posted by KChasm
on Aug 5, 2011 -
10 answers
ShortStoryFilter: In one of my undergrad Spanish Lit. classes, I remember reading a short story about a man who had supported the feminist struggle with his wife and had greatly benefited from women's 'liberation'. His wife gets a high paying job and he eventually either loses or quits his job and (happily) never works again. After he loses his job his life becomes carefree, he has time for friends again now that their wives are 'liberated,' while his wife comes home from work exhausted everyday. Does this ring a bell to anyone?
posted by ReWayne
on Aug 5, 2011 -
0 answers
I'd like to foray into the world of erotic literature. I'm looking for classic, "quintessential" books with which to start. Where should I begin?
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posted by Vrai
on Aug 3, 2011 -
18 answers
How are descriptive bibliographies of modern books useful to scholars & researchers? Rephrased: what questions are answered by the information they contain?
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posted by wowbobwow
on Jul 26, 2011 -
2 answers
As part of a gift to the groomsmen for my upcoming wedding, I am getting each of them a book that is relevant to their lives or interests. I need some help picking out a book for two of the groomsmen, based on some specific criteria:
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posted by Falconetti
on Jul 24, 2011 -
15 answers
What is the poem about branches of a tree, i.e. choices in life, withering when the narrator can't bring herself to pick one?
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posted by ramenopres
on Jul 18, 2011 -
4 answers
What-was-that-book-filter: 70's or 80's (?) heist (?) novel that involved shutting down L.A. by closing a couple of freeways and the central telephone switching system.
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posted by dersins
on Jul 15, 2011 -
10 answers
Finished The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh for the third time. Help us pick something new to read before bed to our two-year-old twin boys...
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posted by togdon
on Jul 11, 2011 -
25 answers
Book identification: 19th century (?) American (??) novel with a scene that compares telepathy to rape
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posted by Ideal Impulse
on Jul 8, 2011 -
8 answers
In literature there is a character type: a sickly protagonist, with their habits detailed. Examples include Gustav von Aschenbach in Death in Venice, Leo Gursky in The History of Love, and Aunt Leonia in Proust. Can you help me fill out this list?
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posted by Jason and Laszlo
on Jul 4, 2011 -
29 answers
Looking for examples and/or literary history of a trope that I'd refer to as the Villains' Satan.
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posted by Navelgazer
on Jul 1, 2011 -
17 answers
Ulysses. Lolita. Proust. Books where the quality of the prose is the best part, more so than the plot. Help me find more?
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posted by kiltedtaco
on Jun 28, 2011 -
60 answers
Do you honestly enjoy reading free verse? Can you explain to me why I should enjoy it, too?
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posted by anonymous
on Jun 24, 2011 -
27 answers
There is a quote somewhere that says something to the effect of, "The man who loses one dollar at a time goes home hungry. The man who blows it all in a big way eats for free."
Any idea where that's from? Driving me nuts. It might be Heinlein. It feels a little like Bueller.
posted by ictow
on Jun 21, 2011 -
3 answers
What famous novels in the past 50 years have the characters speaking in a particular regional (English language) dialect?
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posted by thesailor
on Jun 21, 2011 -
27 answers
What are some literary and critical sources-- traditional canon and alternative/media-- for anti-heroes in literature? Special emphasis on characters that seem relevant to the figures of Lucifer and Dionysus, as well as the opposites in philosophy of Heaven and Hell. Special love for the Romantics and the Byronic hero.
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posted by reenka
on Jun 20, 2011 -
31 answers
Who is Victor Serge quoting here? "A French essayist has said:'What is terrible when you seek the truth is that you find it.' You find it, and then you are no longer free to follow the biases of your personal circle, or to accept fashionable clichés."
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posted by crazylegs
on Jun 19, 2011 -
1 answer
I need some new audiobooks! I'm a screen printer and find that listening to an audiobook helps me to focus and get more done during the day and consequently, I get through 3-4 books a week. I'll listen to just about anything (science fiction, biographies, western, you name it), as long as it's engaging but doesn't require too much concentration. I've listed my favorites below. Tell me what you've enjoyed listening to and what I've been missing!
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posted by emilygraves05
on Jun 11, 2011 -
39 answers
I just finished playing an anime visual novel, and I was not prepared for the circumstances that played out.
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posted by SollosQ
on Jun 1, 2011 -
8 answers
Some of my best memories, when I think back on them, become more cinematic than linear, more musical than factual. They are a flowing montage of events, energy, motion. Often the memory is of an adventure or journey. Why does this happen? Who has written or made art about the capacity for our memories to be transformed in this way?
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posted by victory_laser
on May 27, 2011 -
1 answer
[Philosophy/Language/HistoryFilter]: What's the name of this rhetorical or logical technique, where you explain a subject by making a lot of lists?
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posted by gallusgallus
on May 27, 2011 -
6 answers
