My uncle recently mentioned to me that he's never read any book written by a woman. Apparently this is because he doesn't think they'll be any good - he seems to think women can only write romance novels. I find this both horrific and hard to believe, but he seemed serious. So, Hive Mind, I need your help in drafting a list of the very best books written by female authors. Help me teach him the error of his ways!
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posted by badmoonrising
on Jul 29, 2009 -
92 answers
[LibraryFilter] What are your
best resources for (fiction) reader's advisory (children, YA, adult)??
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posted by tamarack
on Jul 24, 2009 -
7 answers
No quiero literatura: I'm looking for recommendations for genre fiction in Spanish. Help me avoid being overfaced when I arrive in the library.
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posted by itsjustanalias
on Jun 14, 2009 -
8 answers
I've just finished reading Let The Galaxy Burn, a collection of Warhammer 40k short stories, and I really liked it. What are some other good Warhammer 40k books?
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posted by thewittyname
on Jun 9, 2009 -
11 answers
Looking for good sexy action novels. Not really interested in porn or erotic fiction where sex is the primary conceit; rather I am interest in action, thrillers, suspense, etc., but with a healthy dose of sex. Not really interested in romance either; I tried Jacqueline Carey and Emma Holly but could not get into them. I will try any other genre though. Sex with Aliens? Yeah -- that sounds interesting. I liked the Species movies. Sex with Vampires -- sounds biting. I enjoyed True Blood. I guess I am looking for good erotic thrillers in print but something I can take to the pool without looking too much like a pervert. Bonus points if it comes in an audio version so I can listen at work. Thanks!
posted by Ennui
on Jun 4, 2009 -
18 answers
Recently finished 2666. It is on a pedestal by itself, with my award for "Best Novel Ever." Now, everything I try to read seems jaded, inferior, or doesn't measure up. Help me get beyond this and find something interesting to read
posted by Xurando
on Jun 2, 2009 -
37 answers
How often are the stories of a comic, novel, play, TV series, movie, or song conceived by the writer's friend, relative, acquaintance, neighbor, mailman, dog, etc?
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posted by TheSecretDecoderRing
on May 28, 2009 -
14 answers
I once heard about a series of novels about WWI pilots in the vein of the Aubrey-Maturin series, or Flashman. Might have had "Hell" in the title. It was basically about a bunch of crazy guys who knew that they had a good chance of dying. IIRC, the commander of the group had to justify buying silk scarves for the pilots to keep their necks from chafing. Any ideas?
posted by nushustu
on May 21, 2009 -
8 answers
I want a book that I have to put into the freezer.
I've read
this question, which was looking for thrillers, and
this post looking for short stories, but I can't seem to find a thread looking for scary, engrossing novels where supernatural is okay.
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posted by Addlepated
on Mar 31, 2009 -
31 answers
Apparently I'm a fan of graphic novels now, but I don't even know where to start. I love (LOVE!)
Preacher; I liked
Watchmen. What should I read next?
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posted by wonderyak
on Mar 12, 2009 -
52 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.
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posted by netbros
on Mar 2, 2009 -
24 answers
Seeking relatively well-known, canon-caliber fictional accounts of imaginary encounters between actual, historically significant figures -- especially encounters that could well have taken place, but which we know did not or remain undocumented. Philip Levine's poem "On the Meeting of Garcia Lorca and Hart Crane" typifies what I'm looking for. Mark Twain's _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court_ does not (respectable evidence out there of a historical Arthur notwithstanding). The literary field is rife with examples, I know -- say, some novel casting Charles Lindbergh and Adolf Hitler into a tete-a-tete. But, ack, I'm drawing a blank.
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posted by taramosalata
on Feb 5, 2009 -
31 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?
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posted by Tufa
on Jan 29, 2009 -
30 answers
Robinson Crusoe was originally published without reference to Defoe, seemingly pretending to be a genuine account (see
the original opening page). Would the readers of that first edition have genuinely thought the story was true? How many early novels relied on this kind of blurring between reality and fiction? Was this an important element accounting for the initial success of the novel form? As a side note, does anybody know of any good and accessible written histories of the novel format?
posted by deeper red
on Jan 6, 2009 -
6 answers
I want to read novels about pirates. I don't care about genre, I don't care about quality (much), I just want lots and lots of
Age of Sail pirates.
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posted by Katemonkey
on Nov 12, 2008 -
40 answers
How much of book one do I have to explain in book two, if book two is part of a series I'm writing?
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posted by Xurando
on Nov 7, 2008 -
9 answers
Why do publishers slap on "A Novel" to the titles and/or covers of, well, novels?
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posted by CKmtl
on Oct 16, 2008 -
22 answers
Can you recommend any really good novels (or movies) that portray something in the Old or New Testament in a new way, or which add to the Old/New Testament, such that they could be considered 'modern Biblical apocrypha'?
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posted by flibbertigibbet
on Oct 13, 2008 -
30 answers
I would like some good, engrossing, addictive, fast-paced fiction: thrillers, conspiracies, mysteries, anything.
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posted by turgid dahlia
on Oct 1, 2008 -
48 answers
What are some reasonably well-known, preferably famous, examples of novels with evil first-person narrators? All that's coming to mind is Humbert Humbert, but he's too
aware of his own nastiness for my purposes. I need novels where the undiluted dastardliness of the first-person narrator affects the entire moral framework of the story, so that you might be forgiven for suspecting that the author actually sides with this monster. Cheers!
posted by Beardman
on Sep 13, 2008 -
61 answers
ProseFilter: Nabokov's
Lolita was once hailed as "a love letter to the English language." I'm looking for modern and contemporary authors with similar aspirations.
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posted by zoomorphic
on Sep 12, 2008 -
43 answers
I want to read more novels about women descending into madness and then getting well again. Any suggestions?
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posted by beccyjoe
on Sep 2, 2008 -
44 answers
I need a longish, interesting, well-written book (fiction) to read on an upcoming trip. Any suggestions?
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posted by mosessis
on Aug 21, 2008 -
58 answers
NovelFilter: Hive mind, I have come to the shocking realization that my to-read queue is empty. I really enjoy the surreal side of Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, etc.), and I've recently been remembering the absolutely wonderful creations in Perdido Street Station. Help me find new novels that will send my mind to weird and fantastic places!
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posted by DoubleMark
on Aug 2, 2008 -
46 answers
I'm looking for books and graphic novels that are meant to be read multiple times.
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posted by spec80
on Jul 25, 2008 -
49 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
My mother likes Jodi Picoult novels. I don't know much about the author but I am looking for similar novels. What novels should I be looking for?
posted by 517
on May 9, 2008 -
9 answers
A novel about a computer that attempts to create art? Help me identify this sci-fi book.
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posted by bradth27
on Apr 22, 2008 -
5 answers
Help balance my male dominated library. Looking for authors that happen to be female and great reads (either literature or very good genre). Specifics inside.
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posted by Gratishades
on Mar 10, 2008 -
60 answers
Help me remember title of really explicit and racy romance novel from the 70s or 80s please! The main character was a young orphaned woman who was in love with her rich caretaker who was a male family member who took her virginity so roughly that she required surgery and was left barren.
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posted by citystalk
on Feb 16, 2008 -
3 answers
There are about the same number of Mormons in the US as there are Jews. The founding of the Mormon religion happened relatively close to when large Jewish migration to the US began. Both Mormons and Jews had to deal with persecution. There are countless novels about the Jewish-American experience. Where's the great Mormon novel?
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posted by ShooBoo
on Feb 7, 2008 -
35 answers
Looking for the name of a sci-fi book. Man is injected with a serum that causes him to shrink forever, eventually discovering there are universes smaller than atoms.
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posted by Gudlyf
on Feb 7, 2008 -
9 answers
If you please—I urgently require a few good recommendations of novels that have India as a backdrop.
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posted by hadjiboy
on Jan 13, 2008 -
55 answers
