What is your favorite book that...(specify interesting constraint here)?
November 4, 2021 11:30 PM Subscribe
Looking for opinion questions that will start discussions where the answers are books or book-related (authors, series, etc.). Ideally with enough constraint that it's an interesting puzzle to figure out an answer, but open ended enough that people come up with different answers and can discuss. The best ones take you half an hour and then you think of a dozen books at once. We mostly read speculative fiction. Example: Which books have inspired the best response book(s)?
What book best helps outsiders understand your culture?
posted by NotLost at 12:46 AM on November 5, 2021
posted by NotLost at 12:46 AM on November 5, 2021
This is fun.
What book includes the most alien aliens?
What book best describes taste or smell? (Stolen, with some embarrassment, from the movie City of Angels, which should probably have been a two minute long film about pears.)
What book would a cat/horse/dolphin/vulture most enjoy?
What book is successful when read from back to front?
What book is enjoyable if the main protagonist is entirely removed?
posted by eotvos at 1:03 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
What book includes the most alien aliens?
What book best describes taste or smell? (Stolen, with some embarrassment, from the movie City of Angels, which should probably have been a two minute long film about pears.)
What book would a cat/horse/dolphin/vulture most enjoy?
What book is successful when read from back to front?
What book is enjoyable if the main protagonist is entirely removed?
posted by eotvos at 1:03 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Which books use other authors’ characters or worlds? Of those, which have become more famous than the originals?
posted by chappell, ambrose at 1:15 AM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by chappell, ambrose at 1:15 AM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I got some good recommendations asking for fantasy and sci-fi books with protagonists who are at least middle aged if not older (as opposed to the cliche teen YA protagonist or the somehow grizzled early 30s astronaut doctor dragon captain.)
I’ve also gotten some interesting reads asking for fiction books that delve into a nonfiction topic to an intense degree. The classic there is how much Moby Dick is just entirely about whaling industry minutiae, but there’s also things like romance series with professional theming where you end up just knowing a ton about running a restaurant, or courtly manners, or library sciences or whatever. It’s a different angle to approach fiction from.
posted by Mizu at 3:39 AM on November 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
I’ve also gotten some interesting reads asking for fiction books that delve into a nonfiction topic to an intense degree. The classic there is how much Moby Dick is just entirely about whaling industry minutiae, but there’s also things like romance series with professional theming where you end up just knowing a ton about running a restaurant, or courtly manners, or library sciences or whatever. It’s a different angle to approach fiction from.
posted by Mizu at 3:39 AM on November 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
What is the most convoluted explanation you’ve read in a mystery? (Spoilers, obvs)
What is the most evocative sensory description in a book?
What book described a place you are familiar with very accurately or hilariously inaccurately?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:15 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
What is the most evocative sensory description in a book?
What book described a place you are familiar with very accurately or hilariously inaccurately?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:15 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Keep 'em coming, guys!
@eotvos They are fun, aren't they? I'm hoping people get the same fun in answering them, sort of "I don't know...wait...that's a good question, how about X? Ohh, or Y is even better. And I can't believe I didn't think of Z!"
Don't forget authors, etc., are fair game.
* Author who writes under a pseudonym.
* Author who no one has heard of.
* Authors who are a couple (writing together or separately).
* Celebrity author.
* If you could pick an author who has died to write just ONE more...
* Authors who wrote fiction about a topic that they had professional experience in.
* Author you have enjoyed reading across multiple genera.
* Author who kept a narrow focus but kept it interesting.
* If the author of your favorite in progress series died, who would you want to keep writing for them?
* Series with multiple writers.
* Long running series where the later books are still good.
* Series that is like potato chips.
* Series that tied up all the lose ends.
* What's the first book that you remember reading that you would reread as an adult?
* Best book with dragons/robots/aliens/etc. (Different from the best dragons/etc.)
* Book you "ought" to have read by now but you still haven't.
* Book that you enjoyed but didn't finish.
* Upcoming book you're most excited about.
* Just one book to get someone started on a genera/subgenera.
posted by anaelith at 5:30 AM on November 5, 2021
@eotvos They are fun, aren't they? I'm hoping people get the same fun in answering them, sort of "I don't know...wait...that's a good question, how about X? Ohh, or Y is even better. And I can't believe I didn't think of Z!"
Don't forget authors, etc., are fair game.
* Author who writes under a pseudonym.
* Author who no one has heard of.
* Authors who are a couple (writing together or separately).
* Celebrity author.
* If you could pick an author who has died to write just ONE more...
* Authors who wrote fiction about a topic that they had professional experience in.
* Author you have enjoyed reading across multiple genera.
* Author who kept a narrow focus but kept it interesting.
* If the author of your favorite in progress series died, who would you want to keep writing for them?
* Series with multiple writers.
* Long running series where the later books are still good.
* Series that is like potato chips.
* Series that tied up all the lose ends.
* What's the first book that you remember reading that you would reread as an adult?
* Best book with dragons/robots/aliens/etc. (Different from the best dragons/etc.)
* Book you "ought" to have read by now but you still haven't.
* Book that you enjoyed but didn't finish.
* Upcoming book you're most excited about.
* Just one book to get someone started on a genera/subgenera.
posted by anaelith at 5:30 AM on November 5, 2021
What books have you read that contain a huge error such as a misunderstanding of some principle of science or just wrong about history in a way that is outside the permits of artistic license?
posted by SemiSalt at 5:38 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by SemiSalt at 5:38 AM on November 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
What books have you deliberately drowned in the bath on completion?
What books have you deliberately drowned in the bath before completion?
What hardback books have you deliberately drowned in the bath before completion?
posted by flabdablet at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2021
What books have you deliberately drowned in the bath before completion?
What hardback books have you deliberately drowned in the bath before completion?
posted by flabdablet at 5:59 AM on November 5, 2021
Whose translations do you consistently enjoy?
posted by flabdablet at 6:01 AM on November 5, 2021
posted by flabdablet at 6:01 AM on November 5, 2021
What book is still on your shelf only because if you'd drowned it in the bath you'd have lost the opportunity to enjoy other people's horrified disbelief that this found a publisher?
posted by flabdablet at 6:03 AM on November 5, 2021
posted by flabdablet at 6:03 AM on November 5, 2021
What book gave you a line that you use in daily life?
What book did you change your mind about when you revisited it years later?
What book would you buy a spare copy of to loan out?
What book is your favorite re-imagining of an older work?
What book made you want to contact the author?
How many pages do you read before you decide not to finish the book?
What book have you owned the longest?
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:45 AM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
What book did you change your mind about when you revisited it years later?
What book would you buy a spare copy of to loan out?
What book is your favorite re-imagining of an older work?
What book made you want to contact the author?
How many pages do you read before you decide not to finish the book?
What book have you owned the longest?
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:45 AM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I know that I often think about my reading in this way:
What is the most [negative quality] book you enjoyed?
Like, what's the most confusing book you loved?
What book do you love the most in which the least happened?
What is your favorite book that you can list off all the flaws?
You could go with characters:
Who is the grouchiest character you love?
Who is the kindest, sweetest character who doesn't bore you?
What villain is actually a secret good guy?
What hero acts most anti-heroic?
posted by gideonfrog at 9:28 AM on November 5, 2021
What is the most [negative quality] book you enjoyed?
Like, what's the most confusing book you loved?
What book do you love the most in which the least happened?
What is your favorite book that you can list off all the flaws?
You could go with characters:
Who is the grouchiest character you love?
Who is the kindest, sweetest character who doesn't bore you?
What villain is actually a secret good guy?
What hero acts most anti-heroic?
posted by gideonfrog at 9:28 AM on November 5, 2021
Inspired by reading I’m doing for the Hugos, what are the best and worst books with unreliable or compromised narrators or protagonists?
posted by jeoc at 9:53 AM on November 5, 2021
posted by jeoc at 9:53 AM on November 5, 2021
What well-regarded book most inaccurately represents the way real people behave?
What is the most realistic novel you have ever read?
What novel does the best job of feeling very realistic while also depicting a world as different as possible from the one we live in?
What book published in the last 10 or 20 years has the most potential to become a classic that will be assigned to high school or college students 100 years from now?
What book currently assigned to students most deserves to be completely forgotten 100 years from now?
What is the most boring or annoying book you have ever read? What author could do the best job of writing a new version with the same general plot, theme and characters that would actually be really enjoyable? Or what set of characters from another book should be plopped into that book in place of its original characters to make it more enjoyable?
What book would you most like to live in?
posted by Redstart at 9:59 AM on November 5, 2021
What is the most realistic novel you have ever read?
What novel does the best job of feeling very realistic while also depicting a world as different as possible from the one we live in?
What book published in the last 10 or 20 years has the most potential to become a classic that will be assigned to high school or college students 100 years from now?
What book currently assigned to students most deserves to be completely forgotten 100 years from now?
What is the most boring or annoying book you have ever read? What author could do the best job of writing a new version with the same general plot, theme and characters that would actually be really enjoyable? Or what set of characters from another book should be plopped into that book in place of its original characters to make it more enjoyable?
What book would you most like to live in?
posted by Redstart at 9:59 AM on November 5, 2021
What book have you given as a gift?
What book have you considered giving as a gift but never did?
What book has sex scenes that are unintentionally hilarious?
posted by cmcmcm at 11:20 AM on November 5, 2021
What book have you considered giving as a gift but never did?
What book has sex scenes that are unintentionally hilarious?
posted by cmcmcm at 11:20 AM on November 5, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
What book did you enjoy more than you expected?
What in the best book that was translated into your language?
What is the best short book?
What is the best long book?
What book has the best (alien(s), characters, detective, diagrams, illustrations, language, photos, plot twist, romance, setting(s), strong woman/women, villain)?
What fiction and nonfiction books span the longest length of time?
What is the best how-to book?
What is the best book set in _____ ?
What fiction books have the most and fewest characters?
What is the best book from a culture not your own?
What book are you most likely to give to or recommend to a young person?
What book are you most likely to give to or recommend to someone older than yourself?
What book most shifted your perspective?
What book most helped you become the person you are today?
What book do you feel most exemplifies you?
What book is the "bible" of your vocation or avocation?
posted by NotLost at 12:13 AM on November 5, 2021