Best Of MetaFilter

modified from an original image from Gareth Simpson on flickr

In Ask Metafilter, Not A Thing is looking for Skilful criminals criming skilfully: "Donald Westlake/Parker fans, what have you found that scratches a similar itch? I'm looking for something where a criminal is at the center of the story: no cops, wannabe cops or vigilantes. Like a police procedural, but for the other side."

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

There's a growing band of people digging through library stacks and second-hand bookshops in search of lost classics. I'm one of them. Wobbuffet posted Lucy Scholes' Meet the archive moles about surfacing worthy forgotten or overlooked books for reprint, with links to houses publishing recovered works.

Greetings from Sunny California. (pcard-print-pub-pc-59a) by Fæ (cc by)

In Ask Metafilter, tatiana wishbone says "as a reading challenge, I’d like to read the best novel set in each US state. What are your favorites?"

B o o k s by Kate Mereand (cc by)

There are ghosts in all those haunted basements who are worth knowing. And there's no shame in being one of those ghosts: MrVisible with a poignant reflection on underloved books and their authors in the literary rejection thread.

Summer reading by miyagisan (cc by-nc-nd)

In Ask Metafilter, I'm on staycation in a week and want to spend a good part of my time in my backyard, off the internet and social media, with my nose jammed into a book that I can't put down.

Two Years Ago by esotericsean (cc by-nc-nd)

Some fascinating advice from grumblebee on how to read a script

Mermaid Tree by merwing✿little dear (cc by-nc-nd)

In Ask Metafilter, unicorn chaser is looking for good books that are also fast and easy reads

Old books, two apples, glasses and empty cup on wooden table from above. by shixart1985 (cc by)

Interesting question from Winnie the Proust in Ask Metafilter: "Can you recommend two books that complement each other in striking ways when read at the same time, or one right after the other? I'm not so much thinking of books that refer or respond to each other explicitly, but rather books that have thematic or structural connections, such that your understanding of each is enriched by having read the other around the same time."

In Ask Metafilter, sir jective says, "I love second-hand drama of reading about terrible people or amazing situations or weird things or basically just good stories ... Essentially, I'm looking for the reading equivalent of junk food in unlimited bite-size quantities, like the written version of shelves of mini packs of Doritos."

postcard from the day you left, collage, 2020 by yumikrum (cc by-nc-nd)

In Ask Metafilter, azalea_chant is looking for "mysteries that deviate from the standard structure/genre tropes etc. Can be fantasy or science fiction, literary, whatever ... just stuff that’s slightly different"

Black Sheep Meets White Sheep by Ionics (cc by)

In Ask Metafilter, kristi is seeking likable characters, good writing, humor. Please recommend all your well-written, likeable characters. Humor appreciated. Plot optional, while kingdead commands, Bring me the unlikeable characters! I want to read books with unhappy endings, angst and drama, body horror, miserable relationships, etc. Absolutely no redemption! If the writing is experimental, all the better.

one hand clapping by Robert Couse-Baker (cc by)

In Ask Metafilter: This Pride month, I'd like to spend some time reading good adult fiction that features queer joy, not misery / abuse / death.

Enlightenment by marceloquinan (cc by)

beccyjoe wants to know "What is an article or essay that you have read that caused a dramatic change in your thinking / perspective / life? ... I would love to hear what you've read that has blown your mind"

Books in Library by topgold (cc by)

'Amiably peopled' novels? In Ask Metafilter, unicorn chaser asks, "what are your favourite low-stress, enjoyable literary novels about people just hanging out?"

Meanwhile, over in Music, listen to gorbichov's Gan Ainm No. 1, "a little tune I wrote a few months back. I was thinking about Irish slow airs, and wanted to have some of that feel, combined with some harmony stuff I've been playing with ... This is played on my 1945 Epiphone Blackstone archtop, which I really love for melodic playing."

clay by Dean Hochman (cc by)

Signal asks, Please recommend SF books that are significantly Other.