|
RandomEffects posted:This seems to be more on anthropology as a science, whereas the book i was looking for was more about the stories we all know and how the different cultures shared and interpreted them. Okay, probably not Levi-Strauss then. Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces is a good guess, might be that, but it could also be Campbell's Myths to Live By, which is a bit more general, I think (the former book is specifically concerned with the idea of the Hero, and also one of Campbell's earlier famous works, as I recall). Now if you want to get serious you could read the considerably longer The Masks of God, also by Campbell. The guy knew pretty much everything, though he's often disparaged by "serious" academics for being too pop. The Masks of God is not at all the end of theory, but it is a particularly brilliant manifestation of comparative religion, and it's absolutely worth reading, if you want to learn some interesting stuff about human beliefs.
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2008 23:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:12 |
|
|
This might be very obscure, but its a 'young adult' book I had and lost a few years ago. I'm in the UK so it might not even exist in America... I think the story is set in Wales. It starts with a body of a young girl floating down the river through countryside, and as it reaches the city the 'body' wakes up and starts struggling. She doesn't know who she is or where she comes from. She meets a boy called Bentley (I think) whose family takes her in over christmas, but then she leaves and meets a homeless boy called something like 'Phase 3'..she then stays with him in the underground and there's also a scary old lady who calls herself the queen of the city. The story unfolds with the girl gradually revealing things about her past, finding her 'real' family who turn out to be imposters, and I think finally finding her real family or at least being adopted. It was a really strange and unsettling book, with a really sort of bleak feeling. I think the title has 'river' in it...
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2008 00:17
|
|
|
I'm looking for a science fiction short story. It was in an anthology of award winners/nominees of some type, that was published yearly. This particular volume was from the late 90s or early 2000s. The story itself is about the way we view time and is written in a cyclical manner. It's about a scientist/anthropologist/whatever who is helping to communicate with aliens that have been discovered, and their entire method of communication and thought is different from humans so it's a very interesting social commentary on how our linear sense of time affects our thoughts, actions, etc. If no one knows the story, suggesting anthologies that fit the criteria would probably help. To add, the anthology was science fiction specific.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 03:09
|
|
|
anabatica posted:If no one knows the story, suggesting anthologies that fit the criteria would probably help. To add, the anthology was science fiction specific. I think that's by Ted Chiang?
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 03:31
|
|
|
fritz posted:I think that's by Ted Chiang?
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 03:54
|
|
|
Morlock posted:Story Of Your Life. Perfect. Thank you both.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 04:18
|
|
|
timeandtide posted:This might be vague, but there was a big Russian novel mentioned once on BB. All I remember was that it was long, dealt with World War 2, came out sometime between 1950-1980, and was considered really, really depressing. Grossman's Life and Fate got some attention from BB a while back and meets the few vague criteria, so you might find that's what it was.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 06:11
|
|
|
Elohssa Gib posted:2041 a collection edited by Jane Yolen Yes! Thanks, that was fast. Funny, if the version in the library had the same ridiculous cover as the amazon version I might never have picked it up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2008 18:41
|
|
|
I'm looking for a book that someone I know read when they were younger (let's say at least 5 years ago). All they remember was that it was about a boy who made graffiti. I don't know the author or the title, nor what the cover was like or the story, but it's potentially a teenage novel? She remembers really liking the artwork and thinks perhaps that the illustrator has done other work that may have been popular enough for people to recognise it. I may naively be under the impression that it was a British authour, though given the subject, I'd chance it isn't.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2008 21:41
|
|
|
gwar3k1 posted:I'm looking for a book that someone I know read when they were younger (let's say at least 5 years ago). All they remember was that it was about a boy who made graffiti. I don't know the author or the title, nor what the cover was like or the story, but it's potentially a teenage novel? She remembers really liking the artwork and thinks perhaps that the illustrator has done other work that may have been popular enough for people to recognise it. e: And why would you think Brits don't have graffiti? Runcible Cat fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Dec 18, 2008 |
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2008 22:06
|
|
|
Do you know, that probabally is the book as she got excited when some Puffin books came in to her work then was disappointed when that one was not in the collection. When I ran Chris Riddell through GIS, his art style does seem to match her description also. I cannot confirm until after Christmas (fingers crossed this is the right one) as this is a stocking filler, so thank you very much for your help. e: Its not really in the public conscious to warrant a teenage novel here, or at least that's my conservative take on the subject. Personally, I've seen brilliant pieces in the cities I've lived and been too, but it's few and far between. Thanks again.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2008 22:17
|
|
|
gwar3k1 posted:Do you know, that probabally is the book as she got excited when some Puffin books came in to her work then was disappointed when that one was not in the collection. When I ran Chris Riddell through GIS, his art style does seem to match her description also. I cannot confirm until after Christmas (fingers crossed this is the right one) as this is a stocking filler, so thank you very much for your help. gwar3k1 posted:e: Its not really in the public conscious to warrant a teenage novel here, or at least that's my conservative take on the subject. Personally, I've seen brilliant pieces in the cities I've lived and been too, but it's few and far between.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2008 22:36
|
|
|
This is a really long shot. I was talking to a customer (he is a doctor, I am a liberal arts major struggling to understand some science classes) about different styles of thinking/learning for liberal arts vs. hard sciences. He mentioned he read an interesting book that talked about these different ways of thinking, comparing and contrasting how some people do better than others, and also mentioning how people are raised in different ways to think more one way, or more the other. He couldn't remember the title, and guessed that it was something like "Coming of age in Philadelphia"...but he wasn't at all sure. I'm not even sure if it's a nonfiction book, or some sort of memoir, or what, but if anyone has any clues, it would be appreciated. I realize this isn't much to go on.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 08:24
|
|
|
colt45andashove posted:This is a really long shot.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 11:19
|
|
|
This story just crossed my mind, and I'm drawing a blank. I read it in grade school, so it was most likely written by Vonnegut or Cormier. During the first chapter or so, the male main character etches something into a desk, and the words get smaller as he goes along. The part I remember the most is when someone is telling the male main character and the female secondary character a story that either involves a murder or a rape, most likely murder. In this story, a female is being pursued by a murderer, and runs across multiple people while fleeing, each giving a reason why they cannot help. One of the people is a ferryman (or something like that) while another is a lover. The murderer then catches and murders the girl. The main and secondary character are then asked to list who was responsible for her murder. The list then becomes a list of what they find to be most important in life, and they both blame the same person the most, which corresponds with "magic". I also remember their lists not being actual text in the book, but hand written, similar to the words that got smaller in the beginning. Also, I believe there was a map for the victims path. Absolutely any help would be most appreciated. Google has been fighting me trying to find it, and it's been driving me crazy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 12:33
|
|
|
decoy_oct posted:The part I remember the most is when someone is telling the male main character and the female secondary character a story that either involves a murder or a rape, most likely murder. In this story, a female is being pursued by a murderer, and runs across multiple people while fleeing, each giving a reason why they cannot help. One of the people is a ferryman (or something like that) while another is a lover. The murderer then catches and murders the girl. The main and secondary character are then asked to list who was responsible for her murder. The list then becomes a list of what they find to be most important in life, and they both blame the same person the most, which corresponds with "magic".
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 13:53
|
|
|
decoy_oct posted:This story just crossed my mind, and I'm drawing a blank. I read it in grade school, so it was most likely written by Vonnegut or Cormier. During the first chapter or so, the male main character etches something into a desk, and the words get smaller as he goes along. The Pigman by Paul Zindel? There's a sequence early on in the book that is exactly like what you're describing. We read that book in 7th grade, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's the book you're thinking of.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 17:00
|
|
|
Encryptic posted:The Pigman by Paul Zindel? There's a sequence early on in the book that is exactly like what you're describing. We read that book in 7th grade, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's the book you're thinking of. This very well may be it, it sounds very familar. Thank you so much! edit: Wahoo! http://thisrecording.tumblr.com/post/56024869/morality-quiz-from-the-pigman decoy_oct fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Dec 19, 2008 |
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 21:24
|
|
|
I read this short story as a photocopied thing for an English class a while ago so I have no idea about the publication details, but here goes. I'm looking for the name of a story about a guy on a road trip, completely by himself, in this weird rural foresty county. It's a really lonely sort of isolated story - I'm not even sure if there are any other characters in it - and he just sort of drives through the countryside in search of something. It might have been a mystery type novel with a weird twist at the end, but I'm afraid I might be mixing up books. I do think the story was fairly contemporary though; kind of sparse prose without too much voice-over type description. This description is probably broad as hell, but it's probably something along the lines of "lonely road trip story with weird atmospheric setting" if that helps get the gist.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2008 21:44
|
|
|
I'm looking for a book that I read back in middle school and am drawing a blank. It was about a huge spaceship sent out to populate habitable planets after something bad happened on earth. The ship raises a generation of people from embryos as it goes through space searching for planets. There is a huge biodome in the ship with rivers, lakes, trees ect used for survival training once the ships inhabitants are old enough. The narrator is a teenage girl and the plot follows their year long survival training inside the ship where they must live off the land in the biodome. Everything goes smoothly in the beginning but eventually people start fighting among themselves in the struggle to survive. In the end the ship finds a planet suitable for life and they are left to restart the human race and the ship flies off presumably to restart the whole process. This is a very basic plot summary but it was a fairly long book that i greatly enjoyed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2008 05:31
|
|
|
lolwhat53 posted:I'm looking for a book that I read back in middle school and am drawing a blank. It was about a huge spaceship sent out to populate habitable planets after something bad happened on earth. The ship raises a generation of people from embryos as it goes through space searching for planets. There is a huge biodome in the ship with rivers, lakes, trees ect used for survival training once the ships inhabitants are old enough. The narrator is a teenage girl and the plot follows their year long survival training inside the ship where they must live off the land in the biodome. Everything goes smoothly in the beginning but eventually people start fighting among themselves in the struggle to survive. In the end the ship finds a planet suitable for life and they are left to restart the human race and the ship flies off presumably to restart the whole process. Sounds like Earthseed by Pamela Sargent.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2008 22:40
|
|
|
Hopefully someone can help, this has been bugging me for ages. I remember reading a book around ten years ago at school that was based on Romeo and Juliet but was set in the future where poor illiterate people had to live separately to middle class people and it was illegal for people from either society to interact. One of the things kids from the middle-classes liked to do was go slumming it, by illegally drinking in the lower class areas (I remember there was also a drink called a lobotomiser that was popular). The story is about a girl who goes slumming who falls in love with an illiterate boy. I don't remember much else about what happens but at one point in it I think the boy sneaks into the middle-class area by hanging on underneath a rubbish truck. The most memorable thing about the book was that it was written from alternating points of view between the girl and the boy. So the chapters written by the boy were all like "I mett a pritee gurl. I fink im n luv wiv hur."
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2008 16:53
|
|
|
A short story I read once popped into my head. I don't remember the exact details, but aliens had somehow made food scarce, and everyone was dying and too weak to fight back, so the hero of the book has to resort to cannibalism in order to fight the aliens. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2008 12:01
|
|
|
Morlock posted:Cool! Here's hoping she gets a great Xmas surprise then. Just wanted to post a final thanks. This was indeed the right book and it put a nostalgic smile on her face. Cheers dude.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2008 16:31
|
|
|
OK, I only have murky details from this book, some of which have been errataed by the mists of time, because I read it a half a lifetime ago. It was science fiction and talking about an incredible far-off future. There was a species with a complex life cycle which could have been humans, but not sure. When the species mated, spontaneous gender changes occured. If I remember correctly, one of the genders had a segmented body structure that broke off in husks as they were impregnated. Now that I think about it, I was so shocked by the xenosex back then that I can only remember the smut.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2008 18:55
|
|
|
roffles posted:I read a story/(book?) a while back where it was about how a team of genetically altered scientists were supposed to investigate this mystery spacecraft. Anyway I think it turns out the ship is actually a large chinese room experiment (I think) and they all get mentally and physically messed up by it. (Most/all of them die, i think) Blindsight by Peter Watts.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2008 09:13
|
|
|
Alright, this one has been driving me nuts lately. Horror novel released prior to 1991 (though I think it was fairly recent at that time, as I had a hardcover). I think the title was only a word or two, The Something--I actually keep thinking it's John Saul's The Unloved, but it's not. The cover featured a close-up (I believe it was a painting rather than a photograph) of a porcelain doll with a smashed-in face, missing an eye, leaking blood from its cracks. I am very vague on the plot. A young psychiatrist moves his family into a fabulous new house so that he can take a job in a very fancy private sanitarium. He has three celebrity patients (there's a plot point about him revealing their identities to his wife when they're meant to be confidential), one of whom is a former child star who for some mysterious reason is now largely catatonic (I think; I also want to say her name is Cassie). As the story unfolds, it of course turns out that there's something much wrong with her, but be damned if I can remember if it was demonic possession, an evil twin, or what. I'm pretty sure she had some kind of horrific childhood trauma, and I believe the finale involves her chasing/confronting the doctor's kids in their beachfront home. There is definitely a scene in which she has some kind of seizure (might be getting shock treatment?) and ends up leaking blood from all of her bodily orifices. Most grateful to anyone who can ID this one; I'm sure it's probably dreadful, but it's been on the tip of my tongue for weeks. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2009 04:45
|
|
|
Alright, this has been on my mind for a while. I read a fantasy book about 4 to 5 years ago, but it may have been several years older. It involved a young man who I think failed his rite of passage which was to be able to do magic, and he was exiled. I remember one of his enemies could conjure swords out of thin air. Also I think there was quite a bit of sex in it, if that helps. I know its not much info, but its killing me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2009 12:30
|
|
|
nathanthekiller posted:Alright, this has been on my mind for a while. I read a fantasy book about 4 to 5 years ago, but it may have been several years older. It involved a young man who I think failed his rite of passage which was to be able to do magic, and he was exiled. I remember one of his enemies could conjure swords out of thin air. Also I think there was quite a bit of sex in it, if that helps. I know its not much info, but its killing me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2009 18:41
|
|
|
Action Jacktion posted:Sounds like A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony, the first Xanth book. That's it, thank you very much.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2009 23:47
|
|
|
OnlyLivingWitness posted:Blindsight by Peter Watts. This is it. Thanks, it was really bothering me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2009 06:05
|
|
|
OnlyLivingWitness posted: Blindsight by Peter Watts. This is it. Thanks, it was really bothering me. I just read this, and if anyone is interested in it, it's available for free online at http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm I thought it was pretty good. I'd be interested to hear other takes on it. I became interested in Watts through "Starfish", which I enjoyed when I read it a few years ago. *edit* wrong quote *edit*
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2009 03:58
|
|
|
I got directed over here from Ask/Tell. Hi folks! I am searching for a simple lil poem that was introduced to me in my humanities class many years ago. It was a very, very short poem, only a few lines or maybe a full stanza. It involved... poo poo, I dunno... a deep metaphor about faceless workers walking to the mills like insects to their deaths, with a lot of dark and black themes and something about using a footbridge. I've been wanting to read it again, but I just can't think of how to Google it given such incredibly obtuse details. Any one wanna try?
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2009 17:45
|
|
|
I accidentally made a thread about this not knowing there was already a thread about identifying books. Anyway, here it goes, I've got two short stories for y'all: The first one dealt with a plantation being overrun with a plague of army ants. It went through the details of preparing for the ants invasion (they had previously steamrolled through a couple of other plantations and villages) and then the aftermath, it was a pretty creepy story. It definitely had people and animals completely covered in ants and being eaten by them. The second one was about two men who had struck gold in Alaska or the Yukon and were lost in the wilderness trying to get back to civilization. One of the men broke his ankle when he slipped in a creek and the other man just kept going without him. The man with the broken ankle manages to keep dragging himself along despite his injuries and starvation and he eventually finds the dead body of his companion. He's really close to death himself and finally spots a harbor with a ship in it, he's rescued and the captain notes that after the man recovers he still hoards food compulsively. Any help identifying the name of the stories and the authors would be much appreciated!
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2009 11:15
|
|
|
The first is Leiningen versus the Ants. edit: second is Love of Life by Jack London. Unkempt fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Jan 10, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2009 11:16
|
|
|
Thank you! I read it when I was pretty young and it made me pretty wary of ants from that point on
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2009 11:19
|
|
|
I remember reading a story about a man who finds/is given a coin. He's paranoid that the coin is bad luck, so he keeps trying to spend it. But every time he gives it away, it comes back. He thinks the coin is cursed, so he goes to extreme lengths to distance himself from it, but it just keeps coming back. And then he ends up dying/killing himself due to his paranoia. Not sure if the story answered the question of whether the coin was lucky, unlucky, or nothing at all. Does this sound familiar to anyone? the heebie-gbs fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 10, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2009 18:56
|
|
|
Terra Orca posted:I got directed over here from Ask/Tell. Hi folks! This sounds like Zheng Xiaoqiong's "Footbridge"; she's a migrant worker in China whose poetry garnered some attention recently. I wasn't able to find the poem online for you. Sorry.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2009 19:33
|
|
|
reworded posted:I remember reading a story about a man who finds/is given a coin. He's paranoid that the coin is bad luck, so he keeps trying to spend it. But every time he gives it away, it comes back. He thinks the coin is cursed, so he goes to extreme lengths to distance himself from it, but it just keeps coming back. And then he ends up dying/killing himself due to his paranoia. Not sure if the story answered the question of whether the coin was lucky, unlucky, or nothing at all. Bump because this is driving me insane.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2009 22:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 10:12 |
|
|
It sounds like it was probably inspired by The everlasting slippers from "1001 nights".
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2009 23:32
|
|