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I read some book a few years back that I think was written by a moderately well (or very well) known horror or suspense type writer, but I don't remember who. I also might have it a little confused with a few other books I read at the time, which I don't remember either but don't really care about. It was about this boy who as a baby was almost completely left alone in his crib and not physically handled by his family members, basically neglected but still fed etc. He grew up to be some kind of murderer or serial killer. There is a girl/women who features prominently who is a potential victim. I think it might switch back and forth from each character's POV but I'm not sure. I remember something about a house that the man was living in that wasn't really his, I think maybe he killed the owner and then was living there? Or he was caretaking it or something. I believe this house was in the city. There was a short passage about the man getting access to his victim's bank account by figuring out that their pin number was written in their address book under the heading "le pin" as if it was a resturant or something. That's pretty much all I remember. For a while I thought it was "A Dark-Adapted Eye" because of the title but that is a completely different book with little in common with this one, and I must have just read it around the same time. There is also another book which I doubt I will ever identify. I read it maybe around 4th-6th grade. I mention it every couple years when one of these threads pop up but I progressively forget more and more information about the book and I don't remember anymore what is real and what I might have gotten confused from other sources. From what I can remember, it basically involved people on Earth(?) who lived in big dome-shaped compounds or large buildings, which went far underground as well. The characters were 2 or 3 children who lived in the underground levels. There might have been some kind of class system going on where they were forced to live there rather than above ground, but I can't remember. It seems to be kind of an oppressive system and there might be something that happens/is done to children at puberty that the characters are nervous about (or maybe not.) At some point 2 of the characters, maybe a boy and a girl, go up to the upper levels and look through the clear windows out into the world outside. I think there are some plants indoors that they are hiding behind. Someone, one or both of them ends up escaping from the compound and into the world outside, which I think they were told was uninhabitable. There might be something about a rabbit at some point, like maybe they see a rabbit when they've never seen animals before? They sleep under bushes and stuff and I guess try to get further away but I don't really remember why they ran away or what they were aiming for. I would have read this somewhere around 1994-1996. squeegee fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Mar 30, 2009 |
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Mar 30, 2009 03:18
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Looking for a children's book that I remember from my childhood (mid-late 80s). It revolves around a female basset hound (named Sonya, Sandra..?) that plays dress up to look different because she doesn't like the way she looks. In the end she learns to accept herself for who she is. I remember the art being very good, but I was only 8 or so - so for all I know it could be terrible.  I do remember vividly, one drawing of her standing in front of a mirror wearing a hat and a dress with high heels looking like an old lady and another of her wearing a bunch of silly makeup. This has been bugging me because I work in a bookstore and have never been able to find this book. Unfortunately it was given away once we moved to another city.
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Mar 30, 2009 04:45
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I'm trying to remember a really old book (~1940s) about Elizabeth I. I think it's a children's book and the whole novel is set during her childhood/teen years. I thought the title was "Princess Elizabeth" but I can't find a book about Elizabeth I with that title. Any suggestions?
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Mar 30, 2009 06:58
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squeegee posted:There is also another book which I doubt I will ever identify. I read it maybe around 4th-6th grade. I mention it every couple years when one of these threads pop up but I progressively forget more and more information about the book and I don't remember anymore what is real and what I might have gotten confused from other sources. From what I can remember, it basically involved people on Earth(?) who lived in big dome-shaped compounds or large buildings, which went far underground as well. The characters were 2 or 3 children who lived in the underground levels. There might have been some kind of class system going on where they were forced to live there rather than above ground, but I can't remember. It seems to be kind of an oppressive system and there might be something that happens/is done to children at puberty that the characters are nervous about (or maybe not.) At some point 2 of the characters, maybe a boy and a girl, go up to the upper levels and look through the clear windows out into the world outside. I think there are some plants indoors that they are hiding behind. Someone, one or both of them ends up escaping from the compound and into the world outside, which I think they were told was uninhabitable. There might be something about a rabbit at some point, like maybe they see a rabbit when they've never seen animals before? They sleep under bushes and stuff and I guess try to get further away but I don't really remember why they ran away or what they were aiming for. I would have read this somewhere around 1994-1996. Brennanite posted:I'm trying to remember a really old book (~1940s) about Elizabeth I. I think it's a children's book and the whole novel is set during her childhood/teen years. I thought the title was "Princess Elizabeth" but I can't find a book about Elizabeth I with that title. Any suggestions?
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Mar 30, 2009 09:07
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Morlock posted:HM Hoover's This Time of Darkness? The kids are called Amy and Axel; that Amy can read while most people underground can't is an important plot point because she can read notices and instructions once they get close to the surface, and Axel is from a farm outside, came in accidentally on a supply train and was raped by the local derelicts so everyone figures his stories of growing things are just trauma. That sounds like it could be it. I looked at a picture of the book cover and it looks familiar as well, but nothing really rings any bells because it was so long ago. I also don't know if I might be thinking of another book AND this one at the same time. I'll have to see if I can find a copy of it and read it, I guess. Thanks! I found someone asking a similar question about the book on Google and apparently there is another book with a very similar plot called "The City of Ember": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=books&n=507846 This might also be it. It definitely didn't have that cover when I read it though. Amazon says it was published in 2004 but I don't know if it's just that edition... I probably read it about ten years before that. I do remember something about pipes in the underground levels but I've read things about both books that mention pipes. squeegee fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Mar 30, 2009 |
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Mar 30, 2009 15:00
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squeegee posted:That sounds like it could be it. I looked at a picture of the book cover and it looks familiar as well, but nothing really rings any bells because it was so long ago. I also don't know if I might be thinking of another book AND this one at the same time. I'll have to see if I can find a copy of it and read it, I guess. Thanks!
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Mar 30, 2009 17:19
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Morlock posted:Haven't read Ember, but AFAIK the entire city's underground; it doesn't have the division between ground and surface-dwellers. Unfortunately it's a pretty common plot - Monica Hughes' Devil on my Back is sort of similar, too (everyone in ArcOne wears honking great personal computers on their backs), as is Andre Norton's Outside (and if the Rhyming Man and the little girl's toy fox ring any bells, it's that) and those are just 2 off the top of my head. Any other apparently-random details you can remember that might pin it down? I read a few pages of "This Time of Darkness" on Google Books and it didn't sound specifically familiar, but it didn't sound wrong either. I think my problem is that I've posted about this book in past threads and been given other suggestions which I may have mixed up with my original memory. For all I know, someone may have suggested this book to me in the past and that's why it sounds so familiar. "This Time of Darkness" involves a kid who has come to the city from the outside, which wasn't really part of my memory of the book I read, but I may have just forgotten that part. I'm not sure if anyone in the city actually lived above ground but there may have been offices or something up there? My strongest memory of the book is one scene, where (I believe) two characters are looking out huge glass windows to the outside world, which I don't think they have ever seen before. They may have been hiding behind some potted plants. I think the outside was green and lush, not like some kind of nuclear wasteland, but maybe I am wrong. In any case it really impressed them. I think they were also trying to hide because they knew they weren't supposed to be up there. There may have been something about a central PA system that was always making announcements. I also vaguely remember something about their schooling system in this compound, and also I distinctly remember there were pipes overhead everywhere. I seem to remember a scene near the beginning of the book where a group of children were chatting and their conversation gave the reader some insight into the culture. From what I read of "This Time of Darkness" I didn't see any other children characters, but the first few pages were upside down for some reason so I didn't read them. I think when they got outside, they may have eventually run into other humans, but maybe not. It doesn't seem quite right though that there are organized human societies with farms, etc like there are in "This Time of Darkness"... that doesn't quite seem to match what I remember.
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Mar 30, 2009 17:36
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squeegee posted:My strongest memory of the book is one scene, where (I believe) two characters are looking out huge glass windows to the outside world, which I don't think they have ever seen before. They may have been hiding behind some potted plants. I think the outside was green and lush, not like some kind of nuclear wasteland, but maybe I am wrong. In any case it really impressed them. I think they were also trying to hide because they knew they weren't supposed to be up there. There may have been something about a central PA system that was always making announcements. I also vaguely remember something about their schooling system in this compound, and also I distinctly remember there were pipes overhead everywhere. I seem to remember a scene near the beginning of the book where a group of children were chatting and their conversation gave the reader some insight into the culture. From what I read of "This Time of Darkness" I didn't see any other children characters, but the first few pages were upside down for some reason so I didn't read them. The above-ground part of the city is covered with a series of domes surrounded by an overgrown wilderness with savages who avoid the city but who the children have to avoid while heading to where they hope Axel's family farm is. It seems a decent match to what you describe; well worth your time to get hold of and see if it rings bells when you read it, I reckon.
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Mar 30, 2009 17:57
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Hi, didn't see any special rules about making a request so I'd like to make a shot in the dark. This was a sci fi book I read about 10 years ago, it was hard cover and thick so I'm pretty sure it was reasonably mature. What I can remember about the book is that it was in the distant future and rotates from two perspectives, a stellar being that lives inside a star (It has a unusual name, wotil or something like that and it wasn't omnipotent and seem to be interested in living longer than other beings like it). And the other perspective was that of a human that I think was cryogenically frozen and awoken by a colony. I believe during the course of the books most of the stars had burned out. Thank you in advance for any insights, it's been a nagging memory.
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Mar 31, 2009 04:29
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Morlock posted:Maybe Jean Plaidy's The Young Elizabeth? It's from the 60s, is that old enough? I really thought it was older, but I was also sure that it was called The Princess Elizabeth, which it obviously isn't. I will check out your excellent suggestion and get back to you. To the secondhand bookstore!
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Apr 1, 2009 03:41
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I remember seeing this book when I was really small, and it always has sounded really interesting to me ever since. On the cover were some men in space suits walking on perhaps the moon or an icy planet with the Earth in the sky in the background, and the men are looking at an alien spacecraft that is half buried in the ice. It sticks in my head that the story was about present day humans finding this advanced alien craft and either getting it to work or learning from its technology, its been too long to remember exactly. It may have been from the 60s or 70s since I believe it was in my dad's collection of sci-fi books, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Sorry the description kinda sucks, but if anyone has any idea what it could be id really appreciate it.
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Apr 2, 2009 06:10
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Valkyn posted:I remember seeing this book when I was really small, and it always has sounded really interesting to me ever since. On the cover were some men in space suits walking on perhaps the moon or an icy planet with the Earth in the sky in the background, and the men are looking at an alien spacecraft that is half buried in the ice. It sticks in my head that the story was about present day humans finding this advanced alien craft and either getting it to work or learning from its technology, its been too long to remember exactly. That's a pretty common trope, but the book that springs to mind is James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars. The cover doesn't quite match your description, but the plot is right. A good book, but the series gets progressively more loopy as it goes on (probably reflecting Hogan's decent into Velikovskism).
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Apr 2, 2009 07:51
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Alkaiser posted:Hi, didn't see any special rules about making a request so I'd like to make a shot in the dark. The World At The End of Time by Frederik Pohl. The star being's name is Wan-To.
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Apr 2, 2009 21:00
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Here's one, probably late 70s to no more than the mid 80s: The protagonist is a female scientist. Reptilian aliens (friendly, this time) come to earth and she goes to their ship to work with their scientists.
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Apr 2, 2009 22:06
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Wow amazing, thank you very much Bookish that's it.
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Apr 2, 2009 23:17
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Hey I'm trying to figure out what this book I read early in middle school was called. It was an English fantasy novel for young teens written in the 80's or early 90's. All I can really remember about the plot was that it had a serious tone, involved traveling to some kind of alternate England, something about a Welsh kid with white hair, and the title might start with a W. I know there's little to go on but it'd be pretty crazy if someone knew what I was talking about. Edit: After doing some research I found out that it was The Dark Is Rising series and I was pretty much wrong about everything I described. Fiannaiocht fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Apr 4, 2009 |
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Apr 4, 2009 21:22
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Fiannaiocht posted:Hey I'm trying to figure out what this book I read early in middle school was called. It was an English fantasy novel for young teens written in the 80's or early 90's. All I can really remember about the plot was that it had a serious tone, involved traveling to some kind of alternate England, something about a Welsh kid with white hair, and the title might start with a W. I know there's little to go on but it'd be pretty crazy if someone knew what I was talking about. If I remember correctly one of the characters in the later books had white hair from Wales that was named Bran. I love these books to death.
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Apr 4, 2009 23:19
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calandryll posted:If I remember correctly one of the characters in the later books had white hair from Wales that was named Bran. I love these books to death.
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Apr 4, 2009 23:57
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Morlock posted:Then I hope you haven't seen the movie. Never do. Ever. I was smart and avoided it like the plague. Didn't they remove the Dark is Rising bit from the title?
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Apr 5, 2009 07:02
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calandryll posted:I was smart and avoided it like the plague. Didn't they remove the Dark is Rising bit from the title? loving OUCH.
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Apr 5, 2009 11:51
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Another one... I probably read this in the late 90s, MAYBE the early 00s but not sure. It was either creative non-fiction, or fiction that was supposed to come off like non-fiction. The book was about an autistic girl who eventually got "cured" (or at least able to function much better). I don't remember much about it except that the girl's problems all seemed to be related to extremely heightened senses and the book seemed to take the stance that this was the cause of autism. Her and her mother fought hard to get her into various programs that were supposed to help her and they eventually found one in some European country, I think France or maybe Italy, that was focused on the sensory issues that the girl had. Eventually she was able to function semi-normally and I think the book was supposed to have been written by her, although I'm not sure. It was pretty interesting and I'd like to read it again, as well as find out if this actually happened or if it was fiction. If anyone knows what I'm talking about I'd love to find out what it is. EDIT: I found a book that might be it, although the title and cover aren't ringing any bells. I really thought it had a simpler title. But this might be it: http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Miracle-Childs-Triumph-Autism/dp/0964483815 The one thing from all the reviews that did seem familiar was this: quote:After several years abroad, the family returns to the U.S. Georgie's records "mysteriously disappear" because the cruise ship she was on met with a disaster and several cartons had to be discarded. But that might be something I am remembering from another book so I'm not sure. squeegee fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Apr 5, 2009 |
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Apr 5, 2009 16:08
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It's been a long time, so my memory is fuzzy, but I remember reading what I think was a children's trilogy - although it may not have been exactly three books. What I remember of the plot was that a kid on earth was implanted with some important information by aliens, which he finds out when his parents are killed in an attempt to get to him, and one of the aliens who implanted the information comes to his rescue. At the very end of the book/series he has an operation done to change him from human to alien so he can live happily ever after on their planet or whatever. I'm in the UK, so I don't know if it was ever published/distributed widely outside the UK. It's been bugging me for ages that I can't remember the series or any details about it. Anyone remember anything like this?
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Apr 10, 2009 20:11
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When I was young, I read a book about a group of kids running around solving codes that led to a treasure. One of the codes was this type of puzzle, though with different words. (Answer to puzzle is below) INGOT is 3 7 11 18 1 CARRY is 2 14 17 17 9 So what would 17 14 3 7 be? Anyways, the treasure at the end was a bunch of Native American artifacts, including one of those masks that looks really creepy and has its nose bent sideways. There was an illustration of all the stuff they found. They found it in a pillar supporting part of their house, though I don't think the house fell down when they broke the pillar. Does anyone know what book I'm thinking of? I know you guys can figure out the code above, but if you can't, it's RAIN.
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Apr 11, 2009 00:40
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That might be "Key to the Treasure" by Peggy Parish.
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Apr 11, 2009 02:51
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A short story set in a school in a colony on a planet in the process of being terraformed that has one day of good weather every few decades. On that day a young girl is looking forward to it, but just before it happens some horsing around with classmates goes awry and she ends up locked in a closet and forgotten until it's over. Any ideas? vvv Thanks! haveblue fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Apr 11, 2009 |
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Apr 11, 2009 03:02
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all summer in a day
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Apr 11, 2009 03:21
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Ok after reading about the cartoon Les Mondes Engloutis I was reminded of this book I read in middle school (mid 90s but the book was from the 70s maybe). It was about this boy whose entire people lived on rafts in what turns out to be an underground river. For some reason or another he finds himself separated from his people and begins to climb, eventually finding himself on the surface of the Earth. I remember that he falls asleep because of his exhaustion and wakes up horribly sunburnt because of course he is an albino. He meets some girl (I think) and begins living with her people and it gets hazy after that... It's really starting to bug me so I'd love any help. Thanks folks!
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Apr 11, 2009 04:23
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b4k4hakujin posted:Ok after reading about the cartoon Les Mondes Engloutis I was reminded of this book I read in middle school (mid 90s but the book was from the 70s maybe).
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Apr 11, 2009 10:10
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Morlock posted:Journey Outside by Mary Q, um, gimme a second to google, Steele. Oh man, thanks so much! I love threads like these.
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Apr 11, 2009 15:48
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This is probably going to be too vague, but I had a random memory of something I read... actually I don't know when I read this. I think it's a collection of short stories. In fact, the only thing I remember of it is there are people now living on either the moon or Mars or someplace not Earth, and it rains/hails diamonds there. So there's a kid running home to beat the storm, and I think his mother looks out the window after it's done 'raining' and there are trucks collecting the diamonds from the ground, and she's wondering why people on Earth want that 'junk'.
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Apr 11, 2009 23:41
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I highly doubt I'll get anyone who has ever read this, but it has been bothering me lately. I read a book from my pathetic high school library when I was in 6th or 7th grade (so, around 1989ish) about a young spy. It was written in the 60's, and all I can think of is The Man From UNCLE for kids or something. It was a pretty obvious rip-off of a bunch of other stuff, but the part I remember most (and creepily was reminded of by the post above) was that this guy's car had a bunch of weapons. One of them was an air compressor that shot diamond dust out of the wheel rims to puncture the tires of enemies. If anyone can narrow this poo poo down at all, I'd appreciate it. Holy poo poo, the book on the front page from a while back looks really familiar: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/reading-time-calcutta.php Getting closer... flamingmuse fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Apr 16, 2009 |
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Apr 16, 2009 22:40
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There's this girl, and she lives with an alien in what might be a post-apocalyptic Earth. We are lead to believe that they're the only two beings where ever they are. She's finally getting to the age where she thinks she's ready to go outside, but the alien won't let her come out when the alien goes wherever it goes. I think it's an allegory for puberty, but I don't really remember because I read it when I was 8. It was probably pretty short. Anyway, for some reason she gets out and meets a human boy who's being raised by another alien of the opposite gender of the first alien. It think the girl and boy go off together, and I think the aliens might be divorced or something, because they like each other but can't be together. Also, the aliens are furry, may be blue, and slur their words. Also, I believe the word "coveralls" is used a lot, as that was a word I hadn't heard before. I got the feeling that it was old when I read it in the early nineties.
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Apr 17, 2009 09:50
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This sounds like Alien Child by Pamela Sargent. Nita is raised by Llipel, and her counterpart Sven is raised by Llare. Nita thinks she is the only one of her kind until one day she sees a strange being on a security monitor. The copy I read had Nita on the cover, wearing coveralls.
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Apr 18, 2009 07:27
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wheatpuppy posted:Alien Child by Pamela Sargent.
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Apr 18, 2009 09:05
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I have 3 books I would love to find, maybe someone can help me? #1. Very old children's novel, I would guess around 1950, possibly older. A girl in a wartorn city hides aboard an airplane of rich people leaving the bombed out town. While in the air, the plane is forced to land in a very happy, peaceful place. Turns out this peaceful place is able to atract and interact with people who have good intentions. Sie the girl is the only one not thinking selfish thoughts, she is offered citizenship of the paradise place, and given a gold star to wear on her chest. This star is magical, and this magical force is what runs the entire city. The other passengers are very envious of her, and I think there is a young boy among them who in the end decides to be good, so he can say in "happy peaceland". The name of the happy place might hae been something like "Speero" #2. Fantasy novel I left behind at an airport sometime in the 1990s. Don't really remember much, except it was typical sword and sorcery fantasy. The hero is at some point captured by some evil woman, and badly tortured with an electric whip. #3. Sci-fi. At the age of 13 for girls, and 15 for boys, all children are taken away from their family. At the "Temple" they are subjected to all sorts of tests and sorted according to beauty, intelligence, physical strength, magic abilities etc. I think girls had 7 tests, boys had 5. After a year, they have to choose the cast they will serve in for the rest of their lives. 12 castes, all with a specific colour. But each child is only given a choice of 3-5 castes, to make sure they end up in the one where they can best serve their society. There was this one girl who was being groomed and preasured to choose the turqois caste, who were some sort of nuns. Also a boy who tries repeatedly to injure himself, so he can't be forced to enter the caste that produce food. I think some kids disappeared during training, and later it's revealed they are being used as breeding stock, and forcibly paired up with someone according to genes.
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Apr 18, 2009 15:03
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BattyKiara posted:#2. Fantasy novel I left behind at an airport sometime in the 1990s. Don't really remember much, except it was typical sword and sorcery fantasy. The hero is at some point captured by some evil woman, and badly tortured with an electric whip. Wizard's First Rule?
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Apr 18, 2009 16:35
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When I was a kid I read two books from a series that featured time traveling children, and the books were hilarious. The two that I read featured a trip to Camelot and a trip to the time of Blackbeard the Pirate. I remember the books because they were hilarious yet simple to read. It contained advanced humor, or at least, advanced for the age group it was leaning towards. Can anyone help me out? The books were really thin too, if that helps some. And they had pictures.
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Apr 18, 2009 22:13
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RomaVictor posted:When I was a kid I read two books from a series that featured time traveling children, and the books were hilarious. The two that I read featured a trip to Camelot and a trip to the time of Blackbeard the Pirate. Wild guess: the Magic Treehouse series?
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Apr 19, 2009 00:09
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I asked in PYF and they directed me here! So, this popped into my head the other day at work. There was a short story I read a long time ago, it was possibly in a textbook. In the story, a psychiatrist is talking to a man who's suffering insomnia (I think). The man explains that small aliens have invaded his brain (or monsters, or something). They do all their studying at night when he sleeps, or even when he just closes his eyes, and he can feel them picking and prodding at his brain. The psychiatrist finally cures him by doing something that involves letting the supposed "aliens" or "monsters" or whatnot come and live in and invade his brain instead, likely in an attempt to make his patient believe that they are gone, so he can sleep at night. It seems to work, and the guy goes home. That night, the psychiatrist goes to bed, and as he falls asleep, he feels as though little hands or tools are picking and prodding at his brain. He gets kind of freaked out, and I think that was the end. Any ideas? If it was in a textbook, it's possible that it was an excerpt from a book.
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Apr 19, 2009 06:32
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I don't even know if this is a real story, but it's about a man who sees a woman on a different planet/galaxy/astronomical distance away through a telescope. He might have fallen in love with her or something. I think at some point there was something about the fact that the woman is probably already dead, seeing as how she's light years away.
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Apr 19, 2009 13:30
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