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openDesert Island Survival Literature
I remember reading a book around 20 years ago (although it wasn’t new then) about a family (from England, possibly the north) moving to a desert island, written from the perspective of their son. It wasn’t a particularly long book, and it was at least partially autobiographical (pretty sure it was marketed along the lines of being “a real life Swiss Family Robinson”) but I’ve not been able to find it anywhere since. Some things I’m pretty sure it included: a description of their original house in England being in a traditional workers terrace; the island being an atoll, given I’m pretty sure that’s where I learned the word atoll; a description of fishing in shallows off the beach; leaving the island and perhaps returning at a future point for a short period. I think at least the son (there was another child iirc) who wrote the book was still in school when they moved onto the island, but that’s about all I can I remember and it’s driving me a little crazy…
opena book i read in elementary school, involving time dilation Literature
basically what i remember of this book is that this kid discovered an alternate universe in his basement. i forget what exactly he had to do, but he had to do something, so he told his friend that if his parents asked, he was staying at his house.
then when he went in and started getting closer to his goal, he felt time warping around him. afterwards, he went home and the only ones there were his now adult baby sister and her baby. i don't know why i remember nothing else, it's just this ending that really stuck with me.
i also remember the cover having these creatures on them that kinda looked like clockwork versions of the Pokemon Kabuto?
openYA book about dragon finding other dragons Literature
A YA book (I think it was a series) about dragons that I read in the 90s. I don't remember a lot of specific details, but it involved a dragon, I think working with 1 or 2 young people, trying to find other dragons. I remember a specific scene where they've heard rumors of dragons in a desert land, but when they get there it's actually giant crab monsters that they need to fight. The dragon is insistent that the crabs aren't real dragons.
openPicture book about (not so) miracles on a street Literature
A picture book about a street where there are series of termed miracles or something helping people like person having financial problems getting money on their drop stop
The twist is that in the background of the illustrations the strong hints that the the postman is reading the mail of the street residents and helping solve their problems in their letters - like some envelopes hanging over a kettle in his window to presumably steam them open
The book never out right says the postman reading the mail but the last "miracle" is the street residents coming with food and the like to the postman who is in jail
Edited by jormis29openYA Sci Fi / fantasy series Literature
Young Adult book: Features 4 multi ethnic heroes with superpowers.
One with Time travel (African?), Empathic Healing (Asian), shapeshifter?, Telepathy(White).
When they were young, the Telepath turns evil, and stole a bit of his friends powers. Then I think he went and did a fascism.
Now there is a second generation of kids with the same abilities, training to fight the evil telepath guy.
Anyone know what I'm talking about?
openFairy tale (or folk story?) where a bread boy eats everything Literature
There's several variants, i think. He might not be made of bread in all of them?
A couple who want a baby make one out of bread(?) but he keeps growing and his appetitite is insatiable. He eventually eats animals and people, including his parents, before somebody finally kills him. Cutting him open might or might not have saved his victims.
openLooking for an old TV tropes article about a weird dark fantasy premise full of mind bending nightma Literature
I will admit up front I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but I wanted some help finding a particular TV tropes page I remembered reading back in 2014 that touched on a particular... literature I think? It was such a weird, confusing, dark and messed up story, one which I came across one night during a very long and twisty wikiwalk on TV tropes by pure accident back in 2014 that it became something of bile fascination to me and I told two of my friends about it but for the life of me I wasn't able to the find the TV trope article about the story in question again afterwards and one of my friends is half convinced it was a story I "dreamed up while asleep" despite the fact I was very much wide awake when I read the TV tropes article when I happened upon it during the aforementioned wiki walk.
I admit that I sadly don't remember the name of the series or the author nor the name of the protagonist of the series but I do (mostly) remember the premise very vividly. The premise from what I recall features a protagonist who died and wind ups with amnesia in a dark afterlife where he only his name and the memory he had of this Jewish girl and he sets off on a quest to find his memories and find the Jewish girl.
But one of the things that becomes apparent about the afterlife of the setting is that; it is an afterlife where those who were good in life become ugly and are faced with an afterlife of suffering, misery and squalor, while those who were evil in life in the afterlife become beautiful and live a relatively better afterlife that not only is more cushy in this hell-scape but have much more social status and power. The setting of the afterlife is a messed up one where things that would have been good undergo untold horror and are jeered and punished while evil is not only the norm but virtue. There is even this weird and gross bit out of nowhere where in the setting any fetus that was aborted in life or miscarried end up in the afterlife as some kind of ugly never-borne creatures... for some inexplicable reason??
A bit of foreshadowing for the Protagonist is that while on his quest for his memories and finding the Jewish girl, who is the only thing, much less the only person; he remembers; he was walking the true neutral alignment for most of his time of the afterlife... but given he was in this afterlife and looked very handsome than what he looked like in life; hints at the fact he was likely a bad person in life before arriving in the nightmare fuel afterlife at least to some degree.
After several adventures through this hell-scape the protagonist eventually ends up finding the Jewish girl, but finds that she is some kind of lamina-type creature who I *think* was enslaved by someone else and the protagonist goes on another quest to both free her and than help her "move on" from the horrible nightmare fuel afterlife. After of which point he does so he finally gets his memories back... and it's revealed (and this was a big narrative reveal) that he was actually a Nazi during WW 2 and I think not only that; but worked at one of the death camps where he crossed paths with the Jewish girl I think? And after he gets these memories of his identity back and after helping the Jewish girl move on from the nightmare fuel afterlife; he gleefully jumps off the morality cliff and becomes a pure evil bastard.
It is one of the weirdest and messed up dark fantasy stories I have ever heard of and to this day after telling my one friend about it he is still unsure wither I actually saw the TV tropes article. It's hard to remember the name or the author of the story or the name of the protagonist but I want to cite it just so my friend knows that this isn't something I dreamed up in a weird nightmare in my sleep. I know it may be of dubious help to only cite the premise of the story without a story title or author or even protagonist name to go off of but I hope the premise might help ring someones bell and they might be able to recall the name and author and provide a link to the TV tropes article for the weird, nightmare fuel story and it's TV tropes article so I can can confirm it's existence to my freinds so they know it wasn't something I dreamed up in the bed one night; given I was wide awake at my laptop when I first stumbled on it.
So yeah; if this whole plot premise rings any bells in anyway; could someone let me know the title and author and point me to the TV tropes page of it? I need a citation of the story desperately.
openCharacter I remember from Complete Monster Effortpost Literature
I am assuming that the Ep was for a book character. Anyway the character in question is found innocent wrongly. They brag about their crimes, something along the lines of "do you want to have how they screamed, oh wait I don't know because I am innocent". At one point they goad the hero into killing them only to mock the hero for being unable to do so.
openkids book, witch/magic themed mail-order catalogue/magazine Literature
hello! posting this on behalf of a friend, who mentioned this book and made me really want to know what it was. their words: "a book i had when i was a kid: it was like one of those brand magazines that with all their objects for sale in it but it was like entirely witch/magic themed. i think the cover was purple". my extrapolation: a kids book that was like a pretend mail-order catalogue or magazine (are there kids nowadays that don't remember these??? god i hope not) but all witchy/magic themed. it sounds really cool!! i briefly thought i'd read the same book but it turned out i was just thinking of a specific letter from The Jolly Postman (entirely different book, but if anyone else has read it and remembers the witch catalogue bit you'll know what i'm going for). thanks in advance to anyone who can help!
openPunished for the C-Word Literature
I once saw a book review on Common Sense Media that I thought had the phrase "vs. the World" in the title, but I can't find it now. In this book, the potty-mouthed characters are this one girl along with the people who bully the main character. The main character doesn't swear much, but he ends up calling one of his bullies the C-word, which he gets punished for.
open[SOLVED] [Unknown year] Book with a realistic lion on the cover Literature
I remember reading it a while ago and it stuck out to me, but because of my poor memory, I can't really remember much.
I believe it was set in Africa, and the cast was a group of high school or college students. There was a disease going around that caused peoples' skin to turn to metal or something, I think. I wish I could remember more details, but it's been several years since reading it.
Edited by mitzioletopenkids science books Literature
Series of science books for kids who had distinctive covers with the subject of the book "ripping" out of the page.
I think the books were also oversized?
open80's-90's book about kids trapped in a videogame Literature
The book was created in the 80's-90's . One of the main characters name was Mario not that Mario . I think he was a bully. Anyway the book was a about of kids who get trapped in a video game where they have to fight for survival against random enemies. I think the mario kid gets turned into an enemy.
Can anyone tell me the name of this book?
openStory about an angel visiting a boarding house Literature
I read this online, and I don't really remember its length — I think it was a short story, but it might have been a novel. It was British and probably from 1900-1920. A mysterious stranger comes to stay in a boarding house where everyone is unhappy, and by talking to them and making them see their flaws he leaves them better people. It never explicitly says he's an angel, but it's mentioned that he has a hump or burden on his back which is implied to be his wings. The people in the house include a bickering middle-aged couple who are always putting each other down in front of others, as well as their grown daughter, who IIRC is the most redeemable of the group, but kind of cynical and dissatisfied with life. The other one that stuck out to me (because of the time period) was that one young man is a self-loathing Jew who pretends not to be, and the angel character tells him there's nothing wrong with being a Jew.
openUnknown Literature
What is the 1956 hardcover book that has a page with different colored heads in a row about and what is the title and author? The book has a brown spine with large black upper case lettering.
Edited by J6432-96660openSuperman origin story. Literature
Picture book aimed at children. I try to look it up and get others like it... but. I specifically remember the version where Lara shoots down going on the rocket because it's set up for one, and the description of how the young Clark could see further than Martha using her "field glasses." That phrase, "field glasses."
There might have been another one about the origin of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, with the crashed spaceship.
Looking for a title, publishing information. Something to find this exact one.
Edited by CaswinopenAnyone know what fairytale this is? Literature
Every now and again I remember reading this epically screwed-up fairy-tale in the Chinese translation as a kid. It's possible this was a Chinese original, in which case I'm screwed on finding the source, but something about it feels like a translated... possibly Grimm story?
Anyway, it was about a little girl on a farm who was just screwed from day one: a toad stole her beauty, a goose stole her intelligence, and an old witch her strength. Her parents, with a daughter that was all but useless, tied her up in the yard to use as a scarecrow. There was a happy ending with a prince on a white horse carrying her off, I guess, but I don't remember the back half clearly at all...
Ring any bells for anyone?
openCYOA time/space travel sci-fi series where every page was like a painting Literature
This was a series of I believe 4 to 6 books, of which I had two, that used incredibly detailed full-color illustrations on every page and were about as large physically as a trade paperback but with thinner page counts, i think about 30-50. The story I remember most clearly was about averting some time catastrophe that turned out to be an alien kid getting a birthday present that he used improperly and ended up causing irreparable damage to the universe if not stopped. Another scene had you being visited by 'security' robots where the first two were unthreatening and you needed to see them to get items to pass, while pushing your luck for the third robot had you get killed.
I remember also you had some kind of psychic link to your spaceship and its computer, who was snarky about a lot of things but could give you advice when needed. If the ship was damaged or destroyed you died too, and there was only one or two good endings per book, as I recall.
openClassic Christmas Crafts Literature
I remember reading a book on traditional Christmas celebrations when I was younger. I cannot recall the title or the publish date, but it has a solid red cover seems to be from long before my time. The first section (and the one that interested me the most) contained instructions for various arts-and-crafts projects, including ornaments made from fruit (if I'm recalling correctly) and a felt tapestry of the Three Wise Men. The one that stuck out to me the most was a table-craft based on the 12 Days of Christmas; the bird figures were made from paper while the human figures were built using ping-pong balls and conical paper cups, and the 4 Calling Birds were perched in the Partridge's Pear Tree.
My aunt was reading it and read a bit aloud to me but that was ages ago and now we don't remember what it was and I'd love to finish it.
I think it was a short story or novella and based on the opening it seemed fairly light in tone; don't know if it stayed that way. A man fell into or got caught up in some kind of machine in a factory and got injured but, again, I remember the tone being light so maybe not too seriously injured? I think he was pursuing legal action.