When you find yourself trying to remember a show (or any works) that's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach, come here - the collective brain of the TVTropes community can probably help. Post all the details you can remember (examples help). If you're looking for a trope, head over to Trope Finder. Have general questions about tropes? Visit Ask The Tropers!
Find a Show:
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?
resolved A book about the story of arachne Literature
I vaguely remember this book about the story of arachne ( a human turned into a spider by athena). Athena turns her into a spider because she felt death was too good for her hubris. The book repeatedly says "spin,spin,spin"
At the end of the book, Athena is literally describes as a bitch and a witch. The book outright says "she is no heroine".
Does anyone else recall 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 Caswinresolved Comic - Man joins brand design team Literature
I'm trying to help my brother find something. He thinks it may have been one story in a larger book, possibly one that mixed prose and comics, or not. Here's his description:
Man joins design team finding a brand for google-like corporation
I remember it was in an anthology of the best American works of fiction or something similar. It may have been the best american nonrequired reading anthology. I read it in the last two years and I believe it was published in the last five, but am not positive about the latter. The story is somewhat dystopian - the corporation has become a huge player in world affairs.
The main character is a young man who joins a design team creating a new brand and logo for a google-out-of-control like organization.
During the story the man is afflicted by a mysterious cold-like sickness supposedly cause by plants on the property. He gets medicine from a semi-sinister doctor at the company, which helps him. They tell him that the sickness is due to allergies, but we never get the full explanation.
The main character goes for a swim each day and sees a woman sitting by the pool that he lacks the courage to talk to. During his last swim, he looks up and she is no longer there. He wonders whether he imagined her entirely.
The design team is led by a man who is somewhat obsessed with primality. He leads the team to break in to the headquarters of their rivals in the final act of the comic.
The last scene is the main character looking at a bloody handprint after injuring himself during the break in. He decides that this will be the new logo of the corporation.
Edited by SubsetopenAnyone 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.
resolved Please help me! I need to find a book! Literature
It's a non fiction about the writer and his teacher or mentor, a very intelligent man who's mind and memories are fading because of dementia. He gets progressively worse and he even knows it. I read about it on Tear Jerker.
resolved YA novel Lindquists Literature
I read this some time around 2014, iirc there's a young girl who's father is a geneticist in a nuclear winter Russia. Her father is trying to make creatures that will preserve the genes of all mammals(?) and creates these little fuzzy things that he calls "Lindquists". His goal is to smuggle them out of the country, but he is arrested before he can, and so the girl MC is tasked with caring for them all on her own while trying to keep herself alive and out of the secret policy's custody. A lot of the book is her struggle to feed herself and stay warm in the harsh elements, and angsting over the health of the little Lindquists. (Idk if this helps but the Lindquists were described as small ferret like creatures)
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.
openBratty kids Literature
I vaguely remember a book from my childhood that I'm pretty sure was part of a series. It was about a Bratty Half-Pint boy, narrated by his best friend. The one story I vaguely remember saw the bratty boy and another (female?) classmate sneak onto the school playground, which was closed off due to the installation of new equipment, and test a new slide before anyone else. And no, I'm pretty sure it's not Horrid Henry or any version of Dennis the Menace.
openall-girls boarding school consisting of cyborgs Literature
looking for a book where a girl gets sent to an all-girls boarding school by his dad. the principal is a friend of said dad. mom is dead. every girl in said school turns out to be cyborgs made by the principal. girl shuts down the power grid of cyborgs and runs away. it was a very short and illustrated book, so it's probably a children's book. it's similar to girls with sharp sticks, but it's not. any ideas?
openBook about thinly veiled Dungeons and Dragons and how it's bad. Literature
Short novel. Looked like it was part of a series. Not sure if it was variations on a theme or the same cast. The only scene I can swear to is, a player declares himself to be his character, maybe he puts on a wizard hat? Climbs on a stump and declaims from there while the narration shifts to, character name in quote marks.
Edited by CaswinopenLilliputian-sized people fight horde of goblin-type creatures Literature
Children's chapter book that was read in 90s but possibly older
- The main characters are lilliputian-sized people who live in fortress/castles in (I think) rubbish tip
- They live in a fortress because they come under regular attack from hordes of goblin creatures with green skin and red or orange hair
- There are multiple fortresses and they have an alliance to send aid to each other during the attacks by the goblin creatures
- At the start of the book, the horde attacking is bigger then usual and a group of the main characters are sent to the allied fortress to get help
- The group gets to the allied fortress but finds that the fortress has already been destroyed by the horde
- The group encounter two surviving knights of the fortress. The two knights ride cats - as in domestic cats. The others are shocked at this cause cats are generally seen as a danger to them but the knights raised them from kittens.
- The knights offer to come with the group back to their fortress, saying the cats are worth an army by themselves and the only reason they couldn't save their own fortress was because they were out on patrol at the time.
- They return to the fortress and defeat the horde.
resolved Ancient Structures on Mars Literature
I'm trying to remember a book (I think it's a full novel, but it might be a short story) where an expedition to Mars discovers ancient ruins, but no bodies/graves, at least until one of the members of the expedition falls over and sees slight mounds indicating the graves of the Martians. I recall one of the side stories being that a meteorite hits the surface some distance from the main camp, and biologists are excited to discover microbial life deep inside the crater, and decide to put a dome over the crater as an experiment.
Anybody know what I'm talking about?
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.