xkcd

by **chustar** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:36 am UTC

I was planning to re-read some of my favorite novels (The Dogs of War, The Road to Gondolfo, Brigadier Gerard, The Great Train Robbery) when I realized that there was one that I can't remember the title of. Its about this Russian/Georgian (I can't remember which) General who wants to take control of the country and so hires an assassin to kill to kill the current president. The books follows the assassin as he moves from country to country, collecting equipment to do his job, as well as the interpol agent who is tracking him. Can anyone tell me the name of the book?
Thanks

EDIT: I remembered now, the name was The Day of the Jackal. The people weren't Georgian/Russian, they were French.

by **Minute** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:41 am UTC

So, I was thinking about some of the first books I read as a kid, and one of the ones I remember the most clearly, I can't remember the title of! (this is either a YA or children's book)

It was about this girl who lived on a planet. Both her parents had been killed and she lived with a sort of "nanny" but he was male. One day, some immigrants land and her caregiver makes her wear some weird suit to go and meet them. Blah blah blah. She ends up liking this one boy from the immigrants and shows him her favorite place. She like runs up to the place and he's having a hard time with it even though he isn't in bad shape.

Anyways something happens and he sees her without her suit on and realizes that she isn't like them. (he maybe tries to kill her accidentally on purpose or he has just fallen or something like that). She doesn't realize what's wrong and then finds out that her caregiver has "modified" her to make it easier for her to live on the planet. I think she pretty much stays out of the immigrants' society after that.

Sorry I couldn't help anyone else

by **Jorpho** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:10 am UTC

My thought process:

Hmm, high-concept YA science fiction?
Sounds like something by whatshername, Monica Hughes.
What was that book she wrote again? The Keeper of the Isis Light?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeper_of_the_Isis_Light
Bingo.

Never actually read that one, but I read a lot of her other stuff. Actually, it's terribly dry for the most part, despite being well-written.

by **Luthen** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:52 am UTC

I'm looking for a book (no duh).

The main character joins a old boarding school (I'm not quite sure about that anymore), and two of the staff think he's the chosen one the save the world where they're from. Their names are puns on Cat and Dog. Much roof climbing occurs. Anyway the main character runs away from school (I think the headmaster is the villian) with a girl called Seal.

Spoilered the rest of the plot:

Spoiler:

by **Minute** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:04 pm UTC

Jorpho wrote:My thought process:

Hmm, high-concept YA science fiction?
Sounds like something by whatshername, Monica Hughes.
What was that book she wrote again? The Keeper of the Isis Light?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeper_of_the_Isis_Light
Bingo.

Never actually read that one, but I read a lot of her other stuff. Actually, it's terribly dry for the most part, despite being well-written.

I'm pretty sure that's it exactly, Jorpho! Thanks!

by **Angua** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:45 pm UTC

Ok, so two scifi books, and from what I can remember of the style, probably 70's.

In the first one mankind has been enslaved by these beings who come in as gods and I think they were blue and plasma looking. Some people have psychic powers and form this underground movement to try to revolt. Earth is very dry because (you find out) that the plasma beings were stealing the water for energy (and also taking loads of humans for life force at a time telling them that they were for colonising other planets). One guy accidentally teleports himself to some other planet and meets people like aliens, and saves one (I think a girl) from a plasma being feeding off her. In the end you find out that the plasma beings where from some other universe that was basically one big plasma brain.

In the second one, there is this boy who isn't really human, he has these golden tentacles on his forehead, and his race get supersmart after their 14th birthday and also telepathic. They had weird internal organ structure too I think. However, his race is pretty much killed on sight by humans and the dictatorship. The dictator has a female one of them as his ward. She finds it weird that she can't hear the dictator's thoughts. The boy finds out that their are others like him without the tentacles, who hate the ones with the tentacles and are incidentally forming their own colony on Mars. He makes a super-lab under a mountain somewhere, ends up going to the Martian colony to find out what they're up to, and then finds out that the dictator is also one of them, but he has normal organ structure as his genes had been manipulated to make him appear human. YOu then find out that they are the natural evolution of the human race.

by **JayDee** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:00 am UTC

Angua wrote:In the first one mankind has been enslaved by these beings who come in as gods and I think they were blue and plasma looking. Some people have psychic powers and form this underground movement to try to revolt. Earth is very dry because (you find out) that the plasma beings were stealing the water for energy (and also taking loads of humans for life force at a time telling them that they were for colonising other planets). One guy accidentally teleports himself to some other planet and meets people like aliens, and saves one (I think a girl) from a plasma being feeding off her. In the end you find out that the plasma beings where from some other universe that was basically one big plasma brain.

If you replace 'plasma' with 'tanning bed' that is exactly like a dream I once had. [/not helpful] Sorry.

by **Angua** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:28 am UTC

I'm dreading the day when we get tanning bed overlords.

by **wishiwasabear** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:31 am UTC

NOT Steve wrote:I really need you guys to help me with this one. I read some softcover book a few years ago. I recall that it was set in Medieval times and may have been centered around some book that guides you on how to become a hero or a knight, and the guide is mentioned in the title. Also it was very funny, I think. The evil person in the book had a castle with some large air duct that actually had a sign that said it was a way to sneak in, but it was a trap. Also, the main character got lost in the castle and eventually made it to the gift shop. If any of you manages to find this obscure book, then you will receive 1.73*10^5 brownie points.

Don't know if anybody's found this yet, but I think it's Heroics for Beginners, by John Moore.

by **Quenouille** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:22 pm UTC

A shortstory I remember reading:

It was about a country of thieves, where everyone would perform thievery unto each other. Friends were thieves, lawyers were thieves, and the State the biggest thief of all. Neighbours would go out at night, every night, and steal from their neighbour's house to the right, while their neighbours to the left performed burglary on theirs. This insured a cycling of goods throughout society and everyone lived in relative equality.

One day, a honest-to-god man moved in the country, and slept home every night. He believed in honesty and lived humbly. His neighbour to the right soon started accumulating wealth, seeing as his home was left unvandalized every night. His neighbour to the left, on the second night, happened on an empty home, and returned without goods. The man soon died of hunger, and so did his neighbour to the left, and his in return, and so on, while at the other end of the spectrum wealth poored into the pockets of a few.

I don't remember if this is supposed to be read tongue-in-cheek or not, which is why I would love to reread the original version. Have any of you ever heard of it?

by **NexAdvenio** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:59 am UTC

I read a book quite some time ago that i've been searching for lately. The book was about a character named Sarah and the line "Osio" held alot of significance in the book. This was the word used to communicate from a Cherokee spirit to Sarah. In http://www.xkcd.com/84/ a reference is made to the word "Osio"

The book was not written by a very well known author, but it was incredible and I'd love to read it again. If anyone knows the title of the book I'm talking about, please let me know.

A little more book info:
The book is about an evil spirit that is escaping from a cherokee burial ground. Towards the end, the evil spirit comes out in a massive form and comes just that close to raping the main character. That should be enough to help anyone who knows the book to recognize it.

The reference in xkcd 84 may have nothing with the book, but hey, it never hurts to try right?

by **Klapaucius** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:04 am UTC

NexAdvenio wrote:I read a book quite some time ago that i've been searching for lately. The book was about a character named Sarah and the line "Osio" held alot of significance in the book. This was the word used to communicate from a Cherokee spirit to Sarah. In http://www.xkcd.com/84/ a reference is made to the word "Osio"

The book was not written by a very well known author, but it was incredible and I'd love to read it again. If anyone knows the title of the book I'm talking about, please let me know.

A little more book info:
The book is about an evil spirit that is escaping from a cherokee burial ground. Towards the end, the evil spirit comes out in a massive form and comes just that close to raping the main character. That should be enough to help anyone who knows the book to recognize it.

The reference in xkcd 84 may have nothing with the book, but hey, it never hurts to try right?

Yeah, she was just speaking Cherokee; it's probably a common word in the language. "I am", maybe.

by **Cleverdan22** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:59 am UTC

Yeah, but the girl said Sarah as well. I think Nex nailed it.

by **Belial** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:06 am UTC

Not to complicate the speculation, but Randy had a girlfriend named Sarah not so long ago.

by **mikek** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:51 pm UTC

It means "Hello, my name is Sarah". I don't think it's related to your book.

by **wishiwasabear** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:32 am UTC

Hey, so I have recently recovered a fragment of a short story I read once and I can't for the life of me remember any other details. I'm relying on you guys to help me out here. It was about a man, who took a job as a tutor. This was set in some Victorian-like era, and I think it was in Britain. The job is at an old manor in the countryside, belonging, I believe, to a wealthy but eccentric/depopulataed(?) family. It's fallen into some disrepair, though. I seem to recall weather playing a large part - cold, windy, and rainy and something about a long stone court, reminiscent of ruins(Greco-Roman?). The man is tutoring a boy, but there may have been a sister present. The parents were absent, maybe dead. The boy is fairly young when he first arrives. This man lives there and tutors him, but doesn't get too attached - it is just a job, and for some reason he doesn't want to get involved, because a tragic fate is inevitable for the boy - I don't remember if it was something related to the family specifically, or the man, or just the general malaise of the human condition. But this man finishes the job(?) and leaves. The boy, grown now, approaches him, hoping, I think, to live with him/sponge off him while he goes to Eton or one of those schools. The family won't support him for some reason, and he's hoping the tutor can help him make it work. However, the tutor is surprised at his request, since he was never especially attached to the boy, and I think he gives the boy some spiel about how he can barely take care of himself - older single guy, living on a pretty small salary - and the infeasability of the whole situation. I think it ended there. I feel like this was something I read for school, or in a collection of short stories.

by **chiefdom** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:37 am UTC

G'day all, I am new to this, so I won't waste time. I am looking for the name of an Australian novelist, who wrote about a guy (a cop) who gets beaten up by a gang of skinheads, in which his gay friend is killed. What follows is that after the severe beating, he finds out that his brain is different, i.e. he has faster reflexes and thought. He then trains himself to go after the gang of skinheads, and gradually each night he goes out to seek revenge. He eventually becomes like an animal and killing is like second nature to him and after sometime the cops are on his trail. The story ends tragically with his death in the end, but not before he gets to kill each member of the gang of skinheads. Anyway ... I've been trying to search for this particular novel and its author. It was written during the 90's (and I think the novelist is popular amongst teenage readers). Can anyone help?

by **eekmeep** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:03 am UTC

no-genius wrote:I dunno if there's already a topic for this sort of thing... (Edit: Thankyou lovely mods!)

I saw a book once that was called something like 'the architect' or 'the carpenter'. The description was about a guy who comes to work on a project, but he doesn't know what it is, or anything about it. And then I forget what it was called, and who wrote it. Damn, that book looked interesting too...

This may be too late to help (and probably doesn't, anyway), but to me, it sounded like "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain.

The Vonnegut short story, "Harrison Bergeron" - thank you! Has been bugging me for years.

Now my question: all I know is the opening line is, "It was a jump-rope day." My dad told me about it when I was really little, so in maybe 1980, and he didn't remember the title well even at that point.

by **Bobber** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:25 pm UTC

I dimly remember reading a short story a few years back. I was somewhere between 8 and 25 pages, and was about a guy, famous for his ability to escape prisons, that was put in the country's most high-security prison. It might have been a bet with the warden to escape. He ended up escaping anyway - something about using thread from his clothes to make a tiny rope which he led through a ventilation duct and somehow got a message written on some cloth from his underwear out to a boy who tied tools to the string that he could pull back in. It took him a really long time, if I recall correctly.

As for who wrote the story, I'm not sure at all, but for some reason I'm thinking that it could be Jules Verne, although I don't know why. In any case, I remember both from the writing style and technology employed that it's not written in modern times, but probably between one and two hundred years ago.

I, sadly, cannot remember any names in the story - not of the protagonist, the warden nor the name of the prison itself.
I hope that the well read population of this forum can help me, since I would really like reading this story again - thank you in advance!

EDIT: Thanks for merging! Sorry for not searching.

by **Grop** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:17 am UTC

Angua wrote:In the second one, there is this boy who isn't really human, he has these golden tentacles on his forehead, and his race get supersmart after their 14th birthday and also telepathic. They had weird internal organ structure too I think. However, his race is pretty much killed on sight by humans and the dictatorship. The dictator has a female one of them as his ward. She finds it weird that she can't hear the dictator's thoughts. The boy finds out that their are others like him without the tentacles, who hate the ones with the tentacles and are incidentally forming their own colony on Mars. He makes a super-lab under a mountain somewhere, ends up going to the Martian colony to find out what they're up to, and then finds out that the dictator is also one of them, but he has normal organ structure as his genes had been manipulated to make him appear human. YOu then find out that they are the natural evolution of the human race.

I think it could be Slan, by Van Vogt.

by **Clockwork_Golem** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:13 pm UTC

I've been trying to find a book that I read in either '98 or '99 although it was a library book so that mightn't mean much. Fairly standard fantasy setting, medieval period with sorcery kind of thing. From what I can remember the tone was quite serious as well.

The main character (or one of them at least) was female and the main villain was a king who had linked his life to the lives of a slave race so that any injury he receives is divided amongst them. At one point the main character manages to stab him but the wound just heals itself as he pulls out the knife, it may or may not have been poisoned but it was still ineffective either way.

That's all I can remember, it just keeps popping up and I can never think of the name.

by **eekmeep** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:22 am UTC

chiefdom wrote:G'day all, I am new to this, so I won't waste time. I am looking for the name of an Australian novelist, who wrote about a guy (a cop) who gets beaten up by a gang of skinheads, in which his gay friend is killed. What follows is that after the severe beating, he finds out that his brain is different, i.e. he has faster reflexes and thought. He then trains himself to go after the gang of skinheads, and gradually each night he goes out to seek revenge. He eventually becomes like an animal and killing is like second nature to him and after sometime the cops are on his trail. The story ends tragically with his death in the end, but not before he gets to kill each member of the gang of skinheads. Anyway ... I've been trying to search for this particular novel and its author. It was written during the 90's (and I think the novelist is popular amongst teenage readers). Can anyone help?

Recommend you post this over in "Books you remember reading" thread ... good luck!And this is why the Report Button (that little Exclamation Point button.. looks like this [!]... was invented. - ST

by **Nexan** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:05 am UTC

Okay, so I've got two books that I read a very long time ago that I've tried to find again with no success. They'd probably be considered young adult fiction, I think I read them both around 1998-2000, though they were from my school library, so who knows how old they were.

The first takes place on a planet covered with ocean, with a number of floating cities. I'm pretty sure each of the cities produces some unique resource; one is the only place to get apples, one the only place with sheep, etc. There are also pirates, and I believe the story starts with the main character's city being attacked, resulting in him (her?) joining up with the pirates. I have no idea what the story is actually about.

The other is an alternate history wherein the Plague kills off a lot more Europeans (maybe almost all), which results in the Americas not being discovered by Europeans. The story takes place in the Aztec (Inca?) empire, which is much more advanced than is historically the case; I remember there being steam-powered cars. That's all I can seem to remember about that one; sorry it's not much to go on.

Anyone else remember these or did I just make them up?

by **Elvish Pillager** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:32 pm UTC

I'm looking for a book that I find memorable because it was one of the first books I remember reading without a happy ending. The main characters were a bunch of boys during the London blitz, who fought off-and-on against a quasi-gang of other boys. One of them was called Peter; he had a gun (which was more symbolic than anything), and near the end, he was killed by a bomb. The 'enemy gang' guys stole his gun sometime in the middle of the book, and returned it as a memento after he died.

Did anyone else read this? I think it was in the library of the middle school I went to...

by **Babam** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:13 pm UTC

There's this book I've been looking for, it was kind of a I spy thing or something, and it was two kids and they were traveling through a world of horror or something like that, and at the bottom it had a bunch of stuff for you to find and it was really cool. I can't remember the name at all sadly. Help?

by **Jorpho** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:14 am UTC

Babamthegrunt wrote:There's this book I've been looking for, it was kind of a I spy thing or something, and it was two kids and they were traveling through a world of horror or something like that, and at the bottom it had a bunch of stuff for you to find and it was really cool. I can't remember the name at all sadly. Help?

I reckon it could be one of the Usborne Puzzle Adventures, which were pretty kickass. The Wikipedia article doesn't have any pictures, but try googling the titles and see if anything rings a bell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usborne_Pu ... ure_series

by **Babam** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:04 am UTC

Jorpho wrote:
Babamthegrunt wrote:There's this book I've been looking for, it was kind of a I spy thing or something, and it was two kids and they were traveling through a world of horror or something like that, and at the bottom it had a bunch of stuff for you to find and it was really cool. I can't remember the name at all sadly. Help?
I reckon it could be one of the Usborne Puzzle Adventures, which were pretty kickass. The Wikipedia article doesn't have any pictures, but try googling the titles and see if anything rings a bell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usborne_Pu ... ure_series

Nope not it, The book was fairly larger than normal, and was hardcover.

by **BlackSails** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:38 am UTC

Im looking for a sci fi story where humanity is pretty advanced (fusion power and stuff), and discover interstellar travel.

They find out though, that a few simple experiments back in the 1700s or so would have gotten them interstellar travel, and the aliens fight in bronze or iron space ships, and when they land, they gallop out on alien horses with bows and spears.

by **annals** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:47 am UTC

BlackSails: The Road Not Taken, by Harry Turtledove

Elvish Pillager: Dawn of Fear, by Susan Cooper

Nexan: second one could be Aztec Century, by C.D Evans

Hooray for Google and insomnia.

by **Nexan** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:08 pm UTC

annals wrote:Nexan: second one could be Aztec Century, by C.D Evans

You know, I think that may be it! Thanks, annals!

by **Elvish Pillager** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:28 pm UTC

annals wrote:Hooray for Google and insomnia.

Thanks! But what search terms did you use? I tried everything I could think of...

by **annals** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:32 am UTC

Yeah, it was pretty well hidden, but I eventually found it with this search. It was referenced inside the 'Dictionary of Children's Fiction' book.

by **BlackSails** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:05 pm UTC

annals wrote:BlackSails: The Road Not Taken, by Harry Turtledove

Elvish Pillager: Dawn of Fear, by Susan Cooper

Nexan: second one could be Aztec Century, by C.D Evans

Hooray for Google and insomnia.

Thanks!

by **Bobber** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 8:41 am UTC

Nexan wrote:The other is an alternate history wherein the Plague kills off a lot more Europeans (maybe almost all), which results in the Americas not being discovered by Europeans. The story takes place in the Aztec (Inca?) empire, which is much more advanced than is historically the case; I remember there being steam-powered cars. That's all I can seem to remember about that one; sorry it's not much to go on.

This book, The Years of Rice and Salt, was actually mentioned in the Alternate History thread a while ago, which led to me buying it!

by **xmix** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:17 am UTC

Quenouille the story about the honest man amongst thieves is Black Sheep by Italo Calvino

by **Nexan** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:54 am UTC

Bobber wrote:
Nexan wrote:The other is an alternate history wherein the Plague kills off a lot more Europeans (maybe almost all), which results in the Americas not being discovered by Europeans. The story takes place in the Aztec (Inca?) empire, which is much more advanced than is historically the case; I remember there being steam-powered cars. That's all I can seem to remember about that one; sorry it's not much to go on.
This book, The Years of Rice and Salt, was actually mentioned in the Alternate History thread a while ago, which led to me buying it!

Actually, I think annals did have it right before (the book I had in mind was nowhere near as epic in scope), but now I'm keeping an eye out for that one, too!

by **Bobber** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:51 pm UTC

Nexan wrote:
Bobber wrote:
Nexan wrote:The other is an alternate history wherein the Plague kills off a lot more Europeans (maybe almost all), which results in the Americas not being discovered by Europeans. The story takes place in the Aztec (Inca?) empire, which is much more advanced than is historically the case; I remember there being steam-powered cars. That's all I can seem to remember about that one; sorry it's not much to go on.
This book, The Years of Rice and Salt, was actually mentioned in the Alternate History thread a while ago, which led to me buying it!

Actually, I think annals did have it right before (the book I had in mind was nowhere near as epic in scope), but now I'm keeping an eye out for that one, too!

Wow, it seems like I read the first part about the plague killing off the Europeans and the Americas not being discovered by them, and completely disregarded the remainder of the post. The book is indeed not The Years of Rice and Salt - thanks for pointing out my error.

by **cephalopod9** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:38 pm UTC

I don't actually know what medium this came into my brain through. I think it was a short story in a short story anthology (in which case it is probably on my bookshelf at home), but it could also be something like a Readers Digest article, an NPR segment, or something from the internet.
The part I remember is this guy talking about the sort of potential in people exchanging skills, like, someone who spent years learning wood carving could trade with a concert violinist...
There were computers involved, I think.

That's really all I can pin down. I could probably guess more, but I think it would make me more confused and frustrated.

by **Babam** » Tue May 05, 2009 5:24 am UTC

Any one else have any idea about that book I talked about?

by **Angua** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:30 pm UTC

Grop wrote:
Angua wrote:In the second one, there is this boy who isn't really human, he has these golden tentacles on his forehead, and his race get supersmart after their 14th birthday and also telepathic. They had weird internal organ structure too I think. However, his race is pretty much killed on sight by humans and the dictatorship. The dictator has a female one of them as his ward. She finds it weird that she can't hear the dictator's thoughts. The boy finds out that their are others like him without the tentacles, who hate the ones with the tentacles and are incidentally forming their own colony on Mars. He makes a super-lab under a mountain somewhere, ends up going to the Martian colony to find out what they're up to, and then finds out that the dictator is also one of them, but he has normal organ structure as his genes had been manipulated to make him appear human. YOu then find out that they are the natural evolution of the human race.

I think it could be Slan, by Van Vogt.

That was it, thanks

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