I read this sometime in the 80s. It was a chapter book, just shy of YA. And it's title was something like "The 45th Thing I Love About Amelia" or "The 45th Best Thing I Love About Anastasia" (wrong number, wrong name). Oh, and at the end, the mom opens a closet door and there's a dead dog inside or something.
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posted by hmo
on May 20, 2013 -
2 answers
I read this book once, but I'm really fuzzy on the details. It's about a guy who has a mediocre job at some company and messes up. Rather than getting fired, he gets a job offer with the same company at a very high level and is asked to carry out some shady assignment there.
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posted by Ms. Next
on Apr 28, 2013 -
3 answers
BookFilter: The sketchy detail kind. This is about a young adult novel, available by the early 80s, set among a family of artists or writers in, I think, New York City.
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posted by Miko
on Dec 6, 2012 -
5 answers
What's the name of the book where the main character is a swordsman who has sword tattoos on his eyelids?
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posted by zinon
on Oct 27, 2012 -
6 answers
Students of art, lovers of philosophy, can you recommend a book I can buy as a gift for a friend?
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posted by Chichibio
on Jul 25, 2012 -
17 answers
What are the best books about heroic con artists? Nonfiction (
Schindler's List) or fiction (
Going Postal) are both fine.
posted by Sticherbeast
on May 31, 2012 -
15 answers
Please recommend some non-fiction books about Philippines, and fiction set in Philippines.
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posted by vidur
on Apr 17, 2012 -
14 answers
What's this Sci-Fi short story? A scientist working on gender selection technology is contacted by future potential outcomes of his work (a male-dominated world and a woman-dominated world) that end up corresponding to the woman he marries.
posted by ropeladder
on Feb 17, 2012 -
4 answers
BookFilter: I am hoping the hivemind can help me find a noirish thriller/detective-ish novel I read more than a decade ago about a socially awkward killer and his hot semi-girlfriend.
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posted by Forktine
on Nov 29, 2011 -
5 answers
Bookfilter: Books where protagonists are transformed into animals/aliens/etc for extended periods?
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posted by solarion
on Nov 10, 2011 -
29 answers
Book-Filter! I'm trying to find the name of a book about love / relationships that I only heard about on an NPR interview. The book was written out in "a is for," "b is for" alphabet style talking about dark (the excerpt he read was very dark) and light parts of relationships, sex and love.
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posted by stratastar
on Aug 19, 2011 -
2 answers
Bookfilter: I'm looking for authors (and especially short story collections) in the vein of Italo Calvino, Etgar Keret, and Haruki Murakami - playful, slightly absurd, and a little bit surreal.
posted by devilsbrigade
on Apr 3, 2011 -
32 answers
BookFilter: Help me find this formative (but possibly terrible) 1970s sci-fi book I read in my youth!
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posted by rednikki
on Mar 5, 2011 -
3 answers
Bookfilter: I want to read books that are similar to "Saturn is almost invisible" by Vasily Ardamatsky.
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posted by vidur
on Feb 16, 2011 -
4 answers
Bookfilter: I need new stuff to read! Really enjoy fantasy where the hero is female.. bonus points if she's conflicted in some way.
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posted by royalsong
on Feb 16, 2011 -
68 answers
Random 70's SciFi Bookfilter: Mid to late 70's science fiction short story collection, lots of cool ship art, and one story in particular about two individuals hunting each other, one using all the latest tech, and his opponent taking a more primative approach. Story ends: "And the laser hummed and cut him in half." Ring any bells with any one?
posted by HannoverFist
on Feb 14, 2011 -
4 answers
Bookfilter: A particular young adult novel about a girl meeting new people and not settling for first love (similar to "Forever"). Help me find it!
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posted by audacity
on Jan 26, 2011 -
14 answers
Can't-remember-book-filter: I read a preview in the back of another book but I can't remember the title or author of either one...
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posted by yggdrasil
on Dec 16, 2010 -
6 answers
[bookfilter] Help me remember this non fiction book I read as a teenager about "mind power" (if I remember correctly)
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posted by patheral
on Sep 21, 2010 -
5 answers
Another request for book recommendations. My snowflakeness? After years of not having a huge reading appetite, I think I understand that I really dig
postmodern writing.
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posted by fontophilic
on Jul 22, 2010 -
42 answers
I'm looking for a book I read a long time ago. It was set in some hilly country, quite cold, somewhere like Iceland. A boy working on his farm developed some sort of need for a quest (but I have no idea what this actually was). He had a 'typically' Viking name, and there was a girl involved, physical but seeming quite ethereal. Possibly they were somehow married (though they were—I don't know, but less than twelve, so when I say 'married' I mean one of those close friendships characters in children's books have with destined soulmates). Things I seem to remember but may be mixing up with other books: a sword, longships arriving (the settlers were Viking too).
There were gods around, because Loki was quite prominently featured in the story while the boy was questing alone. I think this quest had a fairly pathetic basis, and that's one of the things that made the story interesting.
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posted by westerly
on Jun 20, 2010 -
10 answers
Looking for a reading list of things that will make me productively uncomfortable. (tl;dr inside)
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posted by Nonce
on Jan 20, 2010 -
59 answers
Bookhunt: What's the name of a sci-fi novel involving giant engines forming in a ring shape around the Earth? I seem to remember the title being a word with four letters in it.
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posted by CrystalDave
on Dec 1, 2009 -
6 answers
YAWTBF (Yet Another "What's That Book?" Filter): I'm trying to find a book that I loved as a child (early '80s). The book was written from the perspective of a garter snake as he slithered around a little chunk of wilderness bordered by a road.
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posted by 256
on Nov 2, 2009 -
2 answers
I'm trying to remember the title and author of a young adult sci-fi novel from the early '90s (or earlier) with a character named Alana (or Alanna) and a boy who gets taken to another world. Help!
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posted by ilana
on Sep 17, 2009 -
1 answer
Yet-Another-Bookfilter - I'm trying to find an 80s-ish sci-fi book that I want to think was called "The War of Forgetting".
The premise was something along the lines of: two warring factions get devices, described as "battery powered, about the size of a pocket calculator, with three antennae" which can take large cubic sections of space ( hundreds of feet on a side ) and "store" them in the device, removing them from our reality.
The problem is that when something is removed, people's memories of the area/thing are removed as well - so everyone forgets what was removed and why.
Later in the book, as reality gets more swiss-cheesed, people try randomly restoring these blocks and the results aren't pretty.
I've been trying to find this book off and on for years, now I come to you good folk for help.
Yes, it's somewhat ironic that I can't remember the title. :-)
posted by HannoverFist
on Aug 25, 2009 -
9 answers
[Bookfilter] Help me find a book from my sister-in-law's childhood about a princess called fenella.
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posted by hmca
on Jul 21, 2009 -
7 answers
For years, my mom has been talking about tracking down a children's book she remembers reading in the 50's. She swears it's part of the Little Golden Books series, and it tells the story of a town that feeds a snowman ice cream until he explodes, causing the town to be blanketed with ice cream. Does this ring any bells?
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posted by Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld
on Jul 7, 2009 -
4 answers
Book Filter: Help me identify the book about a con man or hustler that my friend's husband heard about on the radio recently
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posted by gemmy
on Dec 10, 2008 -
13 answers
BookFilter: My reading list is getting very short and I'm looking to the hivemind to help me queue up a few more books to get me by.
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posted by wavering
on Aug 27, 2008 -
32 answers
BookFilter: I read a story a long time ago about a sort of near-future sci-fi-ish setting where all human beings in the world were rendered sterile thanks to a man-made virus, but I can't remember what it was called. Help!
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posted by Xany
on Aug 16, 2008 -
23 answers
Kids' book filter: Two sisters, possibly twins, one a brunette named Natalie but known as Tilly, English, involves going to stay in the country and horses, most likely published in the early-mid 80s (when I read it), possibly a trilogy or a series. Any help with the title or author would much appreciated!
posted by goo
on Jul 14, 2008 -
6 answers
Bookfilter: I remember a kid being misled into thinking you're a robot (or some kind of cyborg) if it hurts when you chew on tinfoil. There's
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posted by shownomercy
on Oct 17, 2006 -
1 answer
BookFilter: I'm looking for a book with a sort of Lovecraftian tone, than I remember being called "The Man with the Staff of Light", except it sounded cooler than that does. It involved a traveller in the
Wandering Jew archetype whose distinguishing feature is his glowing staff, and who seems to act as a witness to the decay of all around him.
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posted by scrim
on Apr 19, 2005 -
2 answers
AnotherLostChildren'sBookFilter
I am looking for two children's books by the same author. One is about a carved wooden indian in a canoe that makes an amazing journey. The other is about a hermit crab as it makes its way through various new shells. My 3rd grade teacher read them to us, and I loved them, but I can't remember anything useful like author or title. Thanks!
posted by omphale27
on Dec 31, 2004 -
8 answers
Bookfilter: It's the day after the end of the world. What book and or books would you want to be able to rebuild? You know, if you want to be able to hunt, plant crops, make clothes, make tools, etc. How does the well educated gentleman prepare for the Apocalypse, practically? Other than the Foxfire books, what should I buy?
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posted by geekhorde
on Sep 27, 2004 -
20 answers
Bookfilter: Trying to find the title of a book I read about / was told about. I recall it being explained as a large number of short stories ('26' sticks in my brain), each written from the perspective of a different passenger in a train / subway car. That's all I've got.
posted by adamkempa
on May 26, 2004 -
4 answers
My niece just called and asked about a book. Her description didn't strike any chords, so I thought I'd try the denizens of AskMe.
The theme is a future where noone has a name, only a number. Noone thinks in terms of individuality, and terms like "I" and "me" are not used. The protagonist of the book meets someone who is not bound by those strictures and learns to think like an individual. The last line of the book is something along the lines of "I am" or "I am (somename)".
Ring a bell with anyone?
posted by joaquim
on Jan 9, 2004 -
22 answers
