Have you ever thought back to memories of a book you once read but can't for the life of you recall the title or author?
Post your fragmented memories here and let's try to help each other remember!
I'll start with one: In my early teens, I read a fantasy epic in which the protagonist had a magic ring (no, not that one) that designated him as the leader of a group of others, each of whom had one ring that had powers of a different element or theme. No, not Captain Planet either. There were other groups of similarly empowered individuals in the world with their rings. I recall that the rings could not be removed except upon death, so traditionally they would be handed from grandparent to grandchild. Dang, my memory of this thing is vague. Can anyone tell me what it might be?
I think at some point the protagonist subsumed the powers of the other rings into his or something for some reason. Maybe?
Don't think I can help you there, not sounding familiar.
I do have one of my own, though.
Also in my early teens, I read a sci fi (not sure if it was a novel or a short story) written from the point of view of a robot. This robot wanted freedom, and really wanted to see in color. He was outfitted with old optics that only let him see in black and white.
May I offer a few suggestions? First, people generally don't know how old you are, so "in my early teens" or "as a kid" isn't very helpful. Maybe instead you could give an approximate year range.
Another suggestion is to try whatsthatbook.com. Most of the questions there don't get answered, but some do.
Anyway, over three years ago, I asked one such question on these boards, and on whatsthatbook.com, and didn't find out what the book was. Maybe the time is ripe to try again. Here goes...
I read a juvenile fiction book in the late 70s (or possibly early 80s?) about a girl who read a diary her aunt had kept when SHE was a young girl. This aunt had believed in magic, and thought that her ring (which the niece also found) was cursed. Every time something terrible happened, the aunt thought that the ring had done it, and she was going paranoid.
In the present, when the niece asked the aunt about the ring, the aunt had no memory of it. Determined to learn the truth, the niece, at an emotional moment, told the ring to kill a bird belonging to an old man she had recently met. She immediately regretted her action, and felt frightened all night. The climax was when she visited the old man, and found out that the bird was fine; the whole curse was just the product of the aunt's imagination.
There is a book I remember reading as a kid. The main character was a rat detective. I think it was set in New York. I believe the main character was named after a cheese.
I might think of the "Basil of Baker Street" books, except that you mention New York. I might think of the Geronimo Stilton books... if I thought that you might have been "a kid" in 2004, when the books first got translated into English. (Again, a year range would be more helpful than a description of your age.)
So, I'm reasonably certain the book I read was Runaway Robot by Lester Del Ray. Now to find a copy ;)
The groups of people with elemental powers reminds me of the Blending series, but I'm not sure I remember rings, so maybe not.
Just the kind of thread I've been looking for.
Read this book in about 5th grade about circuit outer space racing. The book was a lot older than me. Prob from the 70s. I'm almost positive it was penned by a fairly prolific sci-fi writer.
What I seem to recall is that the circuits had 'short cuts' you could opt to take but they were extremely dangerous. Seems like complex math was involved.
Was a really fun book to read way back when, I would love to revisit it if I could for the life of me remember who wrote it and what it was called.
I didn't mean early teens to mean anything in terms of the book's publication era. I have no idea how old it is, only that it's at least 15ish years old.
So, I'm reasonably certain the book I read was Runaway Robot by Lester Del Ray. Now to find a copy ;)
Runaway Robot sounds right. Square heads, slinky steel arms. And he learned how to change his own battery.
I remember that story. Been awhile. Right there with Rip Foster, Ride the Grey Planet in fond memories of old Sci Fi...and the old Tom Swift and his Triphibian Atomicar and that series!
==Aelryinth
Okay, here's one that's been bothering me for the past few years ever since remotely-piloted drone aircraft entered the news...
When I was a kid, I remember reading a book I'd checked out of the library that, looking back, seems to have predicted both virtual reality and small, remotely-piloted aircraft. I'm not sure if this book really exists, or if I'd made it up. I would have read the book in the late 1970s, and if I'm recalling the art correctly, it was probably published in the some time between the mid-1960s and the early '70s. And, since I do remember it having illustrations, it must have been for the "older kids" market.
Anyway, the book was about a high school aged boy who had an uncle that was an eccentric inventor of weird gadgets. The uncle had invented a robotic dragonfly that was a little larger than a real one, which could fly, and had video cameras in its eyes. The dragonfly could be piloted by using a set of controls set into an immovable desk. The video from the dragonfly was displayed on a screen inside a helmet that you could wear, so it seemed like you were looking through the robot's eyes.
I don't really remember the plot of the book, other than the kid "borrowed" the invention and used it to get himself into, then out of some kind of trouble, and that there was some kind of military guy that was interested in acquiring the device for the army. I do remember reading and re-reading the passages about how the thing worked and how it felt to be piloting it.
The book may have been one in a series, but I don't remember much else.
Anyone have any idea on that?
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That one was part of a series. Pretty sure the name of the kid was Danny, he had a geek friend guy and a neighbor girl friend. Remember that book because he landed the dragonfly on the neighborhood bully and made him strike out by yelling "SWING!" into his ear while he was playing baseball.
I also remember them going to Africa and eating with their hand because the native told them they didn't know if a spoon was clean, and one of the characters remarked that his mom said the same thing about his hand.
Danny Small? It's been a long time since that series...can't remember.
==Aelryinth
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_Danny_Dunn,_Invisible_Boy_ (book 13 of the "Danny Dunn" series)
Hah, I got the Danny right!
==Aelryinth
I remember once, seeing this woman sing a song in a gold leotard on a piano on Saturday Night Live when I was 8 or 9.
Then a friend of mine played "Man With the Child in His Eyes," by Kate Bush, like 10 years later......
best feeling, man.
The Danny series sounds very familiar.
My problem is a story, likely by Ray Bradbury, written before 1970 about a boy who gets a pair of new sneakers. Best description of new shoes ever and I'd like to read it again. Tried finding it last summer without success at all. Maybe it wasn't Bradbury.
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-Sci-fi
-only published in trade paperback
-early or mid-90s
-cover may have been yellow or gold (main color)
-aliens who traveled or communicated or came out of spheres
-children are the only survivors (maybe post-apocalypse?)
-final character is a female child/pre-teen/young teen?
-child becomes an alien?
Wow! I remember an overall impression of awesome, but I can't remember this novel or its author to save my life (or really anything else about it).
there's also some vague memory of macaroni, but it may be that I was eating macaroni during a really good scene...
Here's one I read in middle-school (so published before 1990):
Set in Vienna sometime after the War.
A girl has to take over running the family because the father is away (possibly divorced/dead), and the mother has caught sick.
She has a younger brother.
Thanks, Aaron! Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy was it! That's been bugging me off-and-on for years!
-Sci-fi
-only published in trade paperback
-early or mid-90s
-cover may have been yellow or gold (main color)
-aliens who traveled or communicated or came out of spheres
-children are the only survivors (maybe post-apocalypse?)
-final character is a female child/pre-teen/young teen?
-child becomes an alien?
It's older that the '90s, but this sounds a lot like Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.
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-Sci-fi
-only published in trade paperback
-early or mid-90s
-cover may have been yellow or gold (main color)
-aliens who traveled or communicated or came out of spheres
-children are the only survivors (maybe post-apocalypse?)
-final character is a female child/pre-teen/young teen?
-child becomes an alien?Wow! I remember an overall impression of awesome, but I can't remember this novel or its author to save my life (or really anything else about it).
there's also some vague memory of macaroni, but it may be that I was eating macaroni during a really good scene...
Still trying to figure out what this book is...
Okay... Once in the early eighties, I read a science fiction short story. I have no memory of the title. It featured a young man who came to another place/time/dimension, and there met a girl named Estyll. He had to ask an old man there the way. He went back, and when he returned, it was as the older man.
I would like to read it again.
-Sci-fi
-only published in trade paperback
-early or mid-90s
-cover may have been yellow or gold (main color)
-aliens who traveled or communicated or came out of spheres
-children are the only survivors (maybe post-apocalypse?)
-final character is a female child/pre-teen/young teen?
-child becomes an alien?Wow! I remember an overall impression of awesome, but I can't remember this novel or its author to save my life (or really anything else about it).
If it wasn't Childhood's End (like I suggested two years ago), it also sounds vaguely like one of the Xenogenesis novels by Octavia Butler.
There was a book I read (science fiction) that may have been the third in a trilogy (I missed the first two). It featured a guy who for some reason or another needed to (tame? civilize?) a band of barbarians(mongols/tribal/whatever) on another planet, he takes a tribe of (humans?) who are friends to him from a different planet (this planet apparently features strong gravity and massive insects that frequently attack and kill people, due to the strong gravity the people are also naturally strong) and brings them to this one. The guys dress up as barbarians and pretend to have their own tribe. Eventually the native tribe start adopting much of the newer folk's ways and their own (violent?) ways dissolve (which was the intent).
The vibe you describe reminds me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series from the early 20th century. I only read the first one, A Princess of Mars, but there were a lot of books in that series.
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There was a book I read (science fiction) that may have been the third in a trilogy (I missed the first two). It featured a guy who for some reason or another needed to (tame? civilize?) a band of barbarians(mongols/tribal/whatever) on another planet, he takes a tribe of (humans?) who are friends to him from a different planet (this planet apparently features strong gravity and massive insects that frequently attack and kill people, due to the strong gravity the people are also naturally strong) and brings them to this one. The guys dress up as barbarians and pretend to have their own tribe. Eventually the native tribe start adopting much of the newer folk's ways and their own (violent?) ways dissolve (which was the intent).
To me, that sounds like Deathworld 3 by Harry Harrison.
I've got one.
Sci-fi. Life develops, grows, civilization begins, all on the surface of a tiny white dwarf star. Think the creatures were like crystalline plant-animal hybrids or something.
I've got one.
Sci-fi. Life develops, grows, civilization begins, all on the surface of a tiny white dwarf star. Think the creatures were like crystalline plant-animal hybrids or something.
Could it be Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward?
Could it be Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward?I've got one.
Sci-fi. Life develops, grows, civilization begins, all on the surface of a tiny white dwarf star. Think the creatures were like crystalline plant-animal hybrids or something.
Wikipedia says yes! Danke =D
EDIT: And there's apparently a sequel. Did not know this. Will have to look into getting both on Kindle if I can. The book was a lot of fun when I read it back in high school, I recall.
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So, I recall this book that I really loved as an 11 years old. It was about an expedition into an underworld discovered beneath Australia, featuring a female lead character, and an Arab who turned out to be a terrorist. There were gigantic, crocodile like prehistoric monsters, a race of humanoids, and a LOT of action and horror. It sounds awesome and I want to reread it (in English this time!), and maybe even read more books by that author.
I remember a series from the 80s, or maybe 70s, about some kids who built their own spaceship. I think their neighbors were aliens, who lived in houses or observatories that were really disguised giant mushrooms. There might have been a secret hidden moon or counter-earth or something.
"The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet" by Eleanor Cameron, maybe?
Yup!
Thanks!
:-D
Funny, I've read at least 3 of these.
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If it wasn't Childhood's End (like I suggested two years ago), it also sounds vaguely like one of the Xenogenesis novels by Octavia Butler.-Sci-fi
-only published in trade paperback
-early or mid-90s
-cover may have been yellow or gold (main color)
-aliens who traveled or communicated or came out of spheres
-children are the only survivors (maybe post-apocalypse?)
-final character is a female child/pre-teen/young teen?
-child becomes an alien?Wow! I remember an overall impression of awesome, but I can't remember this novel or its author to save my life (or really anything else about it).
Read the Xenogenesis books. The was about the human race being "saved" by aliens by breeding with then. The books are the point of view of 3 different offspring, each of whom is a different gender. This does not sound like the book you are looking for.
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I've been trying to remember the author and title of a short story, without success. The story was published in Omni Magazine in around 1980.
The story's protagonist was named Jerry. He had been convicted of some crime, and his punishment was to be executed in some horrific manner (such as boiling in oil) and then resurrected as a clone who could remember his previous existence right up to the point of death. Then he would be executed again in a different way. I recall a scene in which one of the clones had to fish the pieces of his predecessor out of the oil. His torturers wanted him to confess his guilt, I think. Eventually Jerry refused for so long that he was put into suspended animation and shipped off aboard a colony ship to a distant planet.
As a side note, I had been trying to recall the author and title of a novel for several months, but as I looked at this thread both facts suddenly sprang into my mind like magic: It was 'Blind Voices', by Tom Reamy. :D
Nudging this one because a friend of mine mentioned a book tonight and can't recall the title.
She says the plot mostly focused on a princess who, rather than being kidnapped by a dragon, was turned into the dragon, and proceeded to be hunted by princes and knights as dragons are wont to get.
Predictably, searching for "princess transformed into dragon, wears red dress at wedding" tends to come up with SOIAF links that are pretty useless to us.
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There's a book I read as a kid. It was about this expedition into a newly found underground world beneath Australia. The main protagonist was this scientist woman, I think, but there was a whole crew. They went exploring out of this big base and found living specimen of long extinct species and suchlike, but everything went to hell when one of them was discovered to be a traitor - if memory serves, he was a Muslim working for some terror organization or something. There is an attack by some sort of primeval monster, there are native savage tribes of humans, and a lot of survival stuff like crossing chasms and falling to rivers and so on.
I remember feeling like the book was the awesomest thing since Jurassic Park when I read it, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called.
Any help?
There's a book I read as a kid. It was about this expedition into a newly found underground world beneath Australia. The main protagonist was this scientist woman, I think, but there was a whole crew. They went exploring out of this big base and found living specimen of long extinct species and suchlike, but everything went to hell when one of them was discovered to be a traitor - if memory serves, he was a Muslim working for some terror organization or something. There is an attack by some sort of primeval monster, there are native savage tribes of humans, and a lot of survival stuff like crossing chasms and falling to rivers and so on.
I remember feeling like the book was the awesomest thing since Jurassic Park when I read it, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called.
Any help?
Is it Subterranean by James Rollins?
Series I read in Elementary school I remember being pretty good.
From what I can remember it starts with a kid who's a squire in a castle, some wizard comes ad shows off his magic tricks, and the kid sneaks away and follows him to the magic school, where he learns magic. I remember that near the end of the book there's demons and he fights them and somehow injures his hand (using a staff to close the portal and it burning him severely, as I recall).
The rest of the series is him in his Journeyman phase, and I recall the second book revolving around a knight's tournament and the knights getting their heads turned into animals. I don't remember the rest, but I recall there were at least 5 in the series.
I have been unable to locate the series for years now.
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Is it Subterranean by James Rollins?There's a book I read as a kid. It was about this expedition into a newly found underground world beneath Australia. The main protagonist was this scientist woman, I think, but there was a whole crew. They went exploring out of this big base and found living specimen of long extinct species and suchlike, but everything went to hell when one of them was discovered to be a traitor - if memory serves, he was a Muslim working for some terror organization or something. There is an attack by some sort of primeval monster, there are native savage tribes of humans, and a lot of survival stuff like crossing chasms and falling to rivers and so on.
I remember feeling like the book was the awesomest thing since Jurassic Park when I read it, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called.
Any help?
YES! thanks :D
Series I read in Elementary school I remember being pretty good.
From what I can remember it starts with a kid who's a squire in a castle, some wizard comes ad shows off his magic tricks, and the kid sneaks away and follows him to the magic school, where he learns magic. I remember that near the end of the book there's demons and he fights them and somehow injures his hand (using a staff to close the portal and it burning him severely, as I recall).
The rest of the series is him in his Journeyman phase, and I recall the second book revolving around a knight's tournament and the knights getting their heads turned into animals. I don't remember the rest, but I recall there were at least 5 in the series.
I have been unable to locate the series for years now.
That will be Circle of Magic, I believe. I read that book as a child as well, and when I saw your post I somehow remember that the main character was named Randal, which is how a 20 seconds google search found it. I have no idea why the name is stuck in my head, but seems like it was.
Thank you!
I've looked for it under the "Wizard's Apprentice" title for forever, because I was SURE that was the title, but all that ever came up was Raymond E Feist's Magician's Apprentice book(s).