Random Thoughts

I could have sworn it was W.H. Auden who wrote something to the effect that 'poetry didn't save a single person from the Holocaust' but Google and I are completely drawing a blank, even when I remove his name from the search. Can anyone help???

Hello! I posted about this book a few months back on find_a_book but no luck there. Maybe someone here can help?

I had this book probably about ten years ago. It was fantasy, standard paperback size, about an inch thick. I cannot remember the title or the author, but it was part of a series called something like "Circle of Time" or "Circle in Time." I have searched for this, to no avail. Everything that turns up in search results is either Robert Jordan or new age, and not what I want. I think the author's name might have been Jane something?

The story started with a young woman in the household of her very unpleasant father. They live in a country with a really patriarchal, anti-sex religion which bashes women, so the young woman is basically under her father's heel. She catches the eye of a mercenary-type who is accompanying a merchant and staying at the father's house that night. The mercenary, slightly drunk, offers for the young woman's hand in marriage, and the father consents, since he wants his daughter off his hands. The mercenary is actually quite nice to the young woman, because he comes from another country (an archipelago, as I recall) where their version of the religion celebrates sensuality and holds men and women equal. As soon as the new couple are on the road, the young woman takes advantage of the mercenary getting drunk and runs off, because she's convinced he's as bad as all the other men she knows. But it turns out she has some kind of magic, and the one time they had sex, the magic of both parties combined somehow, so they're connected. The rest of the book is the young woman making her way through the countryside, with the mercenary trying to find her, because he's aware of the connection and thinks it's significant. In the end, the young woman defeats one of the big, bad bishop-types from the patriarchal religion.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'd like to read it again. I can provide more details if anyone wants them, but I think I included the important bits

Looking for a Young Adult book about a boy escaping from East Berlin, probably written in the early sixties.

I thought it was titled simply The Wall, but that has turned up nothing.

Early in the story, the boy's mother dies. (He returns to his home one day to find her lying cold on the sofa, I think.) I don't remember the father being in the picture at all, though the way the story goes, he is/was probably someone important. The boy finds a spot where he digs a hole under the wall at night with the help of a small dog; pretty sure it was a dachshund.

I remember some guards coming near and one of them lighting a cigarette, and "the match flared as bright as a headlight". At least, I'm pretty sure that phrase was in this book. :)

Once he's made it to the other side, he finds a home with a couple who care for him (possibly relatives)--but it turns out he is not safe, as he is being trailed by the KGB who want to capture him and return him to the East.

I really want to read this again, as it is the obvious source of a recurring dream I have of escape and pursuit.

I found it in my junior high library in 1983-85, though I have no idea how old it was then. It was a small paperback with a cover illustration of one or two white unicorns in a dark green tree-filled area. The story culminated with the unicorns missing the deadline to get on Noah's ark, and that's why there aren't any unicorns anymore.

It's not _The Last Unicorn_ by Peter Beagle and yes, it's a lot like the song _The Unicorn_ by the Rovers. The first time I heard the song I remember thinking that the writer must have read this book.

Thanks for you help!

Hi all,

I'm trying to remember the name of a YA Fantasy novel that scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. It was likely written on or before 1995.

Sadly, I can only really remember the scene that scared me: an evil wolf/dog thing jumps on a kid who is lying in bed, and nearly kills him. I believe the dog/wolf is supernatural and from another world or plane of existence. I believe the kids in the story travel to this other plane occasionally, but there is something evil there, and the kids have to hide from it.

This book was a paperback, I got it at Cole's in Canada. I have looked EVERYWHERE for this book, but I have no idea what the title was. I believe the paperback cover was a typical fantasy cover and painted in light/pastel colours, and it wasn't marketed as a "scary" book or anything like that...I was just a wimp. :)

Thanks so much for your help!

We took the dogs on a short test hike up in the hill behind the Loma Linda dog park today. I've acquired several books that list dog friendly hiking trails in SoCal, and they emphasise canine good manners, so we wanted to see how they'd do on trails, as opposed to wide open beach. We started out up the dirt road with the Gentle Leaders on, then let them off the leash and they stayed with us pretty well, stopping to chase the occasional lizard into a bush. But they came when they were called, which was what I was most concerned with.

A lot of it was up hill and I had some trouble getting my breath. I've got a touch of asthma and the smoggy air and dust really set it off. May have to break down and carry an inhaler or something. Maybe have an oxygen tank like old Piney on "Sons of Anarchy."

After a 40 min hike we turned the dogs loose in the big dog enclosure at the dog park, where there were plenty of other dogs to play with, including some very friendly pit bulls, including an adorable black and white pup. That breed is really growing on me. I think they are probably as nice as the people who own them, and most of the ones I've met at the dog park and dog beach have been goofy, playful, friendly characters with good socialization skills. The dogs that is, not the owners. Well, the owner were well socialized. And friendly.

I'm looking for a children's book about the North Pole. It had very beautiful, detailed illustrations. There were some more reindeer in addition to the ones mentioned in the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" song. One of the illustrations showed the reindeer's stables, and the name "Lichen" was on one of the stalls. I had this book when I was kid in the '90s, but I don't know if it was new then.

Found: It's "The Wild Christmas Reindeer" by Jan Brett.

Hi everyone. This is a great community and having to opportunity to try and find some books from my past is awesome. I really hope someone can help me.

The first book was a YA book, or maybe even a children's book that my sister brought him from the library one time. It would have been written in or before the late 90s/early 2000s. I seem to remember the cover having pastel colors and pictures of real girls in hearts. The book was about these three girls who go off to a boarding school and have to room with each other or something like that. And they all disliked each other but ended up becoming friends. I also think the POV moved between each of the girls. Anyone have any ideas?

The second book is really vague. It's a book I thought about buying a couple times but never did. It was about this girl who could see a hot ghost, if not more than just that one ghost. And I think she may have had dark hair and been sitting on a beach in the cover art. All I really know for certain is that it's not The Mediator series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Carroll. Sorry it's so vague.

Any help would be amazing! Thanks!

So, I've been working on this freehand painting of a tree for a few weeks now and I've finally finished it (mostly). I still need to do the bits that extend up onto the ceiling, but I'm in the stage where I step back for a few days and decide where extra foliage (if any) is needed. I'm rather pleased with it..if I do say so myself, so I thought I would share it here..in the saucy place. ;)

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Anyone know where I can get some 3D photos taken? Google isn't helping.

howdy all,

so the nice people @ funfunfun fest let me in with my "professional" camera after all :-) i think what they were really trying to prevent is telephoto lenses, because my dinky little 17-55mm didn't seem threatening to them. i saw others near the stage with similarly-sized lenses, but everyone w/a telephoto had a 'media' wristband.

anyway i took some pics and some of them turned out really nice. check them out here. previews behind the cut.

check my flickr page later or add me as a contact if you want to see day 2 pics.

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A Weekend at Southdown Abbey

Come visit Austin, Texas, December 4th-6th, 2009 as it is transformed
into Southdown Abbey on Persephone from the Firefly and Serenity
‘Verse.

Join us as we celebrate Shepherd Book’s journey before becoming a crew
member on Serenity. We’ll start with an Abbey Fashion Show, showcasing
Asian-inspired designs, while offering Sereniteas’ blended teas, as
well as homemade hors d’oeuvres. We’ll have a costume picnic on the
Abbey grounds and then a dance in the Fellowship Hall with music by
The Bedlam Bards and food made primarily from produce grown at the
Abbey! We’ll end this shiny shindig with Serenity on the Big Screen at
our local Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek.

The best part – all proceeds from this event will go to support The Al
Wooten Jr. Heritage Center of which Ron Glass, our Shepherd Book, is a
Board Member.

Want to spend a weekend at Southdown Abbey? Tickets are $25, get them now. Space is extremely limited for this event, so don’t miss out!

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
www.lonestarshindig.com

A Weekend at Southdown Abbey

Come visit Austin, Texas, December 4th-6th, 2009 as it is transformed
into Southdown Abbey on Persephone from the Firefly and Serenity
‘Verse.

Join us as we celebrate Shepherd Book’s journey before becoming a crew
member on Serenity. We’ll start with an Abbey Fashion Show, showcasing
Asian-inspired designs, while offering Sereniteas’ blended teas, as
well as homemade hors d’oeuvres. We’ll have a costume picnic on the
Abbey grounds and then a dance in the Fellowship Hall with music by
The Bedlam Bards and food made primarily from produce grown at the
Abbey! We’ll end this shiny shindig with Serenity on the Big Screen at
our local Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek.

The best part – all proceeds from this event will go to support The Al
Wooten Jr. Heritage Center of which Ron Glass, our Shepherd Book, is a
Board Member.

Want to spend a weekend at Southdown Abbey? Tickets are $25, get them now. Space is extremely limited for this event, so don’t miss out!

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
www.lonestarshindig.com

A Weekend at Southdown Abbey

Come visit Austin, Texas, December 4th-6th, 2009 as it is transformed
into Southdown Abbey on Persephone from the Firefly and Serenity
‘Verse.

Join us as we celebrate Shepherd Book’s journey before becoming a crew
member on Serenity. We’ll start with an Abbey Fashion Show, showcasing
Asian-inspired designs, while offering Sereniteas’ blended teas, as
well as homemade hors d’oeuvres. We’ll have a costume picnic on the
Abbey grounds and then a dance in the Fellowship Hall with music by
The Bedlam Bards and food made primarily from produce grown at the
Abbey! We’ll end this shiny shindig with Serenity on the Big Screen at
our local Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek.

The best part – all proceeds from this event will go to support The Al
Wooten Jr. Heritage Center of which Ron Glass, our Shepherd Book, is a
Board Member.

Want to spend a weekend at Southdown Abbey? Tickets are $25, get them now. Space is extremely limited for this event, so don’t miss out!

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit
www.lonestarshindig.com

I read this sometime before high school, before 1998.

All I remember is that there is a group of kids in town, including a first-person male narrator I think, and each of them has a special thing-- not superpowers, just a thing that sets them apart. Then this kid's family moves in. He introduces himself to the entire group. He wears a green sock on one foot because he's that-footed and that makes him run faster; he can run faster than the fastest kid in the group. He has more freckles than the kid with the most freckles, and there's a moment when everyone pauses and the narrator can tell they're doing math in their heads. He has more pets than the kid with most pets, including at least one goat. His family has more kids than the kid with the most siblings, including twin boys, Sam and Uel, who they didn't know were going to be twins so they just split the name. He might be able to blow a bigger bubble than someone; basically, he's better at everything they'd valued about themselves, and suddenly things suck.

There is more to the book, but I don't remember anything else.

I'm trying to remember a trilogy of books I read when I was 12-ish. I think they were written in the 1970s or '80s.

The main character was a thief who got caught breaking into a house. I want to say that the house belonged to a man who was a sage or a wizard or something. Instead of turning him in, the man makes the boy his apprentice.

I don't remember much else about the story other than that there was a girl who I think was part of a troupe of actors who died who joins them later, and they find a computer from our time, which is when you discover that the story's actually set in the future. The computer teaches them to speak our language by showing pictures of clouds and stuff and then playing audio of each word.

I'm a little shaky on the girl, though. I'm positive that a girl ends up becoming a major character in the story, but the acting troupe thing might be from another book and I'm just confusing them.

I have been thinking a lot about a book I read [maybe in elementary?] that I only remember very, very vaguely.

The main is a boy and the book is narrated by him. He has a little sister and she always leaves the gate open. I believe his mother is sick. I also recall he always leaves his shoes untied. He never ties his shoes. At the end of the book he's walking down the railroad tracks [his mother died maybe?] and he suddenly decided to bend down and tie his shoes. As he's doing this, he is hit by a train.

I'm sorry there is so little info on my part. I barely remember this story and kept thinking it was called "The Gate", but my searches found ... David Bowie, I believe. My husband seemed to think it was by Stephen King in his pen name Richard Bachman, but my search of that got me nowhere. I've been trying to find this book for several years, but it seems to be totally lost on me on what it's called or who wrote it.

Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to find a book I read in the fourth grade. It was a fantasy book, paperback, I think the cover had a girl and an archway. The story was about a girl, I believe she may have been riding on a school bus, she was drawn into another world. I believe there may have been a goblin and/or a prince, something purple and sticky, a climbing of a tower, a wizard (possibly evil). I think she was one in a line of girls brought from our world to the magic world, but the others before her had been killed/sacrificed. I know its not much to go on. It could have been published no later than May of 1995, though I think it was probably a few years old already by that point.

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EDIT: Thanks for helping me find it!  <3

Alright. I've been trying to think of this book for years. I think it must have been a YA book, and I read it somewhere between the late 80s and mid-90s, but at the time I read it it already looked old. (It was a used book that someone had donated to the library).

I remember a silver orb being central to the plot, to the extent that I thought 'orb' was a word in the title, but that hasn't helped me find it so far. The main character is a kid that's stuck in some sort of natural disaster (I want to think water is involved) and is miraculously saved (with many other people?) by aliens(?).

At some point he has to learn the language of some people that don't speak his language.

Later, his mind is transferred into the body of some sort of other alien for at least a period of time. The alien species is smart, and he describes trying to use its brain as running from room to room in a huge building looking for the sort of information he wants.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I can't even guarantee that it's all the same book!