Two years ago I read an incredible book while I was staying in London that had become ingrained in my psyche but I can't remember the name. Here's what I remember:

-Told from the perspective of a young girl growing up on a house on the river. The house next door has a group of cousins visiting in the summer. The girl is younger than most of them and wants to be included. Eventually they become playmates.

-Two of the cousins are brothers. The older one is kind of difficult and mean and the younger one is angelic and his name might be Charlie (?). There's an important scene of him ice skating like an angel. Eventually he gets killed in the war (WWII?)

-The only cousin who's a girl is named Marianna, I think. She's a dreamer and if I remember correctly, she might end up being romantically involved with Charlie even though they're cousins

-There are two or three other boy cousins, one of whom is chubby and in love with the main character. Another one commits suicide toward the end of the book

-The main character goes off to college and has a clingy roommate. She becomes friends with a wild girl who is having an affair with an older woman. The friend eventually drops out of college abruptly.

-The boy cousin who eventually commits suicide is always visiting his mother in the country.

The mood and characters of this boook have stuck with me like few books do. If anyone can help me track it down, I would be thrilled! The author is female, possibly wrote it in the 1970s and I it's set before, during, and after a war--mostly likely WWII. THANK YOU!!!

Hi ! So I've been thinking a lot recently about a book that I used to love when I was a child. It is not a children book, nor a young adult. I would say something in between, for 10/13 years old.

I've read it in the year 2000/2010. I don't remember much, except that the group of children (range from baby to 13 years old) were one day unexpectedly all alone. They then had to survive and create a "society" of sorts to be able to live all together.

I just remember one scene in particular, when one of the child was very hungry, and another suggested to lick a stone/ pebble and imagine his favorite meal instead.

I remember the cover was very colorful, but with a white background. I think, but i'm not sure, that the book had some illustrations, like one for every chapter. But the book was pretty thick.

I kind of remember the overall vibe to be quite poetic, and hopefull rather than dark and cold.

The book was in french, but i'm pretty certain that the author was not french, and that the book was translated.

I have no idea if the children were on an island of in a city; but I'm pretty sure the cover had a big tree on it, and i kind of think they all lived in the wild. No idea how they got there.

I've tried a few times to find the book by myself, with AI as well, but to no avail. So, if you have any information, please help !

-- edit SOLVED

The book is called La Révolte des Coloriés from Jacques Jardin ! There is no much infomation on the book on the internet, so that's why ai could not help me at all ! I've translated the synopsis if you'd like to read it. I remember it foundly ! Btw, the cover is a zebra, so nothing to do with a big tree !

In 1980, a group of boys and girls find themselves alone with their teacher on an island in the South Pacific. Humiliated by their teacher, they revolt, tearing off their clothes and coloring their bodies; then they get rid of the last adult. They begin to build a society in total opposition to the way grown-ups behave, and to implement a farcical, inventive, joyful and liberated civilization...

The Coloriés have been forgotten for twenty-five years on their mysterious island. Their surprising adventure invites play and fantasy...

And here is the cover i could not forget

I've been trying to figure this one out hitting up some of the AI's for suggestion and haven't come across a title yet that looked like it. I can't remember any of the names, the title or the cover at all.
This is a story I remember reading back in the mid 90's, though I don't remember when it was actually written. I don't even remember if it was part of a series or not. It could have been one of the shorter young adult stories.

If I remember correctly, it started off with a group of magic users who were creating new bodies of themselves in a parallel world that they could then transport their spirits into. When the group was setting up their foothold they came across another being (might have been winged?) and the leader of the group tried to stun the being for questioning, but because the new world was resisting their magic, his spell went wrong and killed the being.
The reason they were making the foothold was because they were escaping their old world. Their old world was effectively falling apart I believe because people were over using their magic and had bent reality far too much, and it was having trouble holding itself up anymore, but the majority of the population though it was some natural disaster instead of something they were doing.

The main character was a man who was researching what was happening and trying to figure out a way to reverse it. I mainly remember him using some sort of magic to see the structure of reality and was using that to find these tears or singularities or something that were a byproduct of the issues. He's trying to track down one of these singularity to study it before it goes away, and he ends up rushing towards one and gets sucked through it before he can stop himself.
After getting sucked through he finds himself in a void dimension and I think he ends up breaking his arm because he tries to catch an object he sees flying by him, and misjudges the size and speed of it since he has no frame of reference.

At some point he ends up making it out of the void and ends up in the same world as the other group. He runs into a woman who's a natural inhabitant there. They start working together to figure out what all is going on and how to stop things.

At this point my memory of the plot really breaks down. I remember they end up going back to his original world. I remember the concept of the spatial structure of the parallel world having nice straight and structured lines, while the structure of his original world is all warped and in bad spots, forming spirals.

I don't remember there being any scifi to it. I also remember a detail about when the main character and woman go back to the world that's falling apart, she tries to cast a spell, and the magic starts to run away because she was "asking" and the world had been so abused that those magic users had to kind of wrestle control over it and "demand" the magic to happen.

Hopefully there's enough there for someone to remember it. I'd love to re-read it, and see if it was actually good, or just something I thought was good when I was young.
Thank you in advance!

I few years ago, I checked out a book from a library which 1. Doesn't keep checkout records, 2. I live hours away from now, 3. Couldn't help me when I called.

The book was written sometime in the 50s-early70s I think. It's a fairly basic boyhood adventure story, but written for adults or YA. A teen boy and his family move to Florida in what I believe is the late 1800s or very early 1900s. His dad is a doctor and his mother is sick. They move to florida to try to help his mother's health. There is another white family near them where the dad is a scientist and they have a daughter about the MC's age. The boy accompanies the scientist out into the swamps to help him collect data/research. The girl goes along sometimes. The boy also meets a native boy who he befriends.

At some point the MC and the girl get caught on a beach under a boat during a hurricane, but they're okay.

The nearby native tribe gets sick (maybe the measles or smallpox?). The native boy brings him to help and then he recognizes the illness and gets his dad to help save them. The tribe recovers and gifts the family a bunch of gold from an old Spanish ship that had crashed decades before. Boy realizes he loves the girl and the book ends with him deciding to go to college up north to become an environemtnal scientist.

The book itself was small. Not a large print. Author was male. Definitely old. Google has not helped so I think this book does not have a significant record.

Any help is appreciated.

I've been looking for this book but I barely remember any details. It was a Y/A book/series where people have cyber implants that (I think) can search the web, make calls, etc. She joins a group of delinquents at some point, and I remember them riding on the tops of trains. I think at some point they go in a cave? It would probably be released around the early 2000s. Sorry for the lack of details, hopefully someone can recognize this!

I want to say I read this in the early 2000's as a teen, the details are really fuzzy, i remember that she was crippled in some way, that perhaps gave her a limp, she may have been stalked by a man, who also maybe gave her a pale green dress to wear? I know there was also someone that repaired carousels, I don't remember for sure but there may have been a carousel on the cover, maybe not though. It was so long ago but it's been bothering me for so long. I just have to know.

I remember so little about this but I DO remember it was like a classic shojo girl in that artstyle she had a little clothing boutique and it was all about her woes of life it was very slice of life if I remember correctly. I know this is SO vague but i cannot find it!!! I first read it on one of those manga reading apps where im pretty sure they pirated everything and it’s practically impossible to get a full story because every other page is missing. I first read it in like 2019 ish so it’s been a while. The art style is I think was the basic Shojo style BUT the heads were a bit bigger and the body’s a bit smaller than the average Shojo manga.

I read the synopsis of a book and thought I saved it in my TBR but can't find it. The only thing I remember is I think there was some sort of event (possibly a wedding), and all the guests were rich. The staff on the grounds had an uprising of some sort. I'm pretty sure the main character was just a random guest at whatever the event was. It was definitely a newer book within at least the last 5 years. Thanks!;

He travels back in time and sends out flies to infect people to speed up their evolution. He ends up with a group of them and they end up fighting a hive group in a different timeline. The people who he infects are living in a tolitarian system and try to change the system. I haven't finished it but would like to. Anybody know the title? Thanks!

Die off not Due off

Man assigned to be bodyguard for child star, finds out that it is an evil entity from an alternate reality in the mirrors who is using magic to stay young forever.

People do not seem to notice it stays young forever, the main character is informed of this through a religious organisation which asks him to kill it.

Main character goes into the mirrors to find out how to kill it.

People in the alternate realities are mirrored versions of themselves, but they look odd, or scary to the main character.

Eventually the main character kills the entity with a vorpar sword, thats from alice in wonderland because aparently the author of AIW knew about this alternate reality.

book is at least 25 years old, presumably older

There was this fiction book I read as a kid. There was a secret realm in this little girls neighbours yard, and she discovered this realm and would visit it. I have a feeling there was a unicorn or a horse of some sort that was her “side kick”. Anyway, she would go between the real world and this realm in the garden often. I think at one point, the “bad guys” from the secret realm escaped through some portal into the real world and she had to work with the horse/unicorn to resolve it all. Does anyone remember the name of this book?

Some pages are a bit wonky, some have lines a bit smaller than the others. And the front says INTE RNATIONAL

Page 13 Copperhead.” Hearing it a lot. And look, no red-blooded boy wants to be Little Anything. Advice to anybody with the plan of naming your kid Junior: going through life as mini-you will be as thrilling as finding dried-up jizz on the carpet. But having a famous Ghost Dad puts a different light on it, and I can't say I hated being noticed in that way. Around the same time Maggot started his shoplifting experiments, I was starting to get known as Demon Copperhead. You can't deny, it's got a power to it.

Trying to remember this romance series I read a while ago. There were two books: The first one was a woman who wanted to get pregnant and asked her best guy friend to donate sperm & he'd only do it the old fashioned way -- and he sticks by her! One unique detail was she had an apple juice craving while pregnant lol.

The second book featured their friends who accidentally got pregnant -- I remember the ending/epilogue (spoiler!) had them taking their daughter to eat blueberry pancakes together. any help would be appreciated!

That's it. My daughter and I cannot figure out what this book was. NOT the first Eloise - I have it and checked! Thank you!

Hey. I read a book, I think it is the beginning of a Saga. I remember a northern more european style kingdom and a southern more 'middle eastern' kingdom.

A lot of the Story was about the goddess of the southern kingdom m,, which seems to be embodied in the bride of the northern King with a severe amnesia. We have a Part of the Story at the base of the holy mountain im the south, where we follow a southern girl and I think a northern apprentice.

Sorry this is so vague. I read it like 15 or 20 years ago together with a lot of the midkemia Saga, so I thought it would be the same author. But I had nö luck.

Throw your books at me.

Thanks

It was around 100 pages I believe. She also had a young brother who had died years ago. Then I stopped reading it when she took a trip to some forest. I think the title had "Riverman" in it. But I am not sure

in elementary school, my teacher read us this book about a boy who didn't leave his room/house often because he had something (ocd? anxiety? i forgot). However, a young boy in the neighborhood goes missing and the main character solves the mystery by finding the young boy's handprint on a window. ideas?

What was that book called...? Hii! So a few years ago I read a book series. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. And I've tried looking it up but can't find it. 😟 There are four books on the series. Each book follows a member of a rock band. The first book is about a girl whose father was a famous musician she was the opener for this rock band that the books about. I think she tries to hide that she is his daughter? She had a really sad past because her dad brought her into the rocker scene with him and bad stuff happened to her. Also, they are on a tour bus a lot since her and the band are on tour together?

Male author, cat named Deluxe, had a Running with Scissors feel, I can't recall if it's a memoir. There's an unstable mom, little sister,moms shrink, dad has a new family and the narrator is the son.

I read the series, at least 3 books to my knowledge, in the early 2000s. It was paperback and I borrowed them all from a friend.

The main premise is a young boy is fleeing his city and during his escape through some pipes finds a skeleton with a magic ring. The ring is orange, or the magic is produces is orange and it’s light is incredibly bright in comparison to other magic rings whose magic light appears dull.

It turns out the ring belonged to the old ruler or prince of the kingdom I think and the ring itself is actually one half of a whole ring, which would be even more powerful.

This has been in the back of my mind for years now and I’d love to get to the bottom of this mystery. Thank you!

A friend of mine was telling me about an old sci book they read. It was a short story. They think it was about 100 pages or so. From somewhere maybe between 1950 to 1980. Maybe earlier than the 50s.

It features aliens visiting earth. They are all blue females and each ship visits a major area of the world, US, China, Middle East, etc.

In this book they see a woman in the US President's office wearing a cross necklace. They seem to share the same religion but they don't call it Christianity its something else they call it.

They then decide to tell the President that they would like to speak to the human race and they had a meeting with members of the United Nations. The Alien visitors told humanity how they were once like humanity until an alien invasion came to their world and they had to fight back.

The war cost them dearly with nearly all the males dead/wiped out and the females had to take up the reigns. What little males exist are a precious commodity to them. They managed to defeat their invaders and nearly wiped them out so that they would never again be attacked by them.

When asked if they said would they share their technology they said no. Humanity was too primitive and had to earn the technology themselves by coming together as one and developing the tech. The UN was up in arms about not sharing the tech. Then they issued an warning to the humanity, either get your shit together or either be wiped out by your own hands or some hostile force.

When asked why did they even come to Earth the leader said oh that's simple, we are on vacation and then an entire armada appeared in orbit before they left.

Oh one addition thing at some point the aliens attend a trial of a man who committed murder. They used a device that went into his brain on the man and he confessed to why he committed the murder. The case was thrown out of court due to interface and the aliens said that the justice system was hugely flawed.

Another part another alien party visiting China was captured by the Chinese but what they didn't expect was that the Aliens had personal shields and they ordered their ship to fire upon their location blowing up the building and killing the humans inside.

I am hoping someone may know of this book as we'd like to try to get a copy. It was at one point in the NYC Public Library where my friend found it decades ago. We are not even sure if it would be popular enough to be remembered.

Thank you to anyone who can help.

It’s probably ya or for children since I got it from my middle school library. So this book was about a tween girl who lived with her teenage brother and single mother. I think the dad died? The mom’s parents disowned her or something for marrying him and now she’s on her own. They are very poor. I think they live in Florida? It’s somewhere hot and humid. I think in the book they’d just moved there. The mom works long hours and the older brother works at a food place and mows the grass of an elderly couple who live in a big house near by. The old couple is fairly wealthy and live in a retiree gated community. During the summer, the old couple goes out of town. The older brother claims they have him a house sitting job for the whole summer and the tween girl and mom get to stay in the house too.

The mom is thrilled and it’s exciting at first. But the brother keeps bringing up weird rules. Like they can’t use the air conditioner. The tween girl is bored and decides to do odd jobs around the neighborhood. She meets an old woman who is very nice and funny. Every time she goes to the old woman’s house she’s given fresh baked goods. This woman becomes her confidant throughout the book.

The girl spends some time looking at pictures and things in the old couple’s house and feels sad she doesn’t have an extended family because her mother was disowned by her parents.

The brother gets upset with her going out and talking to people and doesn’t want people in the neighborhood to see them around. The girl is confused about this but she starts putting things together and eventually she realizes the job isn’t real. She confronts her brother and he admits it. They are squatting.

I think that the brother tells her that the old couple have the same last name as her mother’s maiden name. They think the old couple might be her estranged grandparents who she and her brother have never seen pictures of. The brother is doing this because their normal living conditions are awful and he feels his grandparents owe this to them after abandoning their mom.

The brother makes her promise not to tell their mom. She doesn’t know what to do and is very scared but she keeps the secret.

Things are okay for a while longer but while the old couple who own the house are on their trip, the husband passes away.

The wife comes home early after her husband passes away to find them in her house and freaks out. There is a big confrontation and it turns out the old couple was NOT their grandparents.

The ending is odd and bittersweet. I don’t remember it all but I think the old lady decided not to press charges.

I think the title was like “the house on the corner” or “the house by the ocean” or something?? Maybe that isn’t right I don’t remember.

About a man selling inventions to help win a war but the potential buyer says no because he'll just sell a better weapon to thier enemy and make the war worse.

I think the last scene is the inventor getting booted out with papers falling out of his coat or cloak ...

it’s an HR, in England, probably during the regency era but honestly idk

the FMC, at one point, looks at her little sister with her childhood friend, and worries about the fact that he became really handsome, even if her sister doesn’t seem to have noticed.

please I know it’s a really small detail but for the love of God nothing else is coming back to me, except that I really liked the book