Can't Remember The Title Or Author Of A Cherished Book? Maybe This Website Can Help...

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via io9

Ever read a book--when you're a kid, say--and years later, despite fond memories of the story, you can't remember the original author or title? 

Then check out What was that book?

It's a LiveJournal forum, where people post the details they can remember about a book, and users try to help them figure out the origin. 

Here's one, from user mindtrall

Doubt this was ever a hard back or bestseller. My recollection is that I got it in the early to mid-70s. I recall that it had something to do with a priestly group of "extrapolators" who could manipulate all sorts of things with their minds.  In fact, the single outstanding aspect of the book was the frequent use of the word extrapolate and its derivatives. Not sure of the publisher, but it may have been Ace.

Anyone know it? Go over and let him know. Ever find yourself seeking a forgotten book? Tell us in the comments. 

Rob W. Hart

News by Rob W. Hart

Rob W. Hart is the class director at LitReactor, as well as the associate publisher for MysteriousPress.com. He's the author of The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella, and his short stories have appeared in Shotgun Honey, ThuglitCrime Factory, and Needle: A Magazine of Noir. He lives in New York City, and you can find his website at www.robwhart.com.

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Comments

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading Red Moon by Benjamin Percy June 21, 2012 - 8:14pm

that's pretty cool.

Strange Photon's picture
Strange Photon from Fort Wayne, IN is reading Report from Ground Zero, by Dennis Smith June 22, 2012 - 8:51am

My fiancee has tried, to now avail mind you, using that forum to find a particular book holding a particular short story she's raved over for years. She's been on her search since we've been together (7 years) and still has yet to find the title of the story or the collection it is in.

It's a story about a girl who is raped and killed by her rapist (NO - it isn't The Lovely Bones) and the girl then comes back and haunts her rapist. She drives him mad by making him rape other women just as he had done her, and eventually she drives him to suicide.

If anyone can give me the title of the story, or of the collection it resides in, I shall look like the greatest future husband EVER, and you will get cookies. Lots and lots of cookies... Think about it, cookies pouring out broken windows like the popcorn scene in Real Genius. You know you want that many cookies.

twinkletoes3106's picture
twinkletoes3106 from Phoenix, AZ is reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman June 22, 2012 - 12:38pm

There was a young adult trilogy that I read when I was kid that I have been trying to find for years, books that I picked up in a used bookstore, so I'm not sure how old they were, but I would guess late 80's/early 90's. I remember that it involved a group of high schoolers who got caught up in a world of magic runes and one particular villain with white-blond hair who was trying to get the main character to fall in love with him by transporting her to these dreamlike realms of fantasy. I remember the villain being one of those characters you wanted to both kiss and kill, and it was the first time I read the word "laconic", an adjective the author loved to use in reference to him. I remember there was also a Spyder car involved in one of the books, too; strange detail, I know, but hey, it's what I remember. Pretty sure the villain made the main character believe her friends were dying in reality to try to bait her to give him what he wanted (maybe it was to go with him into this fantasy world - I can't quite remember). I have done so many internet searches and can NEVER find it, but it's such a vivid part of my childhood. Ringing bells for anyone?  

Josh's picture
Josh from New York is reading That New Scientology Book June 22, 2012 - 12:49pm

@Strange: Why would a girl who was raped make her rapist rape more women as punishment? Sounds like she is helping him achieve his nefarious goals.

Utah's picture
Moderator
Utah from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry June 25, 2012 - 8:45am

@Strange:  I did a quick Google search for that story.  I did not find it.  But I did find a ghost forum which featured a thread in which a woman claimed to have been raped by the ghost of her grandfather.  There were many there willing to offer her sage advice on how to prevent a future ghost-rape, and many others who offered sympathy.

This is the kind of shit I'm willing to go through for you guys.

Rejoyce Thandi Meintjies's picture
Rejoyce Thandi ... November 26, 2012 - 12:17pm

looking for a book that I read between 2005-2008, don't remember the title or author but the main character of the book was poor and lived with her mother and siblings and her father is quite wealthy but wants nothing to do with her. her brother becomes a soldier and sometime during the book she gets raped by a soldier and a guy finally falls inlove with her and marries her despite her past

k.l.e.v's picture
k.l.e.v January 1, 2013 - 3:20pm

Hi, 
I've been trying to look for this book for ages! The last time I read it was 5 years ago.
The cover of the book has a mental hospital in the background and it's tinted light green. The title is a bold red color and it is just one word. I think it began with either the letter T, I, L ???
The plot (from what I can remember) involves a teenage girl that is harassed in a mental hospital. Before going to this hospital she had a brother who also went there because his parents  decided to send him there when they found out his was a homosexual. I think the brother was also harassed by the same staff member in the hospital as the one who harassed his sister. When the sister gets admitted she is stripped by the staff. In the end she escapes the hospital with a boy she falls for and goes to her grandmothers house. 
This is one of my favorite books, but I can't remember its title or author! 

Chanceler's picture
Chanceler February 20, 2013 - 12:26am

Hey,

I have been trying to find a book that I read the summer before my grandma passed away about 10 years ago. I lent her the book and she donated it to a book store in Mexico and I just want to get a copy for sentimental reasons. I can't remember the author or the title of the book but I think I can recall most of the plot.

The main character is a woman who finds out her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend who may be named Chrissy, she finds out the same day that she is informed her Mother has died. She moves away from the city and lives in her mothers house for a while, getting to know her mother's occasional lover. The lover is supposedly a retired detective who works with a writer or is the writer who works with a detective, he is also supposedly married but its all a cover story as they are all three actually criminals and also the lover of her mother actually killed her. This comes to light near the end of the book.. The main character ends up pulling her life back together and taking a job producing a new up and coming travel guide show. She workd closly with an male actor who is the star of the show and her new love interest. She is hesitant about starting a relationship with this male because he's a notorious womanizer. But in reality he leaks false intel the the reporters to take attention away from his child (possibly a daughter) who has special needs. I think they eventually fall in love, and probably it ends happily. I think she discovers that her mother was murdered, who did it and might have has her life threatened at one point in the story. The title of the travel show may or may not be something like "There and Beyond" or something to that variation. That is all the details that I can remember hopefully most of it is accurate but if anyone has an idea what book this is I will be so grateful!! 

Thanks!

Carol-Anne Dallas M&#039;Lyn Baverstock's picture
Carol-Anne Dall... from Surrey, UK April 3, 2013 - 10:28am

Hi there - new here and hope someone can help.

 

I had a book in my teens - approx mid-late 80's.  It was a teenage fiction book about a young female hairdresser who lives with her Mum and works at a local salon but wants to leave the humdrum of little old ladies and shampoo and sets.

 

She goes to London and gets a job in a very chic salon

 

That's all I remember and would desperately like to get that book again.

 

Please help if you can

 

Thanks, Carol

bbirley's picture
bbirley May 22, 2013 - 3:22pm

I remember reading a book when I was in highschool in the 80s that I would really like to find for my students. I think it was called Hello My Name is David and I'm an Alcoholic or something like that. It is about a boy who has a drinking problem. I read it about the same time I found Go Ask Alice. If anyone has any idea what the book is called, who wrote it or where I could find it I would be estatic!

Thanks
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