Questions tagged [identification-request]
Questions asking for identification of a story, book, or author, based on descriptive details provided within the question. Please be thorough and provide ALL of the details that you can remember when using this tag. (For questions seeking the original source of a known quote, use the [quote-source] tag instead.)
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What is this mid-20th century British adventure novel?
I’d like help finding a novel I loved as a child. The points I can remember:
It was set and written in mid-20th century England, perhaps the 1950s.
Perhaps aimed at schoolchildren of the time - a ...
- 345
14
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0
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179
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Help me identify an old children's picture book featuring anthropomimetic arthropods
The book in question was written prior to 1990. The pages probably had no words — I was able to read at the time, so either it was not narrated or the words were not memorable. Each page, or pair of ...
- 257
13
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0
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707
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A story in which a young girl saves a poor boy from a factory owner and meets that boy decades later
Yesterday, I was reading a 5th grader's comprehension book. It had multiple excerpts from good (if not well-known) novels.
One of them particularly stood out to me. It was about a woman who lived in ...
- 327
11
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2
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350
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Does this passage in "I Am a Cat" reference a real Western novel?
In Chapter 2 of the 1906 story, I Am a Cat, (full text of this and preceding chapters available here), the cat makes reference to a particular "western novel" in order to draw an analogy ...
- 71.1k
10
votes
0
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285
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'Classical' horror short story in which overwork is linked to a supernatural demon
Having just had an exceptionally busy week, I've been trying to recall the details of a relevant short story whose name escapes me. I have the feeling it was a fairly old, 'classical' horror story - ...
- 71.1k
9
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0
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113
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Short (possibly children's) story set in Norfolk glorifying the English Countryside
I have been trying to recall a short story for a while now, one which I read in 2009-2010 but is possibly older (it was part of a children's story collection whose name I cannot recollect, although I ...
8
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0
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709
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Who is the author of this contradictory poem starting "The night was dark and stormy"?
Does anyone know the name of or the author of the poem below? My grandfather used to say it all of the time and I would like to read it at his funeral. It's very silly and goes something like this:
...
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145
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Identify mystery novel: Past crime uncovered in English village, gossip leading to death(s)
I'm trying to remember a book I read sometime within the last ten years, but although I'm able to recall a fair bit of the story I have no idea of the title or author. I believe it's a "modern" ...
- 89
8
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0
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137
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Identification of book set in Ancient Egypt
A couple years ago, I read a book which I would like to revisit.
I don't remember much, but here's what I have.
Setting is Ancient Egypt
One of the primary characters is a Pharaoh or other reputable ...
- 229
7
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0
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73
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Hindi short story where a painter makes a painting of his dying son
I read a Hindi short stories book around at least 8-10 years ago. One of the stories I still remember (some of it), as I found it very strange/disturbing. I remember some of it, but want to read the ...
- 171
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79
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Fantasy children’s novel about a boy who can’t lie
I read this book around 2010 and I need help identifying it.
The first scene was of a woman who had just given birth (?, she had her newborn) and it was raining. A wizard (who have been called ...
- 71
7
votes
1
answer
276
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Identifying a story described within an Agatha Christie book
About 3/4 of the way through Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' (pub c.1940), is this paragraph, describing a book, or maybe a story in some other kind of format:
She broke off, went on: "...
- 171
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0
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94
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I'm looking for a (possibly Dutch) children's story about a king who was afraid of the dark
I'm looking for a children's novel, aimed at perhaps 7–10 year olds, that I read in the mid '90s; between 1993 and 2000. I must have read the story in Dutch. I believe the story was originally in ...
- 307
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152
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I'm looking for a comic where Huey, Dewey or Louie has a girlfriend
It's a series of still images (comic). I believe it's quite old, probably from between 1960-1980. It's about Huey, Dewey and Louie. Two of them are being sort of rowdy, fighting, doing mischief, etc. ...
- 187
6
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101
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Story about a candidate who fails an audition because they were volunteering the previous day
Does anyone recognize this story? I think I read it some ~15? years ago and it's probably a classic of some kind, since it was translated. I don't remember the original language, but it was probably a ...
- 533
6
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0
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61
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Identify a detailed-prose book of Aesop fables
At a school I no longer go to (Sydney, Australia, early 2010s, the book was in English), I read this book in the library that was a collection of Aesop's fables. The author had this very distinctive ...
- 61
6
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57
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Trying to locate source of a story about Japanese storyteller's apprentice who is mistaken for a master
I'm trying to locate the source of a story I remember, for an essay I'm writing. Not sure if the story is fact, fiction, or legend. It concerns an apprentice to a master storyteller in Japan (Rakugo I ...
- 223
6
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0
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175
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Short story, maybe SF: non-neurotypical girl gets pregnant and older mentor (not the father) marries her
In this story there's a girl who is mentally fragile in some way -- I don't remember exactly how, and I don't think it's spelled out explicitly, but there's something about her that isn't entirely ...
6
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0
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163
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Book about a kid that encounters a foreign girl during holidays and invents a new language
I am searching for a book I read around 10 years ago (in French).
The story was about a family going on vacation (I remember a sort of camping, near the sea).
The protagonist was a young boy (8-12 ...
- 61
6
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0
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84
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70s or 80s Novel, Low IQ man finds/rescues young woman adrift at sea
Probably read in 70s or early 80s. Probably set in the Caribbeans or Florida Coast, or Gulf Coast. The book may have been a mystery or thriller/adventure type story. It was in English
A low IQ man (...
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2k
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Which original Persian poem of Rumi does this refer to?
Does anyone know which is the Persian text for the below poem by Rumi ?
I choose to love you in silence…
For in silence I find no rejection,
I choose to love you in loneliness…
For in loneliness no ...
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0
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113
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Identify a historical romance/drama where a young woman has an affair while on a beach holiday
My girlfriend is trying to find a story she once read (in 2004, when the book was not new). If anyone can help me earn a few relationship-points it would be greatly appreciated.
The story is set some ...
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6
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0
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81
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Novel about the future of communication, everything becoming shorter and shorter
Years ago, roaming around in a library, I stumbled across a short novel about the future of communication. I think that it was written in the 70s.
Starting from the first appearance of the Reader's ...
- 169
6
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0
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101
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Strip / comic with a young child's teddy bear being ripped open for a CD
I can hardly remember any of it, but it has been bugging me for days that I cannot seem to identify this strip. I know one fact for sure.
The beginning of a volume started on a boat, in which '...
Roberrrt
6
votes
0
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133
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Identify a novel/travelogue (18th century) featuring an anecdote about haunted painting
I'm trying to identify a novel or travelogue, possibly 18th century, possibly translated from French, which features as a significant tangent the story of a haunted painting. I believe the ghost story ...
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6
votes
1
answer
120
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Children's book with a lost treasure in a hidden valley only accessible by swimming underwater
Okay, this has nagged me for years. I read a children's book circa 1970, set in the western US in early-mid-20th century. Horses and trucks both. A mystery. Protagonists two boys and one girl. ...
- 61
5
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87
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+50
Account of picking up a black hitchhiker who then wanted to be let out
I remember decades ago reading a book with the following vignette, set in the 60s. The white male narrator is driving through the countryside and picks up a hitchhiking young black man. The rider is ...
- 255
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0
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44
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Short Story Identification with a dragon at a well and a princess raised as a boy
Trying to find a short story I remember reading in elementary school, so it was written early 2000s the latest. It was part of an anthology, but I can't remember any of the other stories in it, though ...
- 51
5
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412
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Does the poem "Once an engine attached to a train..." predate the Railway Series?
As confirmed in interviews with Rev. Awdry, the Railway Series initially grew from a nursery rhyme told to his sick son in 1942, normally called "Down By The Station". This dates in ...
- 986
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Fantasy Novel Involving Magical Colored Thread
What
A medium length paperback fantasy novel, probably YA, with a chosen-one style male main character. The setting is fantasy, but not high fantasy and did not contain elves, dragons, etc.
There are ...
- 51
5
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53
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Italian "Verismo" story: a farmer knows his wife cheats on him but he pretends he doesn't know it to avoid troubles
I'm trying to find an Italian short story of the "Verismo" literary movement I read a long time ago and now I recall only partially: it's probably by Verga or Capuana or, less likely, ...
- 151
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0
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85
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Short story with a salacious piece of furniture being circularly regifted
I'm looking for the title of a short story I read in the late '90s (but which I think was significantly older).
The core element of the story was a piece of furniture (or maybe a curio?) with some ...
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65
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NY short stories - woman wears towel for landlord, woman tricks rich man to take her to Napa, priest falls into elevator shaft while wrestling a drunk
A woman who won't pay the rent. When the landlord comes to the door and tries to talk to her, she stands with only a very short towel in front of her. Eventually she has to move and does this all ...
- 51
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0
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206
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Looking for the name of a book with Bruegel's Tower of Babel as the front cover
I'm looking for the name of a book I read three years ago (although it was published in the early 2000s maybe) about a boy who leaves his village and goes to a large city. The cover art is a corner of ...
- 51
5
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0
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106
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Looking for a phantasmagoric novel encountered many years ago
Following advice by Rand al'Thor I am reposting here my old question, asked and closed six years ago at the SciFi & Fantasy SE site.
Now this is going to be really tough since I remember very ...
- 151
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0
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102
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Audiobook about 19th century New York immigrant obsessed with photography and a red-headed woman
Back in the early 1990's my father got an audiobook from the library about a German or European immigrant in 19th century New York (I think it mentioned the main male protagonist seeing the Statue of ...
Michael Joseph Daukulis
5
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0
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60
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Book with stories continued on later pages with at least one misleading illustration due to the split involving a skeleton falling out of a closet
I read this somewhere in the late 1980s to the early 1990s as a library book in Ashland, KY. Most of my memories of the book are pretty fragmentary.
It was an English hardback, probably less than 100 ...
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0
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69
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Story about a European captain marrying a tribal woman, part of the plot similar to *The Count of Monte Cristo*?
I am trying to find the name of a story. The plot is set in the age when Europeans were sailing to the Americas and contacting the local tribes. My memory is vague but here are some of the points I ...
- 51
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152
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Short story about a bullied boy winning a rock throwing fight because he can throw rocks so that they curve
I read a short story back in the 2001/2002 time frame while I was in middle school. It may have been assigned reading, or part of a text book, or a library book I can't remember. I was reading it ...
- 151
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58
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Which book(s): Fictional account of pre-columbian indians
I'm trying to identify a book, or series of books I read as a child. The setting was pre-columbian Central America, the protagonists belonged to a river based tribe (lots of big canoes etc).
If ...
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75
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Identify a story about a group of white men stuck at sea without water and a black guide that they ignore
I think I read this short story more than 20 years ago. The premise is: a group of men (who are white) hire a boat (or raft?) with a guide (who is black) to take them on a trip across a sea. The men ...
- 151
5
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0
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55
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Where can I find this short-story extended from the traditional recursive "Antonio, tell us a story!"?
There is an interesting oral tradition that goes something like:
It was a dark and story night, and the brigands were waiting in the
dell. And the men said "Antonio, tell us a story!". And ...
- 51
5
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0
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76
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Story about school kids who go on a field trip to a fort
Help me remember the name of this book from my youth. I don't remember much about it but it was the story of a group of school kids who go on a field trip to a fort. I think something happens at the ...
- 151
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70
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The Story of a horseman who rushed to arrive in the court and Big Ben clock rang 13 times
Long time ago an old man told us a story, but I couldn't remember it very well—so I'm just wondering what was the exact story he told us.
It was about a court process where somebody was judged. And ...
- 151
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101
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What is the correspondence between each story in Rivka Galchen's "American Innovations" and previously written stories?
In the LA Times article, "Rivka Galchen talks about putting a female twist on iconic stories" by Carolyn Kellogg, it is claimed that
"The stories all have female narrators, and all (save one) are ...
- 51
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4k
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Short story about a lady (teacher?) caught skinny dipping by kids
I recall long ago (30-40 years ago?) hearing or reading a story (maybe a short story, or a tale or joke told in a story).
Country setting: Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn or Little House on the Prairie type ...
- 305
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0
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152
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Help finding 70s-80s sci-fi smut-ish book
Recently I remembered a book that I had a hilarious encounter with when I was younger. Read the blurb on the back, grabbed it, and brought it to school in middle school.
It was effectively a Sci-Fi ...
- 151
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0
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100
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Gorilla family gets attacked by hunter for circus
I am trying to identify a story that is about a family of gorillas which gets attacked by hunters.
The book starts by focusing on a male gorilla and his two mates, and their offspring. They live in a ...
- 59
5
votes
1
answer
102
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British Victorian Trials identification
Some time ago I read about a series of paperback books, published at the time (perhaps victorian period) that were popular amongst the upper classes which contained unusual or dramatic British court ...
- 159
4
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0
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102
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Children's Book, Characters Made of Vegetables
My sister and I had a book when we were children (late 1980s, early 1990s at a push). The artwork was quite grown up and quite creepy for a children's book. The characters were made up of a variety of ...
