I once read this book about a tribe of all women.
I think there was some connection to horses but I wouldn't bet on it...

The main character was the daughter of the chief.
I remember that they would go out and fight other tribes bringing back male captives if they were victorius. They would have a victory feast were the women would seduce the men in order to give birth to new tribe members.

The plot was either the chief had a son or the daughter of the chief had a son and the daughter had to take it away and kill him.

I think she eventually leaves the tribe or her mother dies and she takes charge, but the boy returns to his father???

I really don't remember too well. I want to read it again.

Abigail Dawning

Sadly, that's pretty much all I remember about the book. It was part of a series, I think, of maybe 3 books? The main character was a girl (and I think there was a boy too, either in all or just one of the books) and I have a feeling it was about seeing ghosts or haunted places.

It's not the 'Mediator' series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Caroll, but its something like it.

And I seem to remember an old Church being involved in one of the books. The girl and the boy were locked in there or something. And for some reason I keep thinking of 'Cornwall' or some costal town; either that or it was a small village where this took place.

I would have read this early 2000's, but it was probably published late 90's - early 2000.

Any and all help would be appreciated :D

Not the Mennyms, though that was an awesome series.

I read a YA book in '97, probably published sometime in the mid-nineties, about an unhappy orphan girl. It may have technically been a children's book, but it was so steeped in depression, I got the impression it was for older readers. I remember it being a softcover, about 300 pages, with the yellow Scholastic border around the cover illustration, but I could be wrong about this.

The orphan girl ends up living with an older woman in a dilapidated mansion in the country. The older woman is a tea-drinking Victorian lady type, though I think the book was set in modern times. The girl didn't get much attention. She had a bad temper, and her hands were always cold and chapped--she chewed her cuticle skin. In the house, she found a dollhouse full of living dolls who became her only friends. They had sweet, silly, whimsical personalities. I think she got mad at them and stopped visiting them for a while because they were too silly.

Eventually, the girl leaves the dollhouse people behind. Maybe she breaks them? Or she makes a real friend so she doesn't need them anymore? Or the lady she lives with takes them? I remember the girl had to keep it secret that she played with them. I don't think this book had a very happy ending--It made me cry.

*Got it-- Behind the Attic Wall

...apparently a better-known book than I thought, judging by the Amazon page.

I am trying to remember two separate books, not related. [The first is a request from one of my non-lj relatives.]

#1 -- Found! "The Grey Horse" by R.A. MacAvoy.
( Read more... )

I read this book last year and for the last couple months have been searching for the title and author. I cannot remember any names and the details might not be accurate because I read at least 50 books a year. I cannot remember what the cover looked like. 

The story is about a girl who's father passes away in homicide. Either her or her mother decide that it's best for her to go to a different school where no one would recognize her. A boy gets to know her without knowing that his family was involved in her father's death. The family had some sort of history of feuds. I'm not sure if a diary of some sort is involved. Also her family owned land that they didn't want to sell to his family. His family is rich and owns a lot of commercial property and wants turn that land into some mall or something. 

There's one more detail, either in the book or on the back cover it mentions something about it being a modern day Romeo and Juliet. Please help! 

Any details about it will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
NeNa

* Got it! Thanks Lemondrop 217

I am always so loathe to come asking for help here because I am never sure if I am thinking of one book, or if several got jumbled up in my head.

I have two (I think...?) today, one middle reader and one a YA novel along the lines of Ellen Conford.

The middle reader book:
Probably late 70s, early 80s, Scholastic Club sort of deal. A girl had vaguely hippish/ alternative parents, who always made her eat super healthy stuff. Somehow, in a Tom Sawyer like turn of events, all the other kids decide that the natural sprouts and stuff are super cool, and she ends up hiding under the bleachers. The kids all form a club called GHOST or something? Maybe?

The YA novel was probably late 80s, also featuring freaky parents (I am pretty sure they are different books... LOL). The family moves to a college town, the dad is a professor. There is an overweight teen girl who lives in that town, who befriends the daughter of the professor. Clear things I remember: a turret bedroom, the mom batiking and sketching cobwebs, sushi (the mom says something along the lines of "It's not raw, the lemon juice cooks it, of course"). Very early in the book, as the Freaky Family is entering the town, the parents turn down the university-provided housing because it looks "like a saltine box" (maybe "cracker box"?). I remember there was a sequel that followed the overweight friend the following year, after the family had moved away, which began with the overweight friend getting a letter from the daughter. FOUND: Me and Fat Glenda. Thank you!

Between the years of 1986 and 1989, I was an avid reader of Sweet Dreams, Wildfire, and Crosswinds/Keepsake books. There are a few I'd love to read again, but I can't remember the titles or authors.

Book 1: Either a Wildfire or Crosswinds/Keepsake, I think. It was about a spoiled girl who was talked into going camping and/or white water rafting by her best friend. The friend has a crush on the girl's brother, who is into outdoorsy stuff and I swear they nicknamed him Ranger Rick. The girl is scared to part with her hair styling equipment and makeup. The tour guide is her brother's friend and the guide picks on her for being such a princess. The end up falling in love. I think she tries to run away because she feels like she's just being a burden, and the guy goes to rescue her so she doesn't end up lost in the wilderness. He has an accident and she keeps him awake all night because she's afraid he has a concussion. I think he's afraid he isn't good enough for her because he doesn't have much money and they talk all night and work out their differences. I think in the end, the best friend and brother end up together too. I found someone else looking for the book and they describe the cover (which I would only remember if I saw it): "The cover of the book is a photo of a blonde girl, laying on a bed of pink satin with a white phone twirled around her finger. she is wearing white trouser pants and a hot pink/white striped sweater." Found: Princess Routine by Tonya Wood

Book 2: Is a sort of mystery/paranormal YA romance. A girl moves into a house and I think there's a ghost in the turret or something. I remember a hatch in the ceiling that people are afraid of. There's two boys in the book named Carey/Kerry and Loren, I think they might be brothers and rivals for the girl's affections. The book Haunting Possibility by Susan Fletcher sounds like it might be the book, and I requested a copy on a swap site so I can read it and find out. Update: I found a reprint of Haunting Possibility on Amazon with an excerpt and it seems really familiar. I'll update again when I get my copy in the mail.

Book 3: This one was pretty gruesome. I read it either during or just after the 1988 Winter Olympics because that's when my mom and I moved to a basement apartment and I got a really bad flu, so I read a lot while I recovered. I think this might have been a Point book (I was obsessed with Christopher Pike, so I started getting other books from his publisher). A girl moves to a new town, I think and falls in with some spoiled rich kids. She has a crush on the bad boy leader of the clique, who I think has a sister. They go boating one day and I think they are drunk. The boat crashes and I think a girl gets cut in two by the accident. This isn't one I want to re-read, it's actually one I want to avoid reading again. LOL

Thanks for any help.

I am looking for a young-adult lit series about a girl or woman who wrote in the upstairs of her home (mayber her attic) only by candlelight. She may have been in a city like London. She had to smuggle candles into the attic in order to keep writing. I have never heard of it, but was hoping to find out the name or the author for someone. If you know, I would really appreciate it - and so would my friend! THANK YOU!

I read this book over and over, and I cannot remember the title, and my google-fu is failing. I seem to remember the title being something along the lines of "This is (name), She's (age)". I THINK that was the title, but I definitely remember the main character narrating that this is how her parents would introduce her, since she has no talents. Her older brother plays the piano, her older sister bowls, and is an actress, I think, and her little brother... counts a lot? And memorizes commercials? I think the main character is just starting high school when all of the sudden these psychic predictions start coming to her. I know that she gets involved in the drama club, and she makes a friend at school whose home life is all calm and organized and neat compared to hers. I remember her commenting on the fact that at home, even though they are dining among total clutter, her mom always insists on setting the table with a full service. Her dad is a scientist of some sort, and her mom is an author. She sets up a psychic service in her house, but gets busted by the cops almost immediately.

Ringing a bell with anyone?

ETA: Found-- "And This Is Laura" by Ellen Conford

#1. Two children, girl and boy, get sent to Ireland (I think) because their parents are going somewhere and the girl's horse vanishes. She goes on some crazy quest to find him, gypsies or something like that were involved. Pretty sure he's cream or Palamino. Found: Phantom Horse Goes To Ireland by Christine Pullein-Thompson

#2. This one's even vaguer. The copy I read was soft cover, black with a blueish-grey horse and misty trees, I think it was a puffin book. It was about a ghost horse that did something, I think it hurt people but made friends with a young boy/girl? It is not Stanley's Ghost Horse (1999), I get the impression it was older and i think I first read it in '97 or '98, definetely no later than '99 and the book was taped up and battered when I got it. Horse's name was something weathery, Storm or Thunder maybe?

These are all children's/YA.

1. I read this series in the mid-90s, but I think it was from the 80s or early 90s. There was a group of friends - Linda Jean, Krissy, Aimee and possibly another friend whose name I don’t remember. They were somewhere between 10 and 13 years old. Krissy had a sister named Kitty who was a child model or something, and she thought her parents preferred Kitty to her. I also think one of them had a male friend who couldn't read, but I may be mixing that up with another book.

2. There were three kids - Frog, Sarah, and some other kid - and the mystery took place in a cemetery, and I think they ended up sneaking into a mausoleum for some reason. The only thing I remember clearly is that it was Halloween, and the main character put on an apron and went as a chef, but he was made fun of because of his lame attempt at a costume.

3. This is another book I read in the early to mid-90s, but I think it was way older than that, maybe from the 60s or 70s. The main character’s name is Alice Martha (Turner, possibly?) and she hates it. She was named after her two maiden aunts, Alice and Martha, who call her by her full name. I think the book is about her spending the summer with someone and she meets a guy. At the end of the book he suggests she go by Ali.

4. Two girls, a popular girl and a not-so-popular girl, switch bodies somehow. The popular girl (while inhabiting the body of the not-so-popular girl) is appalled at having to eat cornflakes for breakfast because she thinks only poor people do that. There might have been some issues with a guy. I think the cover was pink, or at least partially pink.

Thank you in advance!

This was a book I once thought was called "Horse on the Hill," except I just bought a book with that title from an Amazon.com seller and it wasn't the same at all.

It can't have been newer than the early seventies, since I remember it in the grade school library. It was set in Scotland in the town of Nairn. The hero was a young boy trying to catch a wild horse, a black filly that lived on a hill, and eventually he also met a girl named Morag. I don't remember much else but I am looking for any fiction set in this region.

I remember the tone as being realistic and at times quite bleak, but compelling.

Thanks in advance.

I found an interesting looking book fairly recently (well, within the last couple of months) but for the life of me I can't remember it. What I do remember is that it's YA and the main character is named Beatrice. The plot revolves around theatre and the stories of Shakespeare are used frequently. Ring any bells?

Alright, this book was one of my favorites in the late 80's/early 90's when I was a kid. It was written almost in the form of a dictionary, but I don't think it was one. It had all sorts of monsters/goblins/scary things in it with cool pictures and descriptions about the monster etc. I have really no other details...any help would be appreciated!

Asking for a co-worker:
The book is written/illustrated in a style similar to The Polar Express and Jumanji, but not by the same authors.
There are large, colorful pictures on each page with few words at the bottom (i.e. the primary focus of the page is on the illustrations).
Basic plot: boy is told not to go in the forest, he goes in anyway, scary creatures (she vividly remembers a fire-breathing creature). All creatures are of the imaginary variety with whimsical names.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I read this book in the late nineties, I have no idea how much older it was, almost certain it was written in the 80's or later. The protagonist is a girl whose parents died young (maybe an accident) and she's been raised by her strict and religious aunt. Anyway, the summer she's 16, she gets a job in a bakery.

A few incidents I remember; she starts using eye makeup and buys a bathing suit, much to her aunts consternation. She has a name like Mary Beth or Mary Kate and shortens it to MB or MK that summer. I'm pretty sure she meets at least one boy. I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind reading it again.

You're all going to think I'm a sick person, but I am not making this up.

I tried finding it in the disturbing books community, but I couldn't. It's a book about people who have sex with cows. I thought the title was just Moo, or maybe Cow, but I can't find it. Maybe an author name would help? Pretty sure it was fiction (I hope so). That's all I remember...sex with cows, and some kind of one-word, cow-related title.

EDIT: It's Cows by Matthew Stokoe. Thank you!

This book has been driving me crazy. I've been trying to think of it for the last week, because the impending snowstorm in the Northeast US reminded me of it. Okay, here's what I remember:

There's a kid who is not athletic, but his brother is. The non-athletic kid goes skiing, by himself. It's like cross country skiing or something. He's only on the skis to go hunting, shooting birds or something.

He shoots three birds and collects them in his backpack. He then sees a bigger animal, like a fox or a deer or something, and shoots again but the echo from the shot causes the snow on a nearby mountain to bury him. He gets stuck in the snow, but he remembers to swim through the snow so he gets himself buried standing upright.

The kid is stuck in the snow, buried over his head, but he can't get out because of his skis, which are attached to his feet (and he can't reach down to undo them), and are buried under the snow all around him.

He has the ski poles so he's able to poke a hole in the snow so he can get air and see the sun so he can keep track of days.

He eats the birds he shot for food and the snow for water.

Kid ends up getting out (I think his brother rescues him) and only lost like 3 toes and part of his heel to frostbite and in the process gains the respect of his athletic brother, who he previously had issues with, because the brother doesn't think he'd be smart enough to survive the way the other one did.

EDIT: Found! I think. Avalanche by Arthur Roth
EDIT2: Yeah, this is the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Avalanche-Arthur-Roth/dp/0590422677

I read this when I was 9 or 10. Reread it in my late teens. Been looking for it for a decade, seriously. It heavily formed my love of post-apocalyptic fiction. I think it was by a female author (maybe with an 'L' last name, but not L'engle I'm fairly sure. Fairly.).

A boy and girl lived in an underground city (seemed to be rather vast, probably tube shaped, vertical). All their lives they were told that life couldn't exist in the outside, and that that's how things had been since some apocalyptic event. Eventually they sneak their way out. The land is devastated but livable. They come across a survivor, male I think while crossing a plain or old riverbed.

I would love to find it, or anything that might lead me to it.

Probably found: This Time of Darkness by HM Hoover. Thanks everyone!

Asking for someone else...

Does anyone know who the author & the title of the following novel is? I read it back in the 80's & have been DESPERATELY searching for it for YEARS:

Rich, high school senior (popular, basketball player, etc., etc...) falls in love w/town drunks beautiful, blond daughter (dirt poor, virgin, waitress at local diner, etc., etc...).

Guy's influential father puts a stop to young, budding romance by having his son's friends lie & say that they had all been intimate w/guy's girlfriend. Guy gets drunk & confronts girlfriend. He basically tells her she's a slut & breaks-off the romance. Girl is devastated & immediately runs away to Hollywood to purse her dream of becoming a successful "Movie Star"!!!

Meanwhile, guy goes off to college, becomes a doctor (I'm almost positive?!!), gets married, & ends up having two little girls. He married a deacon's daughter to keep from getting his heart broken, again, but ends up divorcing wife over her infidelity.

Girl goes on to become a huge box-office success. Wins an award for her awe inspiring performance as a drug addicted prostitute. She ends up marrying another famous actor, they have a child that dies in infancy, & then they end up divorcing, as well (Her husband is a HUGE jerk!).

Years later, guy goes back to hometown & gets together w/old high school friends. They end-up confessing that they lied about being intimate w/girl. Guy immediately begins to locate girl. When they finally meet again, he tries to explain what happened & apologize, but girl is so angry she refuses to have anything to do with him. Guy realizes he still loves his old high school girlfriend, thus begins his quest to win back her heart! Aaahhhh!

Secondary plot: Successful woman producer (Or maybe a screen writer?) ends up falling for her very mysterious, ex-con, half-breed, limo driver.

xposted to whatwasthatone