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324N: Girl Camping In A Treehouse

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Looking for a book - not sure if it’s a novel or short story - about a young girl spending time, possibly during summer break, in the woods. She’s pre-teen or teen, and with the permission of her family is living either in a tent or a treehouse out in the country, perhaps right on her family’s property. I don’t remember much else except 1) her eating roasted grasshoppers, and 2) someone (her father?) dropping off books for her to read and her being annoyed because she didn’t want help. I read this in the late 70s/early 80s, but have no idea when it was published.

324M: Girl’s Best Friend Moves To New York City (Solved!)

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This was a thin paperback, and I think the cover was yellow/gold with a b & w photo of two teenage girls taken in a photo booth. I read it in the late 70s/early 80s. It was about a girl whose best friend moves to NYC. After being separated for awhile she is excited to visit her friend there, but when she arrives her friend is now a stuck up “city girl.” I remember her friend mocking her for calling 6th Avenue by its other name, Avenue of the Americas, stating only tourists call it that. There is also a subplot abut the girl’s dog, a sweet old yellow lab (?) named Nora/Lorna. Near the end of the story, Nora/Lorna dies under a lilac bush and the devastated girl wraps her in a special towel that was used for the dog’s baths.

324L: A Hidden Room Mystery Story (Solved!)

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1960’s-1970’s YA mystery short story–people search a castle for a missing keep or room wherein may be hidden a fortune.  Many people search.  They decide to put a cloth in each window as they search; then they can see from the outside which window has no cloth and is therefore the hidden room.  The story is possibly from one of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents Anthologies. It certainly had that feel.   Although many others are searching this castle for a missing keep or a room in a keep, only one person finds it.  There is some sort of secret entrance, I recall.  When the finder discovers the entrance and room, another character (the bad guy) goes with him and murders him there and “hides” the secret entrance to the room again.

 I recall (or believe I recall) a line at the end—part of the thoughts of the skeptical castle groundskeeper, I think– “there was no Norman keep.”

 

324J: Man On Beach With Watch Is Real Bore

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This one seems a real stumper but I would be so grateful to anyone who can help! Do not know the title.

It’s all a bit fuzzy but here is what I remember.  It was about a man who would stand on a beach (I think) maybe in France. The pictures were pastel colored and the beach goers (men ) wore those lovely long old bathing suits with stripes and they would change in little tents on the beach. Like the 1920’s ….. but it may have been later.  The man, our protagonist, clad in a three piece suit would occasionally be asked the time by a passerby and he would pull out his pocket watch and start nattering on about its materials and history, of which he was very proud. Eventually the people would move on, never getting the time out of him.

The point was he was lonely and eager to engage anyone in conversation. So would bore them to death with his watch’s details. “This part is gold plated and was made in the time of King Louis the XVI or such and such. “ or something like that.

I grew up in the 70’s in Europe so it may be more European and not American – like the Enid Blytons etc…… I miss my dad reading this to me. Want to find this book. Can you help?

324I: Weird Creature Turns Against Boy Who Spared His Life

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Looking for a children’s science fiction collection. Only remember one story. It was about a boy who finds an alien or some weird creature in his room, behind a chair I think. He goes to swat it or stomp on it, but it startles him by talking to him, begging for its life. It convinces him it’s friendly. But by the end of the story, it’s clear the creature had malicious intentions; but it’s too late. And the end of the story is the creature telling the boy he should’ve killed it when he had the chance. That’s how I remember it, but I read it 30 years ago.

324G: Vampires create living breathing buildings out of human slaves

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I read a fiction series in 2006 while I was pregnant with my daughter. The author was male.  It seems there were at least 9 books in the series…maybe as many as 15.  I checked them out in hard cover from the public library in Boise Idaho.

I remember the series beginning in a land where Vampire masters harvest from herds of worker slave humans.  Humans are basically chattel to the masters.  The masters transform the bodies of live slaves into buildings. The stuff of body parts are re-purposed for architectural functions…..tall, complex buildings where slave lungs and hearts are pumping water and fresh air throughout the layers of the buildings.

The vampires called their homes “eyries” like eagle nests.  Tall buildings.

The series moved forward being quite political as Vampire masters battled amongst themselves to destroy each other.  Alliances, betrayals, etc…

As the story developed, it turns out that the vampire land is an alternate plane of Earth. Some characters from modern Earth cross over, get themselves into trouble, then return to Earth.  Eventually, guns get introduced to the vampire kingdom.   During the final (?) book, a battle is happening between a handful of characters and Nazi soldiers who are jumping back and forth across the dimensions.  Absolutely crazy stuff…

I realize this isn’t a whole lot to go by.  Thank you for any help you can provide. My brain has residue of the images of the breathing, living buildings. Amazingly creepy and awe inspiring.

324F: As Railroads Are Built, Professional Pie Lady Looks For Love

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I’m really hoping someone can help me with this one because I’ve been trying to remember the title for years now after losing the book in a move.

It is a romance I read in the late 90s set in the Midwest while building the railroad. The woman gets hired on with the train company and makes pies in the dining car (I think shes running from an arranged marriage or bad home situation like dean guardian?). Her big thing is pie making, lots and lots of pies. Eventually the company moves up into the mountains (?) where she is responsible for cooking for the one crew. She gets involved with the lead foreman (?) and at some point gets kidnapped by an Native, and he goes after her. Pretty sure I remember her being pregnant when shes kidnapped. And that’s about the sum total of my memory on this one. Thanks!

324E: Dolls Come to Life

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This was an old book that I read around 1987-88. I remember it being beautifully descriptive, concerning the dolls, which came to life and spoke to one another when the girl was away, and their house and dresses. I think I remember the descriptions depicting debutante style dress, with parasols and the like. There may have been conflict regarding a less auspicious doll joining the house. This story does not match up with anything I have yet looked up, though The Best-Loved Doll did come close to ringing a bell.