Seeking a big red book from the 30's with anthropomorphized objects.
316C: Anthropomorphized objects
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316B: The mystery of the dead cousin
It’s a mystery/thriller, with some paranormal overtones. I was born in ’66 and I believe I’d read it by the time I entered high school in ’80, so it must have been written sometime before then. Possibly way before then, as I recall the book was a beat-up paperback when I picked it up.
It’s about a set of female cousins. One is dramatically beautiful, outgoing and rich, and kind of mean; she dies (I think before the book’s action begins) and leaves her estate to her cousin, who bears a certain resemblance to her but is kind and introverted. The good cousin moves into the house and begins thinking her dead cousin was murdered, I think? She also starts behaving oddly – more like the dead cousin. She dyes her hair to match the dead cousin. I vaguely recall a reference to “silver blonde” or something like that.
There’s a love interest for the cousin – I want to say he’s a lawyer? And that he also had some kind of relationship with the dead cousin? Maybe?
I think the dead cousin’s name is Cathy or Kathy, or maybe it’s the surviving cousin’s name? I don’t remember how the book develops the ghost angle – whether the ghost is real or just the cousin’s imagination – but I’m pretty sure it turns out she was murdered.
There’s a supporting character who’s a friend of the living cousin. I remember she shows up at one point and is described as an earth mother type, I think, and says something about the coffee she’s offered – like “heavens, yes, keep it coming” or maybe “I like my coffee like I like my men” but I could be wrong on that.
God I hope that’s enough because it’s driving me nuts, and I can’t find it, and this is all I recall.
316A: Garden of Dragons?
My book was read during my time in the Navy, probably about 1973-75. It was a paperback novel, and had some blues and purples on the cover and maybe said something about garden of dragons or something like that. I can remember that at one point these scientists were in the jungle and they were surrounded by massive bugs. I just remember enjoying the read but heck it was 40+ years ago and my memory just isn't cooperating!
315Z: Boy falls off a raft in a cave, discovers the outside world
This was a book that an elementary school teacher read aloud to us (mid 90s), and she deliberately kept the title a secret so that we would have to come up with one on our own. What I remember of the book is that the boy lived with his community (family, friends) on rafts on a river that is entirely in a cave system. Importantly, they never leave the caves (I think the boy hypothesizes at one point that the people used to go into the caves for the winter, but lost their way out and have forgotten the exterior world over time?). The boy falls off the raft one night while everyone else is sleeping and loses his family because the rafts keep floating down the river. He eventually finds a hole to climb out of the cave and is stunned by the sunshine. After that, I don't remember any more of the story.
315Y: Numbered cubes for mind penetration (Solved!)
Two teens (boys?) find some kind of numbered cubes - possibly from a scientist's lab - which when squeezed allow them to enter the mind of someone else, which is represented by a house. In the house the person's true self is locked inside a room and they set him free. Published before 1990. Thanks!
315X: Boy plays with living doll and grandmother
In the 90s, I read a book about a young boy (maybe British?) who was, I think, living with his grandmother. He found a doll who would come to life and they had adventures together. He and his grandmother played the game "snooker." That is all I remember!
315W: A lion of a tale
It's a children's book, kind of big, maybe 8"x10", old, probably from the 60's or earlier. Hardcover. There is a lion on the front, I think the cover was pinkish. Multiple stories, one involving a lion that gave his hair to birds and lost it all, so they brought him leaves. I think another was about monkeys. I've been searching for years. Halp! 😀
315V: Too many teens? Send them to their own planet!
Looking for sci-fi about a teenage girl on a ship (colony) that avoids overpopulation by sending all its teens onto a hostile planet below to survive for a time period. If they live, they become adults and members of the colony.
315U: Tales of World War II Aviation
Hi, looking for a book published in the 1950's. It is a collection of short stories relating to WWII aviation. It included stories set in North Africa, Italy, etc. Each short story included a pastel-ish illustration of a theme of the story. The planes included the P-38, British Mosquito, P-51, etc. The book was maybe an inch thick. Blue hard cover. Thanks so much!
315T: Psychedelic lollipop trees
I was born in 1975. There was a short children’s book that I have forgotten the name of. I seem to remember that it was more landscape format than portrait. The over-riding memory of the book was psychedelic landscapes and one in particular was made up of trees made of lollipops. Possibly other landscapes and scenes made up of different objects. That’s all I remember.