Category Archives: 1990s-

365X: YA Book About a Young Man Owning 100 Things (Solved!)

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Book was available for sale between at least  2000-2005- Most likely originally purchased it from the Scholastic Book Fair- Most likely (YA?) fiction- Front cover art either had a desktop computer in it or was technologically related- Protagonist was a male (high school?) student- Protagonist limited his number of possessions to 100 things or so- Some pages broke up the text with a picture of one of his possessions captioned with its number and description- I think one of them was a Buddha statue- He was most likely living with one parent, the other was deceased or unavailable- He was pursuing a woman (named Beth?)- I think he went with her to an outdoor music festival- Their relationship most likely ended poorly.

365Q: Medieval era based, “YA” 80s(?) Short romance

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I have a book I read in 6th grade, which was around 1992. The book itself could have been older, like 1980s. It was a definite Young Adult book even if that didn’t have the description at that time. It was about a Lady who was recently widowed, very young, who lived in a crumbling Tower (Castle). She may have had one servant. She had a Rose garden which I think was a big part of the book. A criminal possibly a thief or murderer arrives at the castle one day and stays essentially taking her hostage. I remember it was a romance. It was a really short story in a very thin book, it reminded me very strongly of “A Door in the Wall” just in terms of time. And may have been plague mentions I can’t remember. It also reminded me of Secret Garden, just because the Rose garden seemed to play a huge part in the story.

365M: Images from an Adventure

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My brother and I remember a book from our childhood (the 90’s) which was picture-book sized but felt more like a preteen/YA type novel. It was an adventure / mystery story, and we both only remember images from the book. We are hoping that you can help us out.

We remember:- a picture of people on a rope bridge being attacked by arrows (? we think it was arrows?)- a picture of a girl sticking her arm in a fire while onlookers watch (it was some sort of test)- picture of an idol with green skin and a horn through its nose- picture of two people being ties to a rock with evil looking horsemen appearing from a sandy background- picture of a seaplane landing on water- [potentially someone (resembling an Aztec or Mayan leader?) taking the heart of another person– we are not sure if this is from the same book, so this is the only image we cannot commit to]

365E: Romantic short story about two strangers: a carny and a young woman together on a carnival ride

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I think it’s a paperback book from about 25-30 years ago. I’m sorry I don’t recall title nor author, nor cover.
I’ve tried googling what little I remember in nouns, but no luck. It could be a short story
anthology or a book of short stories by one writer. As I recall, the carny, a kind of rough guy meets a young woman and takes her on a ride on what we used to call ‘the wheel of death’ but I don’t think it was called that in the story. That carnival contraption is usually a huge metal mesh cylinder that people enter through a door, and then line up, standing up, around the edges of the cylinder/metal cage.

 When the machine starts up, the cylinder starts to whirl in a circle, faster and faster until all the people are plastered by centrifugal force to the walls… then the floor drops out so that people are whirling through space in this cage with no floor beneath them, held up only by centrifugal force.

How the wheel was actually constructed in story, not sure. But that’s the idea.

The carny might kiss the young woman while on the ride, not sure, but it was romantic leaning a tidge into eros I think. I’m sorry, cannot remember any of the other stories in the book. At age 77 now, a lot of memories are softer, but good memories have gotten stronger. One of the blessings of aging sometimes.

365C: Talented Singer in Love Triangle with Cousins, Leading to Tragic Death

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I am looking for a book about three cousins – two girls, one boy – growing up together in a rural setting. I think they are all orphans. 
One girl is a talented singer and both of the other cousins are in love with her. When they are young adults the two young women go to Paris (?) so that the talented singer can work on the stage while the other woman is her companion. The young man goes to visit them. The singer is working in a music hall and is upset that the producer (?) is leering at her or setting her up to be leered at by the audience. 
The second young woman becomes uncontrollably jealous and I think there is a gothic sort of death of one or both women, possibly involving a fire. 
The book was made into a period drama tv movie or series in the late 80s or early 90s. I would say a BBC bonnet drama, but I’m not sure if it was the BBC or not. In the music hall scene, the singer is sitting on a swing on stage.
For years I thought it was My Cousin Rachel but it isn’t! It did have a bit of a Daphne du Maurier flavour with a psychological drama aspect.

364W: Not Bath Salt, but Crack

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This book is set on some sort of island/plantation. Written in 80s or 90s. Young woman goes there and discovers a mystery which in the end turns out to be an underground crack or meth manufacturing ring operating in the area. At one point she sees her cat playing with a crack rock but she believes it is a bath salt at the time.

364V: Girl in Black Not Interested in Bucky

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I am looking for a 90s or 80s book where a teen is writing an advice column for school and no one knows she is the one giving advice. She receives a letter about one of her best friends who dresses almost always in black from a boy (Bucky??) who likes the friend. She is conflicted about the advice to give because she would tell someone else to go for it but she knows her friend would not be interested.

364R: Beach Read Where Woman Moves Back Home on Boat

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I’m looking for a book that I picked up in a B. Dalton in the mall in the late 90’s. Given the late 80’s/early vibe of the book I would say it was published in the 90’s. It was a novel, geared toward women, short and thick type. I guess now this type of book would be considered like a beach read or not serious writing (I don’t know the term) but I imagine it would be in the cozy reads section due to its lack of depth. The cover was beachy, with water and maybe a boat. From what I remember of reading the book there’s a girl who’s been out of her hometown doing her own thing and comes back to visit or move back and is arriving via the boat. There’s mention of a man or ex in town. She goes to a diner to eat or local restaurant and runs into friends. That’s all I can remember. I hope this helps enough to find it. 

364Q: Young Woman Who Stops River of Time (Solved!)

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I am hoping to find a Novel read about 5-6 years ago – thought authors name included “Beatrice” but maybe just “Bea”. thought title included “River” but possibly just an image not actual word River.

Definite ” River of Time” imagery in my head – do recall looking for other titles by the author then,  and finding none or very few.

Story is about a young woman/girl who eventually has a memory of herself in the past stopping time with grandfather whose estate she was (is?) to inherit and she was somehow foiled (by bad relatives ?)

Also a romance line involves a noble neighbor? Friend? Lover? Who is/was older who could not break some type of vow – who also travels into the future with her –  was her best friend maybe as a young woman on her family’s estate (England pre-regency)….does he show up as a cheesemonger in America (Vermont) and that is how they meet in the modern day?

O how I do hope I am not mixing up several storylines

I remember really loving this book – but it is lost to my brain – I would  give a LOT to locate again.

One further detail: The detail about the protagonist’s “time stopping” skill – not revealed until end of novel – an inherited skill from her grandfather as a child in England she finally remembers she can actually freeze time and thereby stop motion…. “Freeze frame” style…  so prevents a tragic death by going back to the second before a murder?  Something to that effect.

364N: Teddy Bear Party?

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A teddy bear goes into the forest at night and comes back home each night/morning with something different about him.  A missing button, mud on him (possibly a missing hat?).  There is a little boy as the teddy bear’s owner who notices these things askew.  (this is not a Fred Asche book).   Maybe the boy starts to go with the bear at the end, the boy might follow the bear into the woods after he notices that things are different about him.  
The cover had a teddy bear forward facing (wearing overalls I think) and the little boy (blonde?).  Most likely from the late 80’s early 90’s.  The book was light colored and had speckles and a frame like border about an inch or so inset from the outside edge.