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.

365D: Castle on a Hill

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As a small child in the early 2000s I compulsively read a picture book in the school library but for years have been unable to track it down.

It followed the history of a single hilltop in I believe England. Every page would open to a new period of history with a new drawing, as new groups of people would use the hilltop for its advantageous position.

The first were Celts, who built a stockade around the hill along with dirt walls.

Then a Roman fort with intricate buildings and brickwork.

Eventually there was a Manor House with a rudimentary wall.

And finally a huge castle with lots of towers and a moat.

There were other examples I don’t remember but these are what have stuck with me. Each page includes people in the various forts living, working, and doing activities. Parts of roofs and walls were cut out in the drawing so you could see inside.

And there was even a “Where’s Waldo” type game. In each variation of the hill were a pair of “lovers” (for lack of a better word) who were hidden among the people and activities and you had to seek them out.

Around the drawing was information about the time period, the purpose of why they built something (e.g. a drawbridge), and interesting facts like stuff about defending a medieval castle from attack.

I know this sounds like a lot of depth, but I promise this was a children’s picture book. Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 10 I was obsessed with it. Please help!

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.

365A: Vintage Little Golden Book showing car driving through a large tree

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I am trying to find a book from my childhood that showed a car traveling through a large tree. I was a child of the 80’s, so the book would have been published before then. I remembered reading it at my grand mothers house so it may have been a very old book!  I believe it was from the Golden Book series and I am guessing the book was about road trips, or traveling, or large trees or California since that is the only place I know of that has drive through trees. That book recently inspired my bucket list trip to Northern California to actually drive through a tree and now I want to find the book that inspired the trip! I have been searching, but have not had any luck finding the book. Thanks in advance for your help!

364Z: The Parachuting Duck

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I’m trying to help a friend track down a kids’ book she remembers from her childhood. She was born in the late 1970s, so the date of publication would be no later than the mid-1980s; likely earlier. She remembers the plot as having to do with farm animals – ducks, in particular – fighting in a war, and recalls an illustration of a duck or duckling using a parachute. Sound familiar to anyone? Very grateful for any leads people can offer.

364X: Fae Dark Romance Series

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I read a book series several years ago and I usually have an excellent memory in regards to books, but for some reason I cannot seem to remember this one. It’s an adult dark romance series about Fae or Faries, and only some people can see them. In the first book, there was a woman who could see the Fae since she was little but ignored it until recently (for some reason…). 


There is one Puck-like character in several of the books and he’s meant to be perceived as a bad guy until his book rolls around at number 3/4 in the series when he becomes a good guy (actually was the whole time). I don’t remember his first name but I remember his last name was Black. What’s funny is that I actually read them out of order and I read this one first and went back to read from the beginning, chuckling each time he came up because the mains didn’t like him but I knew he’d be good eventually.


I also remember that there is some kind of a fairy kingdom in another dimension that are really not good people. And in fact the character I mentioned above, Black, I think used to be a kind of henchman for them? And he wanted out, but in order to protect himself and his love interest, he had to make a verbal contract with another Fae which can be tricky because they love to find loopholes, so he went on for a long time trying to cover every loophole he could think of and never breaking eye contact to try to make sure that this other Fae couldn’t hurt them in the future.


I know this is long and I’m sorry I can’t remember more….but is there any chance you could help? I have been wracking my brain for days trying to think of the series but I just can’t remember…

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.

364U: Children’s chapter book about a witch

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Details I remember – story is about a boy who goes into the woods and notices an abandoned cottage is now occupied.  He meets a mischievous girl and they form a friendship, then finds out she’s a witch.  At some point I believe she makes the mayor of his town dance around, and they go to a fair where she changes into a cat to accompany him undetected.  At the ends she starts to lose her powers because she starts to care for him (so her nose grows warm, it had always been icy cold), so she leaves.  The very end is the boy all grown up, now the mayor of his town, and he often looks to the forest hoping to see puffs of smoke from the little cottage.

The book had a lots of line drawings similar to Roald Dahl’s but smaller.