1. Aguirre: Wanderlust
2. Atwood: The Year of the Flood
3. Baker: The Bird of the River
4. Bell: The Goblin Gate
5. Berg: Breath and Bone
6. Berg: Flesh and Spirit
7. Berg: Guardians of the Keep
8. Berg: The Soul Mirror
9. Berg: The Soul Weaver
10. Berg: The Spirit Lens
11. Biggers: The Agony Column
12. Bishop: Airs of Night and Sea
13. Bradley: Stormqueen!
14. Bradley: The Door Through Space
15. Bradley: The Heritage of Hastur
16. Bradley: To Save a World (The Planet Savers; The World Wreckers)
17. Bradley: Traitor’s Sun
18. Brennan: The Demon’s Lexicon
19. Britain: The High King’s Tomb
20. Brooks: The Elfstones of Shannara
21. Canavan: The Ambassador’s Mission
22. Carr: Warlord of Kor
23. Carter: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
24. Christie: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
25. Christie: The Secret Adversary
26. Collins: The Haunted Hotel
27. Collins: The Hunger Games
28. Collins: The Moonstone
29. Collins: The Woman in White
30. Crane: The Red Badge of Courage
31. Czerneda: Survival
32. Doctorow: For the Win
33. Eliot: The Mill on the Floss
34. Elliott: Cold Magic
35. Finn: Belladonna
36. Green: A Strange Disappearance
37. Green: The Leavenworth Case
38. Hobb: Dragon Haven
39. Huff: A Confederation of Valor (Valor’s Choice and The Better Part of Valor)
40. Huff: The Heart of Valor
41. Huff: Valor’s Trial
42. Hurley: God’s War
43. Jemison: The Broken Kingdoms
44. Jemison: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
45. Jones & Bennett: Havemercy
46. Jones & Bennett: Shadow Magic
47. Jones: The Dalemark Quartet (Cart and Cwidder; Drowned Ammet; The Spellcoats; The Crown of Dalemark)
48. Kent: Twelve
49. Kerr: The Gold Falcon
50. Kerr: The Shadow Isle
51. Kerr: The Silver Mage
52. Kerr: The Spirit Stone
53. Lister: Double Exposure
54. Mah: Chinese Cinderella
55. Marr: Wicked Lovely
56. Meldrum: Madapple
57. Meyer: Curse of the Blue Tattoo
58. Meyer: Under the Jolly Roger
59. Mieville: Kraken
60. Mieville: The City and the City
61. Norton & Lackey: The Elvenbane
62. Norton: Atlantis Endgame
63. Norton: Crosstime (The Crossroads of Time, Quest Crosstime)
64. Norton: Darkness and Dawn (Daybreak–2250 A.D.; No Night Without Stars)
65. Norton: Janus (Judgment on Janus; Victory on Janus)
66. Norton: Star Soldiers (Star Guard, Star Rangers)
67. Norton: Starflight (The Stars Are Ours, Star Born)
68. Norton: Three Hands for Scorpio
69. Norton: Time Traders (The Time Traders; Galactic Derelict)
70. Parker: The Folding Knife
71. Pierce: Bloodhound
72. Reeve: Fever Crumb
73. Rinehart: The Case of Jenny Brice
74. Rinehart: The Confession
75. Rinehart: The Window at the White Cat
76. Rohmer: The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu
77. Ryan: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
78. Scarborough: The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas
79. Scott & Barnett: The Armor of Light
80. Silverberg: Starman’s Quest
81. Smith: Coronets and Steel
82. Sperring: Living with Ghosts
83. Stark: The Score
84. Stephenson: Interface
85. Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
86. Stevenson: Treasure Island
87. Stross: Glasshouse
88. Tey: Brat Farrar
89. Tey: Miss Pym Disposes
90. Tey: The Franchise Affair
91. van Gulik: The Chinese Maze Murders
92. Wallace: The Clue of the Twisted Candle
93. Weber: On Basilisk Station
94. Williams: Shadowheart
95. Williams: Shadowrise

Found in a library book. What kind of things has this person been taught that they have to self-reassure with a written note?

1. Atwood: Oryx and Crake
2. Bentley: Enigma
3. Bradley: Darkover Landfall
4. Bradley: Sharra’s Exile
5. Brennan: Faerie Wars
6. Browne: Warriors of Alavna
7. Buckell: Sly Mongoose
8. Bujold: Horizon
9. Bujold: Passage
10. Butler: Queen Ferris
11. Calhoun: Aria of the Sea
12. Calhoun: The Phoenix Dance
13. Calhoun: White Midnight
14. Campbell: The Lost Fleet: Dauntless
15. Campbell: The Lost Fleet: Fearless
16. Carriger: Soulless
17. Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
18. Curtis Klause: Freaks: Alive, on the Inside
19. Del Franco: Unfallen Dead
20. Duane: Omnitopia Dawn
21. Duey: Sacred Scars
22. Forbes: Johnny Tremain
23. Gamboe: The Piaras Legacy
24. Gardner: The Red Necklace
25. Gee: Salt
26. Gentle: Grunts
27. Gilman: Gears of the City
28. Griffin: A Madness of Angels
29. Hambly: Star Wars: Planet of Twilight
30. Hambly: The Ladies of Mandrigyn
31. Hobb: Dragon Keeper
32. Hoffman: Green Angel
33. Hoffman: The Foretelling
34. Huff: Smoke and Shadows
35. Huff: The Enchantment Emporium
36. Hughart: Eight Skilled Gentlemen
37. Hunt: The Dark Path
38. Jones: The Faerie Path
39. Jordan, S.: The Hunting of the Last Dragon
40. Karr: The Idylls of the Queen
41. Knox: Dreamhunter
42. Kress: Crossfire
43. Kress: Crucible
44. Kress: Steal Across the Sky
45. Le Guin: Gifts
46. Le Guin: Powers
47. Le Guin: Voices
48. Lee & Miller: Saltation
49. Lindskold: The Buried Pyramid
50. Lindskold: Thirteen Orphans
51. Lisle: Curse of the Black Heron
52. Lovelace: King Kong
53. McKillip: In the Forests of Serre
54. McKillip: Ombria in Shadow
55. McKillip: The Bell at Sealey Head
56. McKillip: The Book of Atrix Wolfe
57. McKillip: The Tower at Stony Wood
58. McKillip: Winter Rose
59. Meyer: Bloody Jack
60. Micklem: Wildfire
61. Mills: The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent, Book 1)
62. Montgomery: Anne of Avonlea
63. Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables
64. Moore: Heros Adrift
65. Morris: Ruined
66. Napoli: Daughter of Venice
67. Norton: Gods and Androids (Android at Arms, Wraiths of Time)
68. Norton: The Solar Queen (Sargasso of Space, Plague Ship)
69. Norton: Warlock (Storm Over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere, Forerunner Foray)
70. Novik: Throne of Jade
71. Novik: Tongues of Serpents
72. Novik: Victory of Eagles
73. Plum-Ucci: Streams of Babel
74. Plum-Ucci: The Body of Christopher Creed
75. Pon: Silver Phoenix
76. Priest: Boneshaker
77. Priest: Clementine
78. Renault: The Mask of Apollo
79. Roberson: Paragaea
80. Robinson: Sixty Days and Counting
81. Romano Young: Cobwebs
82. Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind
83. Russon: Breathe
84. Sabin: A Perilous Power
85. Skelton: Endymion Spring
86. Sleator: Blackbriar
87. Smith: Betwixt
88. Smith: Treason’s Shore
89. Stewart: The Wicked Day
90. Swann: Dragons & Dwarves (Dragons of the Cuyahoga, The Dwarves of Whiskey Island)
91. Tan: The Joy Luck Club
92. Viehl: Afterburn
93. Weber: In Fury Born
94. Weber: The Apocalypse Troll
95. Williams: The War of the Roses
96. Yee: The Bone Collector’s Son

1. Abbey: Rifkind’s Challenge
2. Abraham: A Shadow in Summer
3. Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale
4. Baker: The House of the Stag
5. Ball: Disappearing Act
6. Barnes: The Domino Men
7. Bentley: Harmony
8. Bray: The Far Sweet Thing
9. Briggs: Moon Called
10. Bryan: The Serpent and the Rose
11. Butler: Nightshade
12. Butler: Survivor
13. Cabell: Jurgen
14. Carroll: Sleeping in Flame
15. Caselberg: Wyrmhole
16. Child: Tripwire
17. Clarke: Childhood’s End
18. Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans
19. Cunningham: Shadows in the Starlight
20. D’Almeida: The Musketeer’s Apprentice
21. Delany: Neveryona
22. Dines: The Queen’s Soprano
23. Duncan: Impossible Odds
24. Durgin: Heritage (Earth: Final Conflict)
25. Eddison: The Worm Ouroboros
26. Eliot: Middlemarch
27. Elliott: Shadow Gate
28. Elliott: Traitors’ Gate
29. Engdahl: This Star Shall Abide
30. Fisher: Sorcery Rising
31. Fisher: The Rose of the World
32. Fisher: Wild Magic
33. Flewelling: The Oracle’s Queen
34. Garrett: Lord Darcy Investigates
35. Gentle: Ash
36. Gerritsen: Vanish
37. Gilman: Thunderer
38. Haden Elgin: Star-Anchored, Star-Angered
39. Harris: Dead Until Dark
40. Hill: Blade of Fire
41. Hinton: Hawkes Harbor
42. Hobb: Renegade’s Magic
43. Hoffman: A Fistful of Sky
44. Hughart: Bridge of Birds
45. Huxley: Brave New World
46. Jones: A Sword from Red Ice
47. Jones: Life
48. King: The Wild Road
49. Lake: Mainspring
50. Landon: The Hidden Worlds
51. Larke: The Last Stormlord
52. Latner: Hurricane Moon
53. Learner: Soul
54. Lindskold: Child of a Rainless Year
55. Lisle: Hawkspar
56. Ly: Roots and Wings
57. MacAvoy: A Trio for Lute (Damiano, Damiano’s Lute, Raphael)
58. Mallet: The Princes of the Golden Cage
59. Masters: The Mushroom Years
60. McDonald: The Outback Stars
61. McDonald: The Stars Down Under
62. Meluch: Wolf Star
63. Novik: Black Powder War
64. Novik: Empire of Ivory
65. Pettersson: The Scent of Shadows
66. Priest: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
67. Roberson: Deepwood
68. Roberts: Salt
69. Robson: Selling Out
70. Rosenblum: Horizons
71. Rusch: Duplicate Effort
72. Russon: Undine
73. Sagara: Cast in Courtlight
74. Scott: The Bride of Lammermoor
75. Sinisalo: Troll
76. Smith: Inda
77. Smith: King’s Shield
78. Smith: The Fox
79. Snyder: Poison Study
80. Stewart: The Crystal Cave
81. Stewart: The Hollow Hills
82. Stewart: The Last Enchantment
83. Tepper: Sideshow
84. Tepper: The Gate to Women’s Country
85. Thomson: Storyteller
86. Thurman: Moonshine
87. Thurman: Nightlife
88. Traviss: Ally
89. Traviss: Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Revelation
90. Viehl: Plague of Memory
91. Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
92. Walton: The Sword Is Forged
93. Wilkins: The Veil of Gold
94. Williams: Shadowmarch
95. Williams: Shadowplay
96. Wooding: Poison
97. Woolley: Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn
98. Zelazny: The Chronicles of Amber (Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos)
99. Zettel: Kingdom of Cages

“Laurence,” Temeraire said to him, as he climbed down to join the others, “this horse I am eating looks very odd to me; it is wearing a hat.”

1. Aguirre: Grimspace
2. Allende: Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
3. Atwood: The Robber Bride
4. Avanti: GreeHee: The Journey of Five
5. B., Christine: The Afterlife of Charlotte Browning
6. Banker: Prince of Ayodhya
7. Bowling: The Tower of Shadows
8. Bradley: Thendara House
9. Bray: A Great and Terrible Beauty
10. Bray: Rebel Angels
11. Bray: The First Betrayal
12. Bruns: Through Phantom Eyes: Volume 1
13. Buckell: Crystal Rain
14. Butler: Adulthood Rites
15. Butler: Dawn
16. Butler: Fledgling
17. Butler: Imago
18. Charnas: The Bronze King
19. Cherryh: Foreigner
20. Clare: City of Bones
21. Coe, David B.: Children of Amarid
22. Cooper: The Dark Is Rising
23. Dean: The Secret Country
24. Duey: Skin Hunger
25. Duncan: Children of Chaos
26. Duncan: Lord of the Fire Lands
27. Duncan: Sky of Swords
28. Duncan: The Gilded Chain
29. Durham: Acacia
30. Erikson: Gardens of the Moon
31. Eva Ibbotson: The Star of Kazan
32. Garner: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
33. Gentle: Illario: The Lion’s Eye
34. Greenwood: The Kingless Land
35. Grimsley: Last Green Tree
36. Hoyt: Heart of Light
37. Hugo: Les Miserables
38. Karr: Wildraith’s Last Battle
39. Kenyon: Bright of the Sky
40. Kiernan: Silk
41. King: The Golden Cat
42. Klause: Blood and Chocolate
43. Kushner: The Privilege of the Sword
44. Larbalestier: Magic’s Child
45. Le Guin: The Telling
46. Martin: The Huna Warrior
47. McKinley: Chalice
48. Meluch: The Myriad
49. Mieville: Un Lun Dun
50. Miller: The Awakened Mage
51. Nagata: Memory
52. Nicholson: The Wind Singer
53. Norton: The Beast Master
54. Novik: His Majesty’s Dragon
55. Palahniuk: Fight Club
56. Palmatier: The Cracked Throne
57. Palwick: Shelter
58. Paolini: Eragon
59. Poole: Jewel and Thorn
60. Roberson: Karavans
61. Rusch: Recovery Man
62. Russell: The Sparrow
63. Rutland: When We Were Colored
64. Shinn: Mystic and Rider
65. Shinn: The Safe-Keeper’s Secret
66. Shinn: The Truth-Teller’s Tale
67. Smith, West: Murder on the Middle Fork
68. Smith: I Capture the Castle
69. Spencer: Tinker
70. Stuart Hill: The Cry of the Icemark
71. Swift: Nottingham Lace
72. Taylor: Let the Circle Be Unbroken
73. Tepper: The Family Tree
74. Thomas: Dark Matter
75. Traviss: Matriarch
76. Valente: In the Cities of Coin and Spice
77. Valente: In the Night Garden
78. Voight: On Fortune’s Wheel
79. Walton: Farthing
80. Walton: Tooth & Claw
81. Ward: Life’s Spices from Seasoned Sistahs
82. Westerfeld: Blue Noon
83. Westerfeld: Touching Darkness
84. Williams: City on Fire
85. Wodehouse: Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
86. Wooding: Storm Thief
87. Zelazny: The Guns of Avalon

. . . hidden in a book.

YES — I read it.
NO — I haven’t read it.
MAYBE — I don’t remember.

First grade

1. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss YES
2. The Foot Book, Dr. Seuss NO
3. Are You My Mother? P.D. Eastman MAYBE
4. Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss YES
5. Biscuit, Alyssa Capucilli NO

Second grade

1. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff YES
2. Green Eggs and Ham YES
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle NO
4. If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Numeroff NO
5. If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Numeroff NO

Third grade

1. Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White YES
2. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Judi Barrett NO
3. Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann NO
4. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka NO
5. Dogzilla, Dav Pilkey NO, but it sounds like a fun book.

Fourth grade

1. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume NO, not even one of her books, although I’ve heard great things about them.
2. Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan NO
3. Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo NO
4. Charlotte’s Web
5. Stone Fox, John Gardiner NO

Fifth grade

1. Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson NO
2. Hatchet, Gary Paulsen NO
3. Holes, Louis Sachar NO
4. The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth Speare NO
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling YES

Sixth grade

1. Hatchet
2. Bridge to Terabithia
3. Holes
4. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry NO
5. The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket NO

Seventh grade

1. The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton YES
2. Holes
3. The Giver, Lowry NO
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling MAYBE

Eighth grade

1. The Outsiders
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. The Giver
4. Holes
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling NO

Ninth–12th grade

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee YES
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck NO
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
5. A Child Called ‘It,’ Dave Pelzer NO

Wedded to convention, unable to see their own bigotry, small.

The writer who can’t distinguish truth from a peanut-butter sandwich can never write good fiction. What he affirms we deny, throwing away his book in indignation; or if he affirms nothing, not even our oneness in sad or comic helplessness, and insists that he’s perfectly right to do so, we confute him by closing his books. (John Gardner, The Art of Fiction)

. . . the road meandered along hills lined with the soft grey-brown of winter trees stitching a white sky to the ground.

– from Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson