On 5/22/25 1:02 AM, Robert Woodward wrote:
In article <m96ho6Fq177U1@mid.individual.net>,
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:
Maybe a better list would be
The Necronomicon
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie
Misery's Return
I am afraid that I don't recognize the 3rd and 4th titles.
The 3rd is from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. It's a nighttime book
that Calvin's Dad has read to him a thousand times, but Calvin still insists.
The 4th is from Stephen King's "Misery". When the author of a popular
series kills the protagonist (Misery), a deranged fan kidnaps the author
and forces him to write "Misery's Return".
I can add
another title, _Dire Dawn_ (though I suspect that not many people have
read the novel that mentioned it)
Where does that one come from?
Tony
On 21/05/2025 12.44, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <100l2ks$2ubig$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance˙ <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/21/25 12:55 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <100kria$2r2j0$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance˙ <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
A national media conglomerate[1] put out a summer reading list,
aided by
AI. But...
"In fact, only the last five of the 15 novels on the list are real." >>>>> https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chicago-sun-times-ai-reading-list/
For example:
- Since only 5 of them actually exist, you're done when you read those
5. If you want to read more than 5 books, you can choose whatever you
want to read for book 6 and beyond.
Maybe a better list would be
˙˙˙˙The Necronomicon
˙˙˙˙The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
˙˙˙˙Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie
˙˙˙˙Misery's Return
Douglas Adams refers repeatedly to _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
In Poul Anderson's massive future history, Hloch of Stormgate Choth (on Avalon) wrote their _Earh Book_, which gave its name to a real-life collection of tales in that setting.
In John Brunner's _Stand on Zanzibar_, Chad Mulligan wrote _The
Hipcrime Vocab_, which plays a prominent role in the story.
(RAH mentions "Boyd and Asimov" in, I believe, _Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel_, but that's a real textbook.)
Frank Herbert's _Dune_ features quotes from _The Orange Catholic Bible_.
HPL and Clark Ashton Smith both refer to _The Necronomicon_
There are a couple of works mentioned in Doc Smith:
- _Some Observations Upon Certain Properties of Certain Metals,
˙ Including Trans-Uranic Elements_, Richard Ballinger Seaton (non-fiction)
- Sybly Whyte's pot-boiler never, as far as I can recall, got a name
I'd bet that _The Name of the Rose_ has a few titles, but I don't feel
like skimming it. What about Borges (whom I've never read), or PKD?
In article <100n4aj$3esfe$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/22/25 1:02 AM, Robert Woodward wrote:
In article <m96ho6Fq177U1@mid.individual.net>,
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:
After a segue into fictional titles mentioned in fiction...
Maybe a better list would be
The Necronomicon
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie
Misery's Return
I am afraid that I don't recognize the 3rd and 4th titles.
The 3rd is from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes. It's a nighttime book
that Calvin's Dad has read to him a thousand times, but Calvin still
insists.
The 4th is from Stephen King's "Misery". When the author of a popular
series kills the protagonist (Misery), a deranged fan kidnaps the author
and forces him to write "Misery's Return".
I can add
another title, _Dire Dawn_ (though I suspect that not many people have
read the novel that mentioned it)
Where does that one come from?
Tony
H. Beam Piper's _Ullr Uprising_, see https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?540473
On 2025-05-22, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
Maybe a better list would be
=20
The Necronomicon
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie
Misery's Return
Douglas Adams refers repeatedly to _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
[...]
Then there is Kilgore Trout's _Venus on the Half-Shell_.
On 5/21/25 1:44 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <100l2ks$2ubig$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance˙ <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/21/25 12:55 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <100kria$2r2j0$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance˙ <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
A national media conglomerate[1] put out a summer reading list,
aided by
AI. But...
"In fact, only the last five of the 15 novels on the list are real." >>>>> https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chicago-sun-times-ai-reading-list/ >>>>>
Easiest, or... hardest?
I see your point, but optimist that I am, I'm gonna stick to "easiest".
For example:
- Since only 5 of them actually exist, you're done when you read those
5. If you want to read more than 5 books, you can choose whatever you
want to read for book 6 and beyond.
- If you've been assigned this list for the summer[1], any reports you
write for the 10 nonexistent ones will not have content mistakes![2]
Tony
[1] Back in the day, at least, some places used
national/pre-packaged/external lists to assign summer reading - for
example, say, lists that were provided by national media conglomerates.
[2] Though of course, everything else teachers evaluate is still fair
game.
Maybe a better list would be
˙˙˙˙The Necronomicon
˙˙˙˙The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
˙˙˙˙Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie
˙˙˙˙Misery's Return
Ha! I'd read #3 in a heartbeat, as well as all its sequels.
A national media conglomerate[1] put out a summer reading list, aided by
AI. But...
"In fact, only the last five of the 15 novels on the list are real." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chicago-sun-times-ai-reading-list/
Fake Andy Weir, but real Rad Bradbury.
Tony
[1] "A freelance writer for King Features, a company owned by media conglomerate Hearst, produced the content for distribution in various
media outlets including the Sun-Times."
On Thu, 22 May 2025 18:29:44 -0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
On 2025-05-22, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
Douglas Adams refers repeatedly to _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
[...]
Then there is Kilgore Trout's _Venus on the Half-Shell_.
I actually owned that in MMPB for a while,
No, really. It is part of an obscure sub-genre that includes /The Iron
Dream/ by A. Schikelgruber. Which I also owned a MMPB of,
On 5/22/25 1:50 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
In Poul Anderson's massive future history, Hloch of Stormgate Choth (on
Avalon) wrote their _Earh Book_, which gave its name to a real-life
collection of tales in that setting.
In John Brunner's _Stand on Zanzibar_, Chad Mulligan wrote _The
Hipcrime Vocab_, which plays a prominent role in the story.
(RAH mentions "Boyd and Asimov" in, I believe, _Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel_, but that's a real textbook.)
Frank Herbert's _Dune_ features quotes from _The Orange Catholic Bible_.
HPL and Clark Ashton Smith both refer to _The Necronomicon_
There are a couple of works mentioned in Doc Smith:
- _Some Observations Upon Certain Properties of Certain Metals,
˙˙ Including Trans-Uranic Elements_, Richard Ballinger Seaton (non-fiction) >> - Sybly Whyte's pot-boiler never, as far as I can recall, got a name
I'd bet that _The Name of the Rose_ has a few titles, but I don't feel
like skimming it. What about Borges (whom I've never read), or PKD?
Nice list!
Speaking of Dune, there's also all the stuff quoted from Princess Irulan's "Manual of Muad Dib" (or whatever she called it).
There's also The Encyclopedia Galactica from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books.
"The Princess Bride" is the "good parts" version of a longer work by S Morganstern.
And I think "There and Back Again" from The Lord of the Rings fits.
On 23/05/2025 08.43, Tony Nance wrote:(on
On 5/22/25 1:50 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
Douglas Adams refers repeatedly to _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
In Poul Anderson's massive future history, Hloch of Stormgate Choth =
Bible_.Avalon) wrote their _Earh Book_, which gave its name to a real-life
collection of tales in that setting.
In John Brunner's _Stand on Zanzibar_, Chad Mulligan wrote _The
Hipcrime Vocab_, which plays a prominent role in the story.
(RAH mentions "Boyd and Asimov" in, I believe, _Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel_, but that's a real textbook.)
Frank Herbert's _Dune_ features quotes from _The Orange Catholic =
feel
HPL and Clark Ashton Smith both refer to _The Necronomicon_
There are a couple of works mentioned in Doc Smith:
- _Some Observations Upon Certain Properties of Certain Metals,
=A0=A0 Including Trans-Uranic Elements_, Richard Ballinger Seaton = (non-fiction)
- Sybly Whyte's pot-boiler never, as far as I can recall, got a name
I'd bet that _The Name of the Rose_ has a few titles, but I don't =
Irulan's "Manual of Muad Dib" (or whatever she called it).like skimming it. What about Borges (whom I've never read), or PKD?=20
Nice list!
Thanks!
Speaking of Dune, there's also all the stuff quoted from Princess =
Foundation books.=20
There's also The Encyclopedia Galactica=A0from Isaac Asimov=92s =
A couple of good catches there.image of a
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to an =
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to = recovering
it, though.
Morganstern."The Princess Bride" is the "good parts" version of a longer work by S=
Westmarch_, though.=20
And I think "There and Back Again" from The Lord of the Rings fits.
That's just a sub-title for _The Hobbit_. Maybe _The Red Book of =
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to an image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to recovering
it, though.
On 23/05/2025 08.43, Tony Nance wrote:
On 5/22/25 1:50 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
Nice list!I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to an image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to recovering
it, though.
"The Princess Bride" is the "good parts" version of a longer workby S Morganstern.
And I think "There and Back Again" from The Lord of the Rings fits.
That's just a sub-title for _The Hobbit_. Maybe _The Red Book of
Westmarch_, though.
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to anDo you mean, a bookshelf that appears to contain
image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to recovering
it, though.
On 24/05/2025 16:01, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to anDo you mean, a bookshelf that appears to contain
image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to recovering
it, though.
books which are only titles mentioned in reasonably
well-known fiction? Like Terry Pratchett's
"Necrotelicomnicon" / "Liber Paginarum Fulvarum"
(Book of Yellow Pages).
Its wiki entry digresses that "Ye Tantric Booke of
Sexe Magicke" is kept in a refrigerated cell at the
bottom of a vat of crushed ice. So, shouldn't be
on the shelf, unless seen smouldering.
On the other hand, characters in Phil and Kaja
Foglio's _Girl Genius_ webcomic are ardent
bibliophiles. If not in the story, then
some out-of-sequence illustrations, I think,
had interesting book titles, either their own,
or borrowed from Asimov etc. But the comic is in
thousands of pages.
Here's the start of an out-of-sequence story
involving dragons and librarians - dragons also
are bibliophiles, it seems. Anything you can
?horse, I suppose. But light on book titles near
the start.
<https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20220826>
On 23/05/2025 08.43, Tony Nance wrote:
On 5/22/25 1:50 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
˙Douglas Adams refers repeatedly to _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
(an ebook) in the novel of the same name, and in its successors.
In Poul Anderson's massive future history, Hloch of Stormgate Choth (on
Avalon) wrote their _Earh Book_, which gave its name to a real-life
collection of tales in that setting.
In John Brunner's _Stand on Zanzibar_, Chad Mulligan wrote _The
Hipcrime Vocab_, which plays a prominent role in the story.
(RAH mentions "Boyd and Asimov" in, I believe, _Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel_, but that's a real textbook.)
Frank Herbert's _Dune_ features quotes from _The Orange Catholic Bible_. >>>
HPL and Clark Ashton Smith both refer to _The Necronomicon_
There are a couple of works mentioned in Doc Smith:
- _Some Observations Upon Certain Properties of Certain Metals,
˙˙ Including Trans-Uranic Elements_, Richard Ballinger Seaton (non-
fiction)
- Sybly Whyte's pot-boiler never, as far as I can recall, got a name
I'd bet that _The Name of the Rose_ has a few titles, but I don't feel
like skimming it. What about Borges (whom I've never read), or PKD?
Nice list!
Thanks!
Speaking of Dune, there's also all the stuff quoted from Princess
Irulan's "Manual of Muad Dib" (or whatever she called it).
There's also The Encyclopedia Galactica from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation >> books.
A couple of good catches there.
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to an
image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to recovering
it, though.
"The Princess Bride" is the "good parts" version of a longer work by S
Morganstern.
And I think "There and Back Again" from The Lord of the Rings fits.
That's just a sub-title for _The Hobbit_. Maybe _The Red Book of
Westmarch_, though.
I would have sworn that, some years back, somebody linked here to an
image of a
bookshelf filled with fictitious titles. My search skills aren't up to
recovering
it, though.
Yes! I remember that too, but I can't find it either.
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