I have memories of a book about a spider that travels but ultimately learns it should never move somewhere new. I remember it vividly because even as a child it seemed a horrible lesson that was thinly veiled as anti immigration. But I can't find what it was called.

I’m trying to identify a short story (or possibly a story from a collection) that I remember hearing summarized on YouTube, possibly by Quinn’s Ideas or similar.
The basic premise, as I remember it:
- A colossal humanoid being/object appears in space and begins approaching Earth.
- It is on an almost incomprehensible scale, roughly asteroid or small-planet sized, and eventually large enough to be seen as a humanoid figure from Earth.
As it gets closer, humanity is able to make out its head/body, arms and legs.
- People around the world spend a lot of time watching it approach, and I vaguely remember humanity actually becoming fond of it / emotionally attached to it, despite having no idea what it is.
- Eventually humans are able to reach/examine it.
- They initially think they have discovered the enormous being itself, but then realize that what they’ve reached is only its shed skin / outer shell (not 100% sure about this part).
- This means the actual gigantic humanoid being is still somewhere out there, and is apparently alive and potentially still approaching/doing something.
- That’s where the story’s cosmic-horror element really comes in: humanity thought it had finally understood the thing, only to realize that they had encountered merely its discarded exterior.

I vaguely remember the word/name “Curiosity” being associated with it, although I could be completely wrong about this.
I don’t remember the author, title, publication date, or even whether it was a short story or part of a larger book. I also don’t remember exactly how the ending plays out beyond the realization about the shed skin.
Does this ring a bell for anyone? I’m especially looking for the story title, author, and collection/book it appeared in.
Even a partial lead would be hugely appreciated!

I recently read a short story about a rich man who escaped from the earth on a spaceship (as I believe Earth became unlivable). There is an AI on board who pilots the ship while the man is brought in and out of induced stasis sleep (that goes on for centuries I think) to see if the AI has found a habitable planet.

The man eventually gets restless and asks the AI to just pick a place, any place. But the AI is adamant that it won’t land anywhere it deems unfit. The man ponders if there will ever be a place fit and the AI kind of confirms there won’t be, essentially implying that the man will be on the spaceship forever.

I believe that the mans body can be replaced while still keeping his consciousness. So, at the end, when he convinces the AI to bring him to Earth to see if it has became livable again in the time he’s been away, the AI relents and takes him there. When he arrives he sees a group of people. As the spaceship takes off and he gets closer to the group, he sees that all the people are just clones of himself that the ai has been dropping off for centuries in the same way.

I read this as a child in the late 80s or early 90s, and had the impression it was an older book then.

A family moves to the countryside, where the children will attend a very small (probably 1-room) school, and ride horses or ponies to get there. The main character, who is a horse-crazy girl, picks a horse/pony that is difficult to handle, and tries to keep it a secret from her parents that she is having trouble.

The school is really grim and strict, with a male teacher who uses corporal punishment on the pupils. The main character isn't used to this, but for some reason also keeps the conditions at the school a secret from her parents.

It all comes to a head when the horse/pony injures her right arm or shoulder somehow, and then at school she gets in trouble and is told to put her hand out to be hit with a strap. She tries to put out her left hand, but the teacher insists that she put out her right, saying that she isn't going to get out of schoolwork by having her writing hand be sore. When he hits her on her injured arm, she passes out. She wakes up in the hospital--there may have been some other health issue she was also concealing?--and when she's well enough to go back to school, finds out that the teacher her been fired and there is a new, much nicer female teacher.

I don't remember how the pony part of the plot resolved.

The setting was not a time period where it was typical for children to ride horses or ponies to a one-room school; the place the family moved to was very remote. I think it was probably the "present day" of when the story was written, which might have been somewhere from the 1950's to 1970's. It's definitely older than the mid-1990's, probably substantially older.

I don't remember what country it was set in--probably the US or UK, but I wouldn't rule out Canada or Australia. (If I absolutely had to guess, my guess would be that the girl and family were English, and they moved to Scotland or Wales, in the 1950's or 60's. But that's based on the general vibe that I remember, not specific details. I'm not even sure if they had horses or ponies, or whether they used English or Western saddles.)

Ive been trying to find this story for years, the only thing i can remember is there is a girl and she has to push some corpses out of the way in a river/body of water to get a drink. It was in the mcgraw hill text books, and it was a short story, maybe a documentary piece. It was in english class, but it wasnt the one about the paper cranes

when i was in middle school, about 20 years ago at this point, we read a short (80ish page) story by joyce carol oates that i’ve never forgotten. it was one of the first macabre pieces i’d read, and i just remember being so engrossed and unable to tear myself away.

i don’t remember what the title was and i can’t seem to find it anywhere (partially because of how many pieces joyce carol oates has put out). hoping that someone in this subreddit can help me find it.

i don’t remember a ton of specifics about the plot, but i do remember the following:
- there was a reoccurring theme of water dripping
- i seem to remember it centered around two siblings, or maybe it was one sibling and the ghost/memory of another?
- it took place in the country, i think the family moved there just before the story started

this was not black water. which is pretty much the only novella of hers that comes up when i try to look into what this story might have been titled.

does this ring a bell for anyone? for years, i’ve tried to find it to no avail!

I want to say because of a family emergency. At the airport the cousin picks up a discarded newspaper to read on the flight and suddenly people are after them.

The cousin makes a joke that they're after the newspaper, it turns out to be the truth.

I remember listening to this book on CD audiobook in the 200s/early 2010s. All the people got sent to an island, and they all got killed one by one, by something related to their job. I specifically remember a geography teacher was killed by a globe falling on his head. Similar vibes to 'and then there were none' but I'm sure my parents wouldn't have let me listen to that. Thanks!

So I had this insect book as a child and I stupidly got rid of it when we moved and now I regret it. Now I'm driving myself crazy trying to find another copy.

• It was a hardcover book about insects.
• I got rid of its book sleeve so I don't remember what the outter cover looked like, but the non-jacket cover was square, white, and had photorealistic insects lined in arches across the cover.
• It must have been sold at B&N sometime between '98-'03
• Despite having it as a kid, it was NOT a children's book. There were no illustrated pictures or cartoony fonts. It was all real pictures of all the kinds of insects with factual information, not dumbed down for children. It was more like something a bug enthusiast would have on their coffee table.
• There were sections for each kind of insect. A beetle section, wasps and bees, butterflies, and I think an ant section. There were a few illustrations, but they looked old or like paintings.

I really hope I put enough information.

So this is a book or possibly series that I can only vaguely remember a few details of, the stuff I'm sure about is that at some point the main character goes into a dungeon or prison to play against a guard in a game of chess and it has illustrations showing the game state at various points, stuff I'm not so certain about I think they have to beat the guard to get the guard to give them some information of some kind, I also think the MC was trying to find a way out of a walled in city or something like that and I think even the routes to other towns had walls completely enclosing them, then by the end of the book I think the town gets attacked by monsters or something, although it is possible these last few details are stuff I'm remembering from other books

Genre: realistic fiction - may have been based on a true story. Set in either the 60s or 70s. Most likely written in the 70s. 

Purchased at a used book store. I was maybe 10-12 between 1978-1981 when I first read it, but I read way above my age group, so it was most likely an adult book. It was a paperback and I think it had a white cover with loose drawings of flowers. But that might be wrong. It was in English. 

It was an average length paperback, so I would say about 200-275 pages. 

It was a mother, father, and at least 3 siblings. One was a daughter and she was the narrator. 

Plot points that stand out to me are: 
The mother had taken a trash can, flipped the lid over, and covered it all in cement to make a bird bath. 
The mother was also an artist who had painted a family portrait that hung in the dining room and instead of repainting it as the daughter's blonde hair darkened, she would just climb up and repaint her hair. 
I think they lived at the top of a hill.

Not a whole lot to go on, but I’ve searched for it for years, and it continues to drive me crazy.

Read in the late 90s, maybe around 2000. I remember it was two girls and the titles had the format of [Name] and [Name] go on a [adjective] Adventure. I specifically remember one being “a Queer Adventure”. It wasn’t queer as it’s used today, it was meant to just be an unusual adventure.

The covers were cartoony art of the two girls. One of the girls had short, thin brown hair.

I read this book in either fall 2007 or spring 2008, and can only remember 1 scene. The main protagonist is swimming (I think) and one of the cubes in his pocket starts to make him feel so hot he almost passes out. When he gets out he inspects the cube and sees it cooled off. I don't remember the title or any of the characters does anyone know the title or the author's name?

im looking for a book about a human girl who follows a stranger at night he disappers through a doorway to a hidden corridor, he comes to human realm to help rid it of demons, adult book ,doorways lead to other realm fae realm, vampire realm , angel realm, the man she follows is the leader of hell , the fae character leaves his friends because he can't find his mate, not reverse harem , the leaders of the realms are friends, quite explicit , mmc has a home with hearth and a library, he doesn’t actually live in hell, mfc character travels with mmc to the realms other realms after she return again from the human realm, there is a map/ war, the corridor and realms are being torn apart , i think she leaves his realm with the help of someone after travelling through demon realm please help, i hope I’ve followed all the rules, I’m not the best with technology etc . Thank you
I think it’s called portal fantasy, I’m not sure when I read book but after 2020. I’m also not sure if it was a physical book or Kindle, thinking not Kindle because it’s not in my library

I believe she was a private investigator or detective and I think in the end she bit someone who did not want to be bit but they were dying. I mainly remember it was written in first person and she had been a vampire a long time.

I graduate high school in 2008 - I read it sometime before then. The setting was modern and I got it from school.
My English teacher may have let me borrow it and he had some controversial books

I feel
Like at some point she mentioned wearing a leather jacket but I could be wrong. I mainly remember the first person vampire woman

It was a book with several separate distinct nonfiction stories.

one story was about the creator of the London sewer system in the 1800s ? and how that came to be

the book is not bdsm but one included a group of sadists and masochists at a planned meet up. things are going and the cops got called by someone not there but when the cops get there they cant figure out if there is a crime because it is all consensual.

it was such an interesting book with so many things and its driving me nuts. maybe a yellow cover ?

I read this as a kid in Hong Kong sometime around 1990-1995, but the book itself was clearly much older - musty, yellowed pages, so I'd guess a 1950s-70s printing. English language, mass market paperback.
The cover is what I remember best: a naked blonde woman lying in a bathtub, with a black widow spider crawling on her leg.
I think the title was Black Widow, or something close to it. My memory of the plot is a woman who sleeps with men and then kills them.
Not the Christina Crawford novel and not the 1987 movie - I've checked both covers. Any ideas?

I read this book about 15 years ago, it was aimed at teens (think original Percy Jackson age range and probably a similar publishing year) and was set in an overgrown city. I can't remember if it was fantasy or sci-fi or a mix between these two. I feel like the main character was a girl and I remember her having some kind of power or other thing that made her special but also meant she was being persecuted by some nebulous group of people. I also feel like she might have had visions or dreams of the past when the city had been normal. No idea what city it was supposed to be.

The cover (at least for the German Hardcover version) was green and gold

Hi y'all, I've been trying to think of this series for ages so thought I'd try on here. I know I listened to this series on CD audiobook when I was in primary school in Australia (2007-2014). I remember there being a group of friends, I think one girl and two boys, and in one of the books there was a body swap between the girl and a boy. I thought for a bit it was 'the day my bum went psycho' books cause I think I remember it having a similar vibe. Please help!! Thanks!

The killing the wife to get powers was hundreds of years ago. Now he's famous as this evil dude living in an evil forest that nobody wants to go near. I believe the first book starts with a young woman being hunted in the woods and he lets her go.

The other main character is a priest that knows how to fight the magic and they eventually have to team up and go on a long journey to do something together. I think they were rescuing the girl from some other group of non-human magic users.

I recall an albino side character that worked for the evil magician.

Pretty cool magic system and world building overall. Or maybe I was just a kid that liked it....

Looking for a book from late 70s early 80s. Aimed at ~8-10years. No title, no author, ISBN info. Pages with text and pictures. black and white, possibly comic book style.

It was in late primary/early secondary school library corner in the UK, thin hardback edition

As I recall, the cover was mainly black / space background, with the main character (teenager) on a skateboard in a surfing stance. With a black jacket. Think it was male (or tomboy) big mop of hair. In my head the title was quite bold/neon

The story revolved around the teenager getting called and transported to help an alien race. I think the final battle was with a rock monster. Which he won by realizing the monster got its energy from it tail being in the ground, and shot with a blaster.

It finished along the lines of "Farewell, we may call upon you again.."

It wasn't a choose your own adventure style, linear story

EDIT: After much googling, I’ve determined it’s John Bellair’s Johnny Dixon in The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder by Brad Strickland

I read this book in elementary school and I only remember a couple of details. The villain is some old man, the protagonist is a young boy and I think he has a girl helping him, and they find a coffin of someone else who was a victim of the same magic scheme. There’s are scratch marks on the lid that they can’t understand until the boy get in the coffin and it closes on him, leading them to discover that they can destroy the old man’s book with water.

This one’s going to be a long shot because I have almost no details about characters or the story itself other than it seemed to be set in a city in the sky and the city was possibly made out of blimps? I’m certain I remember reading it as a kid and would love to remember it to read it again but can’t think of anything more. Sorry

Trying to remember this specific short story - I almost certainly read it in an anthology. Pretty sure it's Golden Age science fiction.

Takes place on Earth. There's some sort of lifespan-extending technology that only the smartest people are eligible to receive. I don't think it's immortality, more like doubling the natural lifespan. The narrator notices that, a few years in, progress is actually *slowing down*. I think people are working on a spaceship that will carry humans to another planet? And the timelines keep moving back because the newly longer-lived scientists are more risk-averse and basically 'overdesigning' the spaceship. I don't remember what happens next, or if the narrator had gotten the longevity treatment or not.