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Is the cliffhanger at the end of "First among sequels" resolved?
The book "First among Sequels" ends on a cliffhanger. The protagonist, Thursday Next, has to run for her life, to escape an impending fire.
The next book in the series, "One of Our Thursdays is Missing", has her counterpart Thursday5 investigate a…
Vixen Populi
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What does 'Gilead' mean in The Raven?
Poe's poem The Raven contains the following words in the fifteenth stanza:
[...] tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!"
What does 'Gilead' mean here? I've looked it up on the internet, but…
Rand al'Thor
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Does the description of Eustace's parents fit some known stereotype?
In the opening paragraph of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis introduces us to the (at this point in the story) singularly unlikeable character of Eustace Clarence Scrubb. About his parents, we read the following short summary:
He didn't…
Rand al'Thor
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18
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What are the Riddle Rules?
In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, while Bilbo is in the cave and has the ring, he and Gollum end up asking each other riddles. After the exchange, Gollum or Bilbo mentions some riddle rules. These rules, as far as I can remember, are not…
DForck42
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What is this mid-20th century British adventure novel?
I’d like help finding a novel I loved as a child. The points I can remember:
It was set and written in mid-20th century England, perhaps the 1950s.
Perhaps aimed at schoolchildren of the time - a little older than the average Enid Blyton book
A man…
U W
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18
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Why did the alexandrine become the "natural" metre for French verse drama, whereas English renaissance drama adopted the iambic pentameter?
We previously had a question asking Were all of Shakespeare's plays fully in iambic pentameter?, but of course, it wasn't just Shakespeare who used iambic pentameter; it became the prevalent metre in English poetry and drama around the middle of the…
Tsundoku
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Why does Robert Frost contradict himself in "The Road Not Taken"
In Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" (which you can read online), the narrator gives two contradictory reasons for taking a particular fork in the road.
At the beginning of the poem, the narrator emphasizes that both roads are essentially…
user111
18
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1 answer
Is this hypothesis about the significance of the name "Denna" in the Kingkiller Chronicle supported by the text?
There's a somewhat popular theory about The Kingkiller Chronicle, which is that the name "Denna" derives from the use of denner resin, and its addictive properties.
The theory branches two directions: the first speculates that the name is supposed…
user80
18
votes
1 answer
What did Suzanne Collins base the Hunger Games on?
Authors tend to pull a lot of ideas or write stories based on other works. After reading the novel Battle Royal, I saw lots of similarities between it and the Hunger Games. Do we know of anything that Suzanne Collins based The Hunger Games on?
Himarm
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Was C. S. Lewis condemning nuclear weapons in The Magician's Nephew?
Aslan says the following in The Magician's Nephew:
"It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old…
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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18
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To what effect does Goldman claim The Princess Bride is an abridgement?
This question was inspired by this question, which asks about the history of one work claiming itself as an adaptation or abridgment of another. In The Princess Bride by William Goldman, the author claims that it is an abridgment of a work by the…
Benjamin
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18
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Was there a reason Room 101 was called Room 101?
Was the room named after anything significant? It seems odd to me that he would name such an important piece of the novel after nothing, but maybe I am just looking too hard.
Matrim Cauthon
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What order should I read the "Ender's game" series in?
Ender's Game is a very large epic science-fiction series by Orson Scott Card. To quote wikipedia:
It currently consists of fifteen novels, thirteen short stories, 47 comic issues, an audioplay, and a film.
With so many books, it's overwhelming to…
DJMcMayhem
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18
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Why does Prof. Van Helsing abort his plan to mutilate Lucy's body?
In Chapter 13 of Dracula, after Lucy Westenra has died and they are making funeral plans, Prof. Van Helsing mentions to Jack Seward that he plans to secretly cut off Lucy's head and remove her heart. Although he doesn't provide much explanation,…
Time4Tea
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Overpopulated world, where volunteers are being taken to be converted to food
I've read a lot of stories over the years, and Google is not being kind to my search terms (it probably flagged something with NSA or Homeland Security, too).
The book I'm thinking of is set in an alternate reality, in the future for when it was…
ps2goat
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