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A girl builds fairy houses to escape her home life
I read this book in the mid-2000s, maybe 2006?, in the USA. It was in English, and it was a paperback middle-grade chapter book, maybe 200 pages long.
The main character is a girl who learns to build fairy houses from someone significant in her…
Reader12
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Why is there so much legalese in Egil's Saga?
Egil's Saga, often thought to have been written by famed Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson, appears to be a heroic family history.
It differs from other sagas and, indeed, from other work by Sturluson, because it includes a wealth of detail on the…
Matt Thrower
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8
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Can a ceiling have a front door that had once been a front door?
Pooh and Piglet and Owl had a chat in Owl's house but it was blown down.
Pooh sat on the floor which had once been a wall, and gazed up at the ceiling which had once been another wall, with a front door in it which had once been a front door, and…
Yuuichi Tam
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Of what veil does Thoreau speak and what does he mean by being missing in this passage from "A Plea for Captain John Brown"?
In A Plea for Captain John Brown, Thoreau writes:
This event advertises me that there is such a fact as death—the possibility of a man’s dying. It seems as if no man had ever died in America before; for in order to die you must first have lived. I…
John Smith
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Why did Yusuf's father have a silver rupee in his pocket?
At one point in Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Yusuf stole a coin from his father's jacket pocket, which ended up being a "silver Rupee." I'm aware of Indian rupees, but they're currently definitely not made out of silver. In fact, if I'm reading…
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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How to Interpret a mention of Tolstoy in "Revenge Fable" by Ted Hughes?
Tolstoy appears in one of Ted Hughes' Crow poems, called Revenge Fable.
Here is the first half of the poem (bolded, full text here):
Revenge Fable
There was a person
Could not get rid of his mother
As if he were her topmost twig.
So he pounded and…
HeyJude
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8
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Why does Wemmick bring a fishing-rod on his "walk" with Pip?
In chapter 55 of Great Expectations, Wemmick invites Pip to go on a morning walk with him. As they are leaving Wemmick's house, Pip narrates that:
I was considerably surprised to see Wemmick take up a fishing-rod, and put it over his shoulder.…
DLosc
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How culturally mixed were the Earth ambassadors in Hard to Be a God?
Anton, aka "Don Rumata of Estor", is Russian.
Pashka, aka "Don Hug, first groom of the chamber of his lordship the Duke of Irukan", is Russian.
Alexander Vassilevitch, aka "Don Kondor, Supreme Judge and Keeper of the Great Seal of the Mercantile…
Rand al'Thor
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Does Kvothe ever use the bed Auri prepared for him?
In Slow Regard of Silent Things, one of the gifts Auri prepares for Kvothe is a bed of his own near hers in the Underthing, along with a candle and a kiss.
I've just finished a re-read of both The Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear, and while I…
user25
8
votes
3 answers
Should this word in Hard to Be a God be translated as "arbalest" or "crossbow"?
In this answer edit, someone changed my translation of a word "арбалет" as used in Strugatsky's Russian text of Hard to be a God from the one I used ("arbalest") to "crossbow".
In the context of translating the book (Hard to Be a God, by Strugatsky…
DVK
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Does Nick love Gatsby?
I recently asked this question: What is the significance of Nick being gay in the Great Gatsby?
In the time before I got an answer I arrived to a conclusion similar to what answerer (@Peter Shor) did. That is, Nick's homosexuality/sexual ambiguity…
iceninja21
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8
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2 answers
What is the "unavoidably-raised ax of history over every person's head"?
Chapter 6 of Sweet Darusya referred to the "unavoidably-raised ax of history over every person's head". What does this phrase mean?
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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8
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Was the Stung Man based on an existing character from Egyptian mythology?
The Stung Man is the antagonist of Book of the Dead, the first TombQuest book. He's got an... Interesting backstory.
The Stung Man wasn't called the Stung Man at that point, not yet. Everyone gets their nickname for a reason.
As the pharaoh's men…
Mithical
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A play in which the characters murder the author
The following sentence appears on p.26, Chapter 2 of Walter Frisch's Music in the Nineteenth Century:
In one play by Ludwig Tieck, the characters gang up at the end and
murder the author.
However, no further reference is given as to which play it…
Joseph
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8
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1 answer
Meaning of "Your pin wad help to mend a mill" in "Address to a Haggis"
From "Address to a Haggis" by Robert Burns:
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
I think I've managed to get…
Pete
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