What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Adult Science Fiction. Telepathic, egg-like entity called Ohm/ Om? on distant moon, trying to connect with Mother/ Mothership. Sad & haunting, isolation & abandonment, waiting. Few characters. Classic novel from English Teacher in UK. Read around 1981.
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Sarah
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Mar 16, 2023 03:58PM
Other books given to me to read by my teacher include: Lord of The Flies, Animal Farm, Midwych Cuckoos, Space Odyssey and Rama. Please can anyone help my to find the book’s title?
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Can you describe the setting? main characters?
Hi Kris! ThankYou so much for commenting! It’s a good question that you raise! I was twelve years old at the time that my English Teacher in the UK handed me this set of reading books for the Summer holiday in between transitioning from my Middle School to my Grammar School. So some of the books were written for adults by were acceptable for young people too Eg Lord Of The Flies/Animal Farm etc.
The environment/setting was on a distant moon. The novel was quite haunting and left such an impression on me that still now, 4 decades after reading it, I’m still searching for it and would LOVE to read it again as a mature adult.
The “quest” of the novel as I recall was of the egg-like entity (Om/Ohm) to reconnect with its Mother or Mothership…there was definitely some communication via telepathy…
I recall feeling the isolation and abandonment felt by this being..I’m
Sorry but I’ve got very little else to gov by. I wouldn’t necessarily have been a recently written book at the time that my English Teacher gave me the set of books..I know from some of the others books he gave me by Isaac Asimov, Heorhe Orwell and William
Golding that each were classics in their own rights and my teacher was clearly wanting me to be challeniand absorbed for the summer! (I was an advanced reader in my school
Year!) sorry that sounds immodest but I’m just trying to help you help me to find this book! Thank you Kris! 🙏🏻
Thank you for your suggestion. I’ve checked out Maurice Gee’s Trilogy but sadly these are not the books. In the book that I’m referring to, there are very few characters if I recall correctly. There was telepathy thought communication but little conversation. O/Ohm was trying to reconnect to it’s Mother/Mothership.Your suggested books looked really hopeful because of their matches with these references but it’s not them.
ESP/psychic powers children's/YA fiction list to check.https://www.librarything.com/list/736...
What year exactly did you read it?
Was it new or older?
Thank you all for your help!I was given this set of books to read when I was twelve years old so in 1981..I was quite an advanced and avid reader. You’ll note from some of the other books that my teacher selected, they weren’t all contemporary reads and I would class them all as classics in their respective genres..
Thank you booke…I’ve traveled through the ESP/physics I powers list of hood and read their reviews/blurbs and the book isn’t in this list - thank you making this suggestion though!
Ii don’t think that the book was specifically written for a Teen/YP audience..if this helps? It was quite a sad and haunting book: one of isolation and abandonment and patience waiting to be found/rescued/returned/restored…I don’t recall there being many characters although maybe over the years, I’ve forgotten them.The egg-like Om/Ohm might have aroused interest from others who wished to understand it but the communications I recall were through telepathy and of finding a remote reply..
OK great feedback. You may want to add "Adult fiction" to the beginning of your subject line. My speciality is more children's/YA. I just tried Google Books search for telepath mothership. Restrict by years 1950-1981. You might find something.
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Hi booke & Kris, I’ve been scouring lost upon list of possible novels following on from suggestions but nothing is coming close in any of the blurbs that I’ve read…it’s really bizarre because ALL of the other books in the set that my English Teacher gave me to read all those summers ago are all well known and “classics” in their respective genres so it would be logical to conclude that this book is/was also but while other novels appear repeatedly in my searches, this one still alludes me! I’m wracking my brain to try to remember anything that will help me with my search but all I can recall is the vast egg-like entity called Om or Ohm who was isolated and alone on some planet/moon that was trying to reconnect with its Mother/Mothership via telepathy…
Is it something by a different author to the others? Ray Bradbury etc?
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Thank you Bookel for the suggestion of Ray Bradbury as the possible author: I’ve reviewed all of his books and sadly the novel that I’m looking for isn’t one of Ray’s (although there’s a couple of his novels that I definitely want to read now that I’ve read their blurbs so thank you for introducing me to them!).Kris, from what I remember the Om/Ohm was like a giant (as in REALLY HUGE..building size ++) egg..it was mysterious because it was completely smooth but impenetrably hard… I THINK it was located on a distant planet’s moon. I think that there must have been some kind of human/extraterrestrial being in the book for it to have been discovered and it’s existence/nature/origin contemplated. However this/these characters would have almost been incidental because at the heart of the book was the story of Om/Ohm’s internal thought contemplations as to where “he” was and why he was there and where his “mother”/“mothership” was…
Larry Niven, author to check. https://www.librarything.com/author/n...I know nothing about his, only came up in search results, at least one used in schools.
Sarah, you mentioned this as one of a "set" of books -- was it truly a set, like all from the same publisher with similar-style covers, for example? Or do you just mean that it and the other titles were given to you as a group by your teacher?
If the book was a classic, as the others you mention seem to be, you might look at this list of classic new-wave SF from 1964-1973: https://www.hilobrow.com/new-wave-sci...Can you remember anything about the cover? Do you recall if the book was short, medium, long, humungous?
Hello Bookel: I checked out all of Larry Niven’s novels (thank you for the suggestions) - none of his appear to be the book that I’m looking for: but it’s a few more crossed off my list which is still progress so thank you! Hello Michel: sorry if my description was confusing! To explain: the book that I’m looking for was not one of a set, rather it was a book in a collection of books that my English Teacher gave to me. The only set in the collection was the Rama set.
I’ve just trawled through a list of too sci-go books to read and ALL of the other books I remember reading from the collection of books are listed here EXCEPT for the one that I’m still searching fo! Thank you for the suggested list of classic sci-fi novels - I’ll have a trek through these and let you know if I come across the book or ANYTHING that might help solve the mystery!
I don’t recall the book as being a big book (& certainly not humungous lol!)..the collection of stories/books that I was given varied in length. This boo, I recall as being relatively short.
Thank you all so much for supporting me on my missio! Sarah 😊
Short
Hello Michele,Thank you for the suggested list of novels. I’ve just read the description for every book I’m the list and there isn’t one that lends itself to being anywhere near close to the book that I’m searching for…still it’s another few and a whole era of classic sci-fo novels crossed off my list so many thanks for helping me to achieve that! Do you have any further suggestions?
I’ve checked out the authors of the other books from the collection of books given to me and they’re all from a similar era ie mostly born in the early 20th Century..is this s significant clue? By the time that I was given a book by each of the respective authors, the books were ALL recognised as best-sellers/award winners/classics (now)…
I have not read this, but I went wandering around and came up with Ender’s Game.While it was published as a novel in 1985, it began its life as a short story, and I'm wondering if that is what you may have read initially? Apparently there is an egg-like creature whose mother is the Queen, and the Queen telepathically communicates with the main character. More depth is on the Wikipedia page for the book.
This is the one for the short story and shows the books/magazines it was also included in:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%2...
Many covers, see here. https://www.librarything.com/work/825...I have not read it either but it is considered well known now I think ...
Hello Sara and Bookel,Thank you for your kind suggestions of both the novel and novella: I’ve checked out both (& the helpful book covers too Bookel) but neither of these is the book that I’m searching for…😔
From the advice and suggestions that I’ve been given, I’ve started to slowly increase my navigation around Good Reads and have found some great lists of sci-fi novels/classics etc which I’ve bern methodically witkinb through..currently still without success but I’m keeping everything crossed that it’s only a matter of time before this mystery gets solved!
Any other suggestions please DO signpost me: I’m checking out everything that comes my way - have found some great reads along the way too!
The list that appeared most promising was that suggested by Michel and interestingly every other book that I remember being given to me that summer was listed!!!
Sarah 😊🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hello out there!I’ve been reviewing all of the suggestions thus far offered in assistance to me in my quest to find this elusive book but to date none of them are the book that I’m searching for: I’m so thankful to you all! Does anyone else have any suggestions please? Sarah x
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Link for Andrew's suggestion - The Sirens of Titan (first published in 1959) by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. There are different cover images.
Wikipedia has a detailed plot summary - with Spoilers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sir...
Thank you Andrew and Kris for your continued support of my quest..sadly alas no, your suggestion was published too recently. I would have read it in the Sumner of 1981, along with the other books that English Teacher lent me to read over o et the summer break in between leaving my primary school and entering the secondary school. ALL of the other book titles I can remember (Lord of the Flies/Animal Farm etc etc) and all of which by the time I was reading them were considered to be classics of their respective genres (mostly sci-fi)….does this help “place” this book with anyone??It made such a haunting impression on me that 40+ years later, while I can no longer remember the specifics/title: I can vividly recall the aloneness of this egg “Ohm” (or done such similar name) being isolated and trying to connect with its mother/mothership..I’d dearly love to reread it again now as an adult to revisit that seminal summer of my life!
Kurt Vonnegut Jr's book Sirens of Titan was published in 1959 and again by Hodder & Stoughton in 1967.https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.c...
It was one of the books recommended by English teachers along with Cider with Rosie, Lord of the Flies, Walkabout, the Changes Trilogy and several others from the late 50's & 60's,
What would it be worth checking out the 1979 Survey of Science Fiction Literature supplement which has short summaries and is available on Internet Archive, might jog a memory? https://archive.org/details/surveyofs...
Also Star Maker Olaf Stapledon seems to fit the bill about the whole communication in the book being telepathic...not sure about the nature of the alien being communicating with the human though as that is not very clear from review
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
The Sirens of Titan (other topics)Star Maker (other topics)
Ender’s Game (other topics)
The Halfmen of O (other topics)
