Just as the Stacks is built exclusively from things found in books, this book too is in effect constructed out of other books. I’ve tried to honor the text and characters that I’ve transformed into this new universe by being true to their nature, but also extending their existence into this universe where they spend their time off. Sometimes it’s pretty apparent which book is being referred to, but other times it’s a little less obvious.
Now that you’ve made it to the end of the book, and I’m assuming you wouldn’t be browsing here if you hadn’t already finished the book as that would be spoilery, I’m happy to share with you every single reference and its origin. I hope there are at least a couple that slipped by you. And if not, suffice to say, I’m impressed!
Hermione Granger is from The Harry Potter series of books, by J.K. Rowling.
Katniss Everdeen is from the The Hunger Games series of books, by Suzanne Collins.
Arya Stark is from The Song of Ice and Fire series of books, by George R.R. Martin.
The gelatinous creature is from The God’s Themselves by Isaac Asimov.
Misselthewaite Manor and the surrounding gardens are from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The quote One asks Katniss to repeat is by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Arya’s maxim about the knife appearing in the first act is a paraphrasing of Anton Chekhov’s dramatic principle. The original is as follows: “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.”
The ‘scarecrow creature’ is in fact the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The prayer everyone offers before they eat is from The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus, by Cyril Connolly.
The fish chowder meal is from Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.
Michel is from Paris in the Twentieth Century, by Jules Verne.
The clay creature is the Golem is from the Golem of Chelm by an unnamed Polish Kabbalist.
The silver ‘alarm’ bells that go off when Binny takes a book out of The Library are from The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe.
Thick giblet soup is from Ulysses by James Joyce.
The chocolate stream and its edible surroundings are from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl.
Katniss’ statement that ‘Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.’ is a quote from The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa.
Marvin the Paranoid Android is from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.
Marvin is watching Blade Runner which is based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick.
The roasted bread and melted cheese meal is from Heidi, by Johanna Spyri.
Rimfall is on Discworld from the Discworld Novel, The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchet.
Anna is from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
The little house in the big woods is of course from Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Krypton and the Kent Farm are places in The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther.
Janet Ross is from High Vacuum by Charles Eric Maine.
Josef 'Joe' Kavalier and Sammy Klayman, are from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon.
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The Experience of Being Alive
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