Actually, I had. I now have planted in the back of my mind the festering thought, “You’ve read about this. You have a (very) vague idea what it was supposed to be about. You will not be able to rest until you have dug through your collection of Heinlein-related material and solved this mystery.”
I’d like to get a look at The Slayer’s Handbook * and the other works in the private collection of Rupert Giles on * Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I’d also like to examine that map Bugs Bunny uses when he makes that wrong turn at Albuquerque.
The Book of the Dead is very real. It’s the Ancient Egyptian’s Guide to The Afterlife. All of the supplications, rituals, and routes the ka will need to know to advance to the good afterlife. I actually have a direct translation: Heiroglyphs on top, phonetic transliteration below, and English translation lowest. Line-by-line. It’s a huge book, and nearly unreadable because of the directness of the translation (‘odd grammar’ doesn’t begin to describe it).
My favorite fictional book is The Necronomicon, which is completely fictional. Since that’s been mentioned, what’s the name of that book from Beetlejuice the couple was issued/found in their attic upon death? I think it was like So You’re Dead. I want that.
The Complete Art of Detection by Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Alledgedly completed during his retirement in Sussex, I assume it was written during Winter, when beekeeping was not a demanding pasttime.
Also, the unpublished short stories & novels in Watson’s tin dispatch box.
The book I’d love to have isn’t from a movie, but from a band. The Helping Friendly Book, from Phish’s “Gamehendge” saga…It contains all of the knowledge in the universe. A great book to have, I’m sure, but it must be a bitch to carry it around…
Why stop at Mabel Syrup? I’d like that book that Dad has: the one that tells you everything about everything. It tells you about trees sneezing, and the like.
How about the one on the Family Guy episode where they think that Stewie has to be potty-trained? My memory on the exact name of the book is shaky and I don’t feel like watching the episode for the real name, but the guy at the bookstore suggests a title, and Peter says, “Oh, but we’re Catholic.” Then the bookstore owner says, “Oh, then you’d want 'You’re a Naughty Naughty Child and That’s Concentrated Evil Coming Out of You.”
Audiobottle
The actual title of the real Egyptian Book of the Dead is “The Book of Going Forth by Day.” I mention this only because I think it’s a really cool title.