# The Nightstand Challenge **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164 "2001-09-22T04:21:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/41 "2001-09-26T03:22:40Z")
#6 is so annoyingly familiar… ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/42 "2001-09-26T03:31:00Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > [@](#): > > [ul]_5.Yet it is easy to see that the second sentence has to do not with a prospect of the Senate but with a prospect of accepting._[/ul] > > And for the record, Ike did so much as hazard a guess at it. Ike did hazard some guesses. I stand corrected. Here’s a **hint** on this one: the Senate is a red herring. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/43 "2001-09-26T03:33:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > \*\*#6 is so annoyingly familiar… \*\* And my back pocket **hint** for **dropzone** : It’s an _apple tree_. If you have read this book this should bring it back in your head. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/44 "2001-09-26T13:46:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > \*\*A friend gave me this book several years ago gushing about how it was just the greatest. I still haven’t got around to giving it a read. As I said, the author is female. I just hope the book doesn’t suck. Number Eight… If it is, as I strongly suspect, “The Eight” by Katherine Neville, it doesn’t suck. That’s one of my favourites 🙂 Her other two books pretty much do suck, though…she just follows a pretty similar formula. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/45 "2001-09-26T13:49:35Z")
:thumps head on keyboard: If a mod were to fix that coding, I would be very nice to them and never call them a Nazi or commie or anything like that. Not that I do anyway, but still… ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/46 "2001-09-26T16:47:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tavalla \* > Number Eight… > > If it is, as I strongly suspect, “The Eight” by Katherine Neville, it doesn’t suck. That’s one of my favourites 🙂 We have another winner. I am duly impressed, **tavalla**! And happy to hear that it’s a good book. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/47 "2001-09-26T20:57:00Z")
I struck out completely at your game, ShibbOleth, but I concur that The Eight is an engrossing book! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/48 "2001-09-28T00:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > And my back pocket hint for dropzone: > > It’s an apple tree. If you have read this book this should bring it back in your head. Waitamoment… Apple tree, you say? Is this _The Sound and the Fury_? I _know_ that the Senate is a red herring, but it’s still in there somewhere. Most books I’ve read literally do not mention a Senate of any form, in any way. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/49 "2001-09-28T02:04:12Z")
Just to put everything in an easy to read format: > [@](#): > > 1.The trial’s first witness was the deceased, Jacob Wood, testifying by a video deposition taken a few months before his death. from flymaster John Grisham - The Runaway Jury > [@](#): > > 2.“You are lazy,” says Big Pig. > [@](#): > > 3.He returned somewhat despondently to his river again - his faithful, steady-going old river, which never packed up, flitted, or went into winter quarters. from snermy Wind in the Willows > [@](#): > > 4.Mrs. Slade nodded. “But she really sent her because they were in love with the same man–” from Ino Roman Fever by Edith Wharton > [@](#): > > 5.Yet it is easy to see that the second sentence has to do not with a prospect of the Senate but with a prospect of accepting. > [@](#): > > 6.Jim eased himself gently out of the tree, panting with apprehension every time the leaves quivered. > [@](#): > > 7.“You’re – you’re not coming down?” he said in a bewildered voice. from dropzone Ethan Frome > [@](#): > > 8.“This is young William Wordsworth, a poet,” said Robespierre as the youth came up to them and took David’s proffered hand. from tavella The Eight by Katherine Neville > [@](#): > > 9.Will lay, eyes shut, hearing the beat of the great oil-black wings as if a huge, ancient bird had drummed down to live, to breathe, to survive in the night meadow. from dropzone Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/50 "2001-09-28T02:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > Waitamoment… Apple tree, you say? Is this _The Sound and the Fury_? > > I _know_ that the Senate is a red herring, but it’s still in there somewhere. Most books I’ve read literally do not mention a Senate of any form, in any way. \*\* No, not obscure enough. And the Senate is the reddest of herrings, let me assure you that this book only randomly makes this reference. It could have been a reference to the Girl Scouts for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/51 "2001-09-28T02:52:30Z")
> [@](#): > > 2.“You are lazy,” says Big Pig. Is it one of the Wibbly Pig books by Mick Inkpen? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/52 "2001-09-28T03:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tavalla \* > > > [@](#): > > > > 2.“You are lazy,” says Big Pig. > > Is it one of the Wibbly Pig books by Mick Inkpen? No, the other guesses on this one are closer, but they have the wrong title. Hint: Big Pig is not the main character in this one, just a supporting role. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/53 "2001-09-28T04:55:38Z")
I don’t have kids, but friends who do are rapidly getting sick of my phone calls 😉 Goose On The Loose? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/54 "2001-09-28T13:08:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tavalla \* > I don’t have kids, but friends who do are rapidly getting sick of my phone calls 😉 > > Goose On The Loose? Some would consider it cheating, but perhaps Google plus the other titles proposed (the ones which I said were close) would turn up a few good guesses… 😉 Or you could ask my daughter. Now, about number five… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/55 "2001-09-28T16:55:32Z")
Is 2. “Goose on the Loose?” ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164/56 "2001-09-28T17:24:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Punkyova \* > \*\*Is 2. “Goose on the Loose?” \*\* No. See previous hints on this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nightstand-challenge/83164.md?page=2)