I came upon this topic across a super Reddit post by the user “thearjunagarwal” who set one fact that was really fascinating to me, which I will share later on in this post with other Strange facts I Myself has know for a while or dug up. so after reading the post I honestly thought it was interesting and was wondering what other strange facts about books that most people might not even know about, and there my journey to find the Strangest facts about books started.
Here are 8 Strange Facts about Books:
Fact #1: Coraline Might have never been released
So this is the one that made me start my journey with this list, as reddit user “thearjunagarwal” in his reddit post Strange facts about well known books stated:
The book almost wasn’t published. Neil’s editor said it was going to traumatize kids, so he asked her to read it to her daughter and see if it was too scary. The girl said she was enjoying it every night, and they got through the whole book and she said it wasn’t scary so the book was published. Many years later, Neil got to talk to her about the book and she said she was absolutely terrified the whole time but wanted to know what was next, so she lied because she was worried that they’d stop reading the book if she said it was terrifying. Just think about it… the book got published because a kid lied about how scary it was.
/thearjunagarwal
Coraline’s Movie is kind of a stable movie that my kids would watch most of the time, while it’s really scary it has that pull that makes them come back to it over and over again, honestly, as a mother, I hesitated to let them watch it since they were around 5 – 7 around the time they picked it up. it was fascinating that the book this movie was based on was kind of or might not really be the case-was approved by another child who, even though she thought it was scary, got pulled into it and wanted to know more about what is going to happen next.
About Coraline:
Things are great now that Coraline and her parents have moved into a new apartment. Coraline decides to go exploring because her parents are too busy to watch her. She discovers the new apartment has fourteen doors and twenty-one windows as she continues. Thirteen of those fourteen doors are open and accessible. However, the fourteenth door has nothing but a brick wall behind it when Coraline’s mother unlocks and opens it. But when coraline is the one who unlocks the door, she can actually go through.
Things appear wonderful as Coraline enters a door and discovers a house that is eerily similar to her own (but nicer).
However, there is another mother and father who want her to remain and become their daughter. They want to alter her and keep her forever.
Coraline will have to put up a valiant battle if she wants to survive and get back to her normal life.
Fact #2: Harry Potter Book Got Rejected 12 Times before it was Published
This might be a well know fact By the Harry Potter Fans, But It would be strange to not included it in this list. so the Original synopsis of J.K Rowling First Harry Potter Book titled Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone was actually Rejected By 12 Publishing Houses before it was finally Published by Bloomsbury.
Here are Two Rejection Letters shared by J.K Rowling in her Twitter account back in 2016:
By popular request, 2 of @RGalbrath‘s rejection letters! (For inspiration, not revenge, so I’ve removed signatures.) pic.twitter.com/vVoc0x6r8W
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 25, 2016
As someone who grew up reading Harry Potter Books and resonated with the characters as we grew together, I’m glad Rowling never gave up after being rejected 12 times, just imagine a world without harry potter? I myself wouldn’t be the same person without these books being by my side through all these years.
About Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone:
Harry Potter lived with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley for 10 long years. They are an aunt and uncle who, through their extreme fondness of their utterly terrible son Dudley, have produced some of the most creative dark comedies since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Harry will attend THE HOGWORTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY, a special boarding school, where he will play Quidditch to become the school hero, meet some lovely friends, and, regrettably, some dreadful foes. Harry Potter, despite appearing to be attending a typical boarding school, has a purpose for which he was created. Others would kill to save him from that fate.
Fact #3: Alice in Wonderland is based on a Real Girl named Alice
This might not be as Strange, just fascinating how much life around us can drive story telling.
Alice in Wonderland has been an entertainment staple for more than 100 years now. Although the original novel by Lewis Carroll was published way back in 1865, the story about an adventurous girl and her trippy adventures has been told and retold many times over since then.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, a British mathematician, who became a writer and photographer. He was born on January 27, 1832 and died at age 65 on January 14th 1898. His most famous work is the Alice in Wonderland books.
Carroll met Alice Liddell when she was 4 years old when she came to visit him with her family at Christ Church College Oxford where he taught mathematics. She would often play with his children. The story of Alice’s Adventures Underground was told as a game by Carroll to entertain her and other young girls while they were rowing down the Thames river one day in July 1862. The party consisted of Carroll, his friend Reverend Robinson Duckworth, and the three little sisters of Carroll’s good friend Harry Liddell—Edith (age 8), Alice (age 10), and Lorina (age 13).
Alice In Wonderland is one of the most important books for children, and was groundbreaking in its time. The story of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The book has been translated into 124 languages and there are over 150 million copies of the book sold worldwide. There have been many adaptations of Alice in Wonderland including movies and musicals.
About Alice Adventure in Wonderland:
Little Alice is relaxing in the yard one summer afternoon when she notices a white rabbit holding a pocket watch and wearing a waistcoat. Alice stands up and starts running after the rabbit as he scampers by while saying various things. After falling down a rabbit hole with the strange creature, Alice is suddenly plunged into an infinite fall. Thus begins a thrilling and strange journey as Alice encounters odd beings like the White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat. Join Alice on a journey through Wonderland that reveals many amazing and humorous misadventures for you.
Fact #4: Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case Book was locked for 30 Years
Agatha Christie is a well known Mystery writer, one of her Main character’s in her books is the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Agatha was so found of this character that during WWII, fearing of her own demise during the war, she decided to write a fitting ending for Poirot as his last case. the war had ended but the book was never published because Agatha kept writing more and more books featuring Poirot. during the time, Christie had the novel locked away in a bank vault for over thirty years. Poirot last Novel Elephants Can Remember was published in 1972, and it was followed by her Last book Postern of Fate before Christie took out and published Curtain as the final Published book in the year 1975 as her health started deteriorating.
About Curtain: Poirit’s Last Case:
Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are back in the sprawling country house where they initially worked together to solve a murder, completing a full circle in their respective careers as detectives.
Even if the famous detective and his “little gray cells” are handicapped by arthritis, Hercule Poirot and Great Styles have both seen better days. Some people begin to question Poirot’s credibility when he accuses one of the otherwise innocent guests of committing five murders. But only Poirot is aware that he must stop a sixth murder before the curtain Falls.
Fact #5: Jane Austen Never witnessed the publication of her Last 3 books
Jane Austen wrote Both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion from the year 1815 to 1816, and both were published posthumously in the year 1818. another Novel Titled Sanditon was never finished, which also got published Posthumously. Jane Austen had only written 11 chapters and about 9 Pages of chapter 12. Sanditon was eventually Completed by an Author who went anonymously By “Another Lady” in the year 1975.
About Northanger Abby:
In the late 1790s, Bath was a bustling, affluent city. In Northanger Abbey, a little girl named Catherine Morland leaves her safe, rural home to enter this world. Catherine interacts with a variety of personalities there, and Austen traces Catherine’s developing comprehension of the world around her by observing their interactions with humor and intelligence.
Austen also casts a pointed, satirical eye on other contemporary novel genres in this, her first full-length book, particularly the Gothic school made famous by Ann Radcliffe. The doubts and humiliations Catherine must endure before achieving happiness are exacerbated by the way her reading activities entwine with her social and love exploits.
About Persuasion:
At the age of 27, Anne Elliot is no longer a young woman and lacks many romantic opportunities. Eight years prior, she had been persuaded to call off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval lieutenant who lacked both riches and status, by her friend Lady Russell. In her final published book, Jane Austen tells the heartbreaking story of what occurs when they cross paths again.
Persuasion, which is set in the affluent communities of Lyme Regis and Bath, is a masterful parody of pretentiousness and vanity, but it is also primarily a love story tinged with the regret of lost opportunities.
About Sanditon:
Sanditon is a beautiful addendum to Jane Austen’s novels about England’s wealthy classes and the deceit, snobbery, and surprising romances that occur in their world.
Sanditon is an eleven-chapter fragment abandoned after Austen’s death and finished by an Austen enthusiast and novelist. When Charlotte Heywood accepts a request to visit the recently fashionable seaside town of Sanditon, she is introduced to a full spectrum of polite society, including the ruling local dowager Lady Denham and her impoverished ward Clara as well as the handsome but careless Sidney Parker and his entertaining but hypochondriac sisters.
Charlotte, a heroine whose keen discernment is frequently at odds with romance, cannot help but notice both foolishness and love in various forms all around her. Will Charlotte be able to control her own desires against reason?
Another Fun Fact About Jane Austen is that even though most of her books were about courtship, She herself never got married, she got engaged at one point, but called it off few hours later, I guess no one can match a fictional character in her mind .
Fact #6: Seven Pillars of Wisdom Had to be rewritten 3 Times
Early in 1920, Lawrence began the difficult work of rewriting as much of the original text as he could recall. relying only on recollection (he had destroyed many of his wartime notes upon completion of the corresponding parts of “Text I”), however he lost the manuscript on a train at Reading railway station.
In three months, he was able to finish this “Text II,” which included 400,000 words. Although this version was “essentially comprehensive and correct” factually, Lawrence characterized it as “hopelessly bad” in literary terms. The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas holds this manuscript, which Lawrence titled The Arab Revolt. A letter from Lawrence’s brother certifies it as the earliest surviving draft of the work that would become Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
With “Text II” in front of him, Lawrence began working on a polished version “Text III” He thought about having the book typed out to reduce the possibility of losing the manuscript once more and to have copies that he could present to critics in private. But he found that having the content typeset and printed on a proofreading press at the Oxford Times printing works would be less expensive.
Six of the eight copies that were made are still in existence. The outcome was the first “edition” of Seven Pillars in bibliographical terms (because the text was reproduced on a printing press). However, these alternatives to a typescript were not, technically speaking, “published.”
All the copies remained Lawrence’s property, and he determined who could read them. The “Oxford Text” of the Seven Pillars was the name given to the proof printing. Because Lawrence could not afford to have the proof revised, the text is poor.
As a result, it is riddled with transcription errors, and there are numerous instances where entire paragraphs or even lines are missing. Five of the copies received manual revisions, and he had them bound. (When one of these early printings last hit the market in 2001, it sold at auction for approximately US$1 million.) Lawrence sent the manuscript to the Bodleian Library in Oxford rather than destroying it. (Source WIKI)
About Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
T. E. Lawrence, better known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” wrote “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” a fascinating and brutal account of the Arab Revolt from 1916 to 1918, which was first published in 1926. Lawrence describes his time serving in the British Forces in North Africa while he was stationed in Wadi Rum in a book that was written, revised, and edited over a period of several years between 1919 and 1926.
He explains how he helped organize and execute raids against Ottoman forces and how the army benefited from the assistance of tribesmen and figures like Arab commander Emir Faisal.
Historians have conjectured over the years that Lawrence’s poetry and dedication at the beginning of the work may have been composed for a young Arab boy from Syria who passed away at age 19 just before the offensive to free Damascus. Lawrence formed close relationships with many of the native people. Lawrence’s tale, which is largely autobiographical and highly personal, is a compelling and dramatic memoir of war and adventure on a vast scale and is still a significant first-person account of a turbulent and terrible period in history.
Fact #7: Cloud Atlas has two different Editions
When writing a paper on Cloud Atlas using both a Kindle edition and the UK paperback released by Sceptre, Professor Martin Paul Eve of Birkbeck, University of London noticed that he was unable to locate sentences in the ebook that he could clearly remember from the paperback. He realized the US and UK editions of the book were “very different from one another” after comparing them. He found 30 pages of examples of the differences between the two books that no one noticed it before that. (source The Guardian)
About Cloud Atlas:
is a novel composed of six interconnected stories, each told from a different viewpoint and written in a distinctive style: a reluctant traveler crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer securing a meager living in interwar Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher escaping his gangland creditors; a genetically modified on death row; and a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilization.
A deeper connection between the six protagonists is suggested by the comet-shaped birthmarks that all of David Mitchell’s characters have as well as by the repetition of names, dates, and references.
Fact #8 : Most of Fifty shades of Grey was written on A blackberry Phone.
James revealed to ABC News and Today in April 2012 that she wrote the most of the erotic novel on her phone. James told ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas,”I used to write a lot of it on my way to work on my Blackberry, I used to beam it into my Mac when I’d get home, and then I’d write.” While working on the first book, James said to the Today show that she didn’t do anything else for two years. (source Insider)
About Fifty Shades of Grey:
Anastasia Steele, a literature student, meets Christian Grey, a young entrepreneur, when she goes to interview him. Christian is attractive, intelligent, and intimidating.
The unworldly, naïve Ana is astonished to realize she wants this man and that she is yearning to get close to him despite his enigmatic reserve. Grey says he wants Ana too, but only on his terms because he can’t help but be drawn to her calm beauty, wit, and independent spirit.
Ana hesitates, both shocked and delighted by Grey’s unusual erotic preferences. Despite having all the hallmarks of success—multinational corporations, enormous riches, and a loving family—Grey is a man plagued by demons and driven by the desire to exert control. Ana learns Christian Grey’s secrets and delves into her own dark side when the couple engages in a risky, passionately physical affair.
What of these Facts did you know? or maybe never knew? if you have more facts that you would like to share, add it to the comments bellow, we would love to read them. If you liked this post, keep your eyes at BookNerdection for more Book related articles.
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