Fake books spotted

We previously mentioned the phony book Mayan Wisdom Made Easy which appeared in one of the coaches hands in Bull Durham. I just spotted another one in the hands of the ancient pimp Esteban in Kill Bill Volume II. It was The Currucan's of Kurrajong by Jasmine Yuen. Tarantino was having a bit of fun apparentlly as Jasmine Yuen Currucan was a member of his crew. Spotted any other phony books out there?

Fake book spotted in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, on Harry's bedside table at Privet drive the book "Which Owl?"

The Contortionist's Daughter, fake book spotted in the arms of a man in an elevator with the female lead of King of Queens.

In an old M*A*S*H episode, B.J. receives a mystery novel called The Rooster Crowed at Midnight by an ancient Australian author named Abigail Porterfield. Unfortunately the last page was missing so the identity of the murderer was never known.

In the movie Moonrise Kingdom, the heroine goes around with a suitcase of books she's stolen from the library. All of them are fake books designed for the movie, but they look exactly like the sort of thing that could have been found in a school library in the 60s. Here's a link to the story and if you follow the link at the bottom it will take you to a video about the books that was designed to promote the movie. http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2012/06/the-books-of-moonrise-k...

Although there is a real book called The Love Parade the fake one was written by Toby McGuire's character James Lear in the movie version of Wonder Boys.

A fake book, that ought to be a real one, was the one being read in bed by the character Jacob Kowalski in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The book in question was Cassandra and Her Cat Gustavus. https://www.bustle.com/articles/194407-is-cassandra-her-cat-gustavus-in-fantasti...

In the Addams Family movie Uncle Fester opens Hurricane Irene, which blows away the bad guys.

In The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan, the protagonist carries about town a huge volume titled What Bottle Top Is That?, 4th edition.

In the Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice commercials the Worry Monster is reading “Diseases You Probably Have”.

In a Lexus commercial “Neptune’s Sorrow” a masterstroke of heartache and redemption. 🤪

On TCM caught a 1940 Hitchcock movie starring Joel McCrea called Foreign Correspondent. They referenced a fake book called The Twilight of Feudalism.

Near the end of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Zac Efron’s character reads wedding vows from a “children’s” book called Where is my Ped?

In Wedding Crashers, while in the throes of depression Owen Wilson’s character was reading Don’t Jump! Life’s Really Worth It.

In the Progressive Insurance commercial where Dr. Rick is trying to keep people from turning into their parents, one of the would be parents is reading a book about submarines called Thunder Siege just like his dad.

In The Robber Bride, Tony has two published books, nonfiction, I think - ‘Five Ambushes’ and ‘Four Lost Causes.’

Spotted in a Carmax commercial a book called The Time Jumper which appears to be a fake.

A whole wall of fake books behind Ronan Farrow, as pointed out by an observant LT member, @Cynfelyn, no doubt discovered while straining to discern the titles.

https://s1.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/rFvAhF6_SX.8pUNCALmEuA--~B/Zmk9ZmlsbDtweW9mZj...

Willy Whyner, Cloud Designer has an exhaustive shelf of books on weather, including an annotated ‘Fog’ by Sandburg. The most obscure title is ‘Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rates in Equatorial Advection Fogs.’

In a commercial for the HIV drug Dovato, a lady is packing to move and packs up a fake book called Heroes on Film. There is a real book called Heroes of film but it doesn’t seem to be the same thing.

In a 2009 episode of Big Bang Theory Sheldon is reading Stu the Cockatoo is New at the Zoo.

In the movie Wanderlust Jennifer Anniston’s character claims to have written a children’s book called I Believe I Can Fly.

In a commercial for a drug called Biktarvy, a patient with AIDS is signing her book at a book signing called A Lover’s Journey. Update - not a fake!

>23 varielle: I'm pretty sure that's a real book by Nakeisa Jackson

>24 lesmel: I stand corrected. Just because it’s not on LT doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I should have checked further.

In Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast, Virgil is describing his mother’s preference for non-fiction.

“She always felt that reading should be more practical than pleasurable. Jane’s Guide to Aircraft Carriers was on her bedside table the night she died.”

Jane’s Guides were for identifying warships and aircraft. I can’t find one that covers aircraft carriers.

>26 2wonderY: That’s odd. I thought for sure they would have one, but no. Maybe we should suggest it.

>27 varielle: 😆 Possibly there is no mistaking an aircraft carrier for something else?

>28 2wonderY: True, but these aficionados love to go into detail. I suspect they lump them in n with other battleships.

In season 2 of Resident Alien Sheriff Mike buys a bunch of mystery novels from the murdered doctor’s widow. One of them is called The Whirly Bird. There is a book by that name but it’s a children’s book.

In Thor’s Love and Thunder someone getting chemo is reading The Foster Theory by Thor’s lady love, Jane Foster.

>4 varielle: Sounds like the plot of the 1960 Hancock's Half Hour episode 'The Missing Page', which revolved around the book Lady Don't Fall Backwards by Darcy Sarto. Although it was a fictional book then, a novelisation has since been published.

In 1983, the British Yellow Pages had a campaign about an older gentleman visiting bookstores in search of a particular book about Fly Fishing by "J. R. Hartley." Every scene had a "no" response.

Despondent he returns home and a younger woman who I think is supposed to be his adult daughter hands him the Yellow Pages. We next see him calling a store with success. He asks them to hold the book for him. When asked his name, he replies "J. R. Hartley," of course.

This fictitious book caused more than a few people to look for it. It got to the point where someone produced such a book in 1991.

Now it is easier for people to make such books with print-on-demand and even assisted writing. But to do that then was a bit of a project.

James

In The X-Files, Season 7, Episode 2, someone surreptitiously provides a (fake) book to one of the main protagonists titled Native American Beliefs and Practices. The third chapter is a fictionalized twist on Ancestral Puebloan culture, detailing an apocalypse prophecy and a "sixth extinction" event which connected to the alien conspiracy plot.

The Chicago-Sun-Times published a summer reading list that included several books that don't exist.

According to The Guardian fake titles included "Hurricane Season by Brit Bennett, Nightshade Market by Min Jin Lee, The Longest Day by Rumaan Alam, Boiling Point by Rebecca Makkai, Migrations by Maggie O’Farrell and The Rainmakers by Percival Everett".

In Orphan Black: Echoes, Season 1, Episode 4, there is a book titled The Philosophy of Identity by 'A. RedeKop' in which the main protagonist doodled something relative to the plot on the title page. There is a Brian A. Redekop that has published at least one work related to philosphy, but this is not that.

In The Phoenician Scheme Michael Cera’s character supposedly wrote a book on The North American Flea.

High Fences features two authors who meet, are greatly attracted, but don’t know much about each other, particularly that they each also publish pseudonymously.
David MacRoss writes nonfiction magazine articles under his own name. As Caleb Cox, he has written two books about his Connecticut neighbors - ‘Country Crossroads’ and ‘Country Neighbors.’
Halfway through this book, they have a falling out; but the female author, Ross Collins, reads these books. Will she figure it out?

>38 2wonderY: She does figure it out. And she compares his writing (sample excerpts are shared with us) to the book she recently published, ‘A Lady of Leisure.’
She places them side by side for reflection.

A couple of chapters later, a young friend of MacRoss has met Collins and reports:
“If I’d written a book and Ross Collins said what she did about yours, I’d be pretty thrilled. Of course I won’t tell you if ——-“
“Do tell me. I’m looking for thrills. And you’re quite right in your surmise that no writer can stand knowing that somebody has said something nice about his book without breaking his neck to find out what it is.”

On the planet Mirabile, Annie, a 3rd generation settler and biologist, works on establishing Earth flora and fauna. When suddenly mosquitoes crop up, "Laughing Gods" by Thoholte is recommended, apparently a classic work of fiction you read at school.

"Laughing Gods is downright eloquent on the subject of mosquitoes."

The movie I, Madman revolves around a fictional horror novel called I, Madman by the character of the late Malcolm Brand, a 1950's pulp fiction author. The book that spurs her initial interest is another fictional work, Much of Madness, More of Sin, also by Brand. There's also a scene at the fictitious publisher of these books, Sidney Zeit Publishing, Inc. (with a nonexistent Hollywood Blvd address, although the exterior shots, at least, were of the Guaranty Building in Hollywood).

Bonus for fans of bookstore settings: Virginia, the protagonist, works in a book shop (new, used, & antiquarian), where she discovered the author's works and does some of her sleuthing.

I just saw The Sheep Detectives. In it was a book called Hardy’s Guide to Raising Sheep, supposedly written by the shepherd played by Hugh Jackman. I highly recommend the movie by the way. Very cute. 🐑

>42 varielle: Thomas Hardy's Guide to Raising Sheep - "Don't let Gabriel Oak's new dog anywhere near them".