Books

[VoOs]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke has both Jonathan Strange and a butler named Stephen sneeze, Jonathan from a cold, and Stephen from...soot? Dust? I'm not sure which, but I remember it was pretty nice. <3

This book is nothing short of amazing, with or without fine British gentlemen sneezing. In other words: I recommend it!

[Icee]

wonders sister (spacing the author, but it's part of the thoughroubred series) samantha catches a cold...

[snuffles]

Also there are sneezes in Stephen King's "A Doctor's Case" in the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection... Sherlock Holmes is allergic to cats in it.

Oh man, I have JUST read this and I had to come straight here to see if it's mentioned anywhere. Cat allergies have to be my number 1 choice, and this story has it all.

OMG this deserves it's own thread, I'd swear Stephen King wrote this story just for us! A cute little teaser in the beginning mentions Sherlock sneezing "often and profoundly" and then Sherlock sneezes nine -count it out now, NINE- times throughout, often in fits. At one point, the kitty jumps straight onto Sherlock's lap.

This story has completely ruined me, I cannot read any more Sherlock Holmes without my imagination going crazy!

And I thought my brain had already gone in overdrive with the case of "The Dying Detective". Now excuse me as I go back to re-read Stephen King's version.

[Ciuty80]

i just remembered i bought a book, first printing was 1995

i got it 1998 when the german edition came out

AND...OH JOY

seriously i bought it because of the title the title is POLLEN by Jeff Noon

it´s his second book the first one is called VURT

and as the title says "POLLEN" it´s based on the allergy against pollen

much sneezing from a dogcop (half human and dog )

[Bondi]

I'd say there are quite a few books with sneezing in them, and that characters in books are more likely to sneeze than in movies. When was the last time you watched a serious movie where a character sneezed? It doesn't happen often, but in books its a bit more likely. A lot of the time they're not people you'd want to see sneeze, but they're sneezes nonetheless.

The Rachel Morgan books by Kim Harrison have sneezing here and there; I've only read up to book 4, but my understanding is later on Rachel's sneezing will be used as some kind of warning device or demons or something, I'm not really sure, but it definitely sounds like an interesting plot development . A lot of the sneezing in books 1 and 4 are when she's in some sort of animal form, so it didn't really do anything for me, but in the beginning of book 4 she sneezes in human form from plaster dust inside an old building and I think she either sneezes or almost sneezes in human form at some point in book 1, where it mentions she puts down Jenks (her pixie partner) before she sneezes and drops him.

Chuck Palahniuk sometimes has sneezing in his books, but it's usually played for grossness so I really doubt he has the fetish :

-In Fight Club, the protagonist mentions that he sneezes on people's food while working as a waiter and later gets sued for it.

-Two instances in Choke; in one, Victor Mancini's friend sneezes and blows snot rockets, and in another his mom sneezes blood, I think due to drug use.

-Haunted, which is a short story anthology, has a framing device in which one of the characters is named Miss Sneezy, but she only sneezes once in the whole novel; what a rip-off.

-Pygmy has a scene later on where the title-character, who is an exchange student from some terrorist country and wants to bring down the United States, tries to wake his "foster sister" up by making her sneeze, and it even spells out her sneeze. The book is written in broken English and I found it barely readable and couldn't make it past page 50 so I don't know what the context of that was. Susiequsie told me about it, though.

Stephen King books can be a good source for sneezes; they're more likely to show up in his longer works. I was actually surprised as well when Under the Dome had no sneezes in it, since his other two over-one-thousand-page books had a lot of sneezes in them. I personally don't think he has the fetish; I just think he has a thing for bodily functions in general. If it's a bodily function, it's probably appeared in several of his books. A lot of characters also fart and pee and poop in their pants, too. He also seems to feel the need to mention AIDS at least once in almost every one of the books he's written since 1986.

Dean Koontz has a thing for making dogs sneeze; anytime a dog shows it, up it will sneeze, it seems. I haven't read that many books, but most of the dogs I've seen sneeze at least once. I'm not sure why. I would've rather seen one of his female main characters sneeze, but unfortunately only dogs sneeze in the world of Dean Koontz.

The protagonist of Native Sun, Bigger Thomas sneezes once after jumping out the window and landing in the snow. He's not a very likeable character but if you like male sneezing maybe you'll like it.

In Clive Barker's Damnation Game, it's mentioned in a flashback that there was a lot of soot, so when someone sneezed, they sneezed out black stuff. A couple of his books have mentioned colds here and there, but otherwise sneezing doesn't appear in any of the Clive Barker books I've read.

There are a couple of sneezes in A Storm of Swords, which is the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire. First one is some guy doing something with spices (I don't really remember) and he sneezes. Fans of male might like that. The other is a (probably) ten-year-old girl sneezing so probably not much interest there.

This last book is extremely rare and obscure and I can't even find any information about it whatsoever on the Internet, but it's called Death Day. The copy I have is old and beat up and has a hole in it from when my brother shoved a screwdriver all the way through; I think we bought it from the Library a long time ago. It's about zombies coming back to life and lead by some master zombie with a cursed medallion. In the beginning, some guy sneezes from the flu.

So yeah, plenty of sneezes in books, but female seems quite rare.

[Chanel_no5]

Stephen King books can be a good source for sneezes; they're more likely to show up in his longer works. I was actually surprised as well when Under the Dome had no sneezes in it, since his other two over-one-thousand-page books had a lot of sneezes in them. I personally don't think he has the fetish; I just think he has a thing for bodily functions in general. If it's a bodily function, it's probably appeared in several of his books. A lot of characters also fart and pee and poop in their pants, too. He also seems to feel the need to mention AIDS at least once in almost every one of the books he's written since 1986.

But I must say that the fan-fiction short story he wrote about Sherlock Holmes, that was centered around sneezing, well... that one seemed to be written for us.

And not just his longer works have sneezing in them, there are several sneezes mentioned in short story collections, and in for example "The long walk", "Salem's lot", "The running man"... um, I know plenty of others, but I can't recall at the top of my head now. But yes, sadly not many females. However, Bobbi in "Tommyknockers" sneezes several times. I would have loved for the female cop Ruth to sneeze as well... rawr!

There are mentions about allergies (and sneezing too, I think) in "The Plant", unfinished e-book by King and IMHO one of his best works ever!

[prisma]

and in the books on tape of nightmares and dreamscapes Tim Curry is the one to read that story. I have been looking everywhere for it but I cant find a copy of the tapes anywhere!

[Chanel_no5]

I haven't either, I mean, I've only checked a little because male sneezing isn't my no1, and nor is audio books, but I remember thinking "hm, that one could be interesting to listen to..." but nope, haven't found it anywhere.

Seriously. I wonder what King would do if he did find us out. Or perhaps that Holmes fiction was his way of graciously giving us a little something after actually finding us? There are two celebs I think would treat this fetish in a fairly nice way, if they came across this site, and that would be Mr Stephen King, and... I think Lady Gaga.

[March Hare]

There is a male character in Joseph Heller's Catch 22 who has a sneezing fit and mentions that he has allergies.

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

I don't remember if anyone mentioned this yet, but reading something before made me think of it: in the Robin Cook novel "Invasion" (but not, IIRC, in the movie), the first sign that a person has been...well, "taken over" is the best way to phrase it, I guess; anyway, the first sign that that's happened to someone is a virulent flu-like illness, one of the first symptoms of which is sneezing. It's been a long time since I read the book, so I don't remember the specifics, but I do know that several characters (definitely male, and I think female) sneeze, at least one of them in fits. I think this book is still readily available in mass market paperback, so if that's your thing, I might pick it up just for those first few scenes (though there may also be sneezing later on; like I said, it's been a long time).

[Chronosynclastic]

I read a couple of books with sneezes in them recently.

In "The Ragwitch" by Garth Nix, the Master of Air (male) sneezes while the main character is speaking to him from a hot-air balloon.

In "Ascending" by James Alan Gardner, Festina Ramos (female) has a sneeze induced to wake her up after she gets knocked out.

[Chanel_no5]

Sneezing is also briefly mentioned in Stephen King's works "The Talisman", "The Eyes of The Dragon", "Insomnia", at least one and I think two, of the short stories in "Everything's Eventual", "Lisey's story" has mentions of allergies/sneezing, "Duma Key" mentions sneezing, as does one or two stories in "Just After Sunset" short story collection, and one of the coffin hunters is mentioned to sneeze once in the fourth book of the Dark Tower series; "Wizard and glass".

I'll be back with a further update when I can think about it.

[Eitilte]

Recently I've read three books of the Castle's series written by Steph Swainston. Sneezes are mentioned in two of them ("The Year of Our War" and "No Present Like Time" ). In these books the one who sneezes is the main hero, a very interesting and quite handsome person. First, he sneezes a triple and afterwards one again.

[Neesan]

There are a couple of sneezes in A Storm of Swords, which is the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire. First one is some guy doing something with spices (I don't really remember) and he sneezes. Fans of male might like that. The other is a (probably) ten-year-old girl sneezing so probably not much interest there.

I'm seriously so sad about how these books have so little sneezing. And the guy smelling the pepper (counting inventory and forgot his name, Davos' friend) is all ew. LOL! Quite sad for a wonderful series.

After getting my Kindle, I've been reading a lot more, but sneezing is indeed quite scarce.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Okay, I was feeling active, so I've made a list of I think just about every book mentioned in this thread so far. Hope someone might enjoy the overview. ^^

List of books:

Wells, H.G ; The invisible Man (M, cold)

Noon, Jeff ; Pollen (dogcop, pollen)

Thurman, Rob ; Chimera (M, cat allergies)

Hale, Shannon ; River Secrets (M, hay)

Grossman, Lev ; The Magicians (M,F pollen)

Jones, Diane Wynn ; Howl's Moving Castle (M, cold)

Doody, Margaret ; Aristotle Detective (M, cold)

O'Brien, Flann ; At Swim-Two-Birds (M)

Calvino, Italo ; Marcovaldo (M, snow)

Tolstoy, Leo ; Four Reading Books (M, tobacco leaves)

Durrell, Gerald ; My Family and Other Animals (M, cold)

Duncan, Dave ; The Hunters' Haunt (sick minstrel)

Levine, Gail Carson ; The Princess Test (cold)

Gollancz, S.F. ; Barry Trotter And The Shameless Parody (travelling snuff)

Tolkien, J.R.R. ; The Hobbit (M, cold)

Bradley, Marion ; Rediscovery (F, allergies)

Flynn, Vince ; Transfer of Power (M, dust/allergies)

Moore, Perry ; Hero (M,cold(?))

Devlin,D. & Emmerich, R. ; Stargate (M, allergies)

Mitchell, David ; number9dream (M)

Mitchell, David ; The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (M)

Letts, Billie ; Where the Heart Is (F, several causes)

Ziegesar, Cecily von ; Gossip Girl: Because I'm Worth It (F, noseblowing, no sneezing)

Ziegesar, Cecily von ; Gossip Girl: I Like It Like That (F, stuffy/runny nose, no sneezing)

Sanchez, Alex; Rainbow Boys (M, rain)

Sanchez, Alex; Rainbow High (M, noseblow, no sneezing)

Sanches, Alex ; So Hard to Say (M, nose blows, sniffling, no sneezing)

Myracle, Lauren ; L8r G8r (M&F, cold)

Harris, Thomas ; The Silence Of The Lambs (F, dust)

Plato ; Symposium (Aristophanes, to cure the hiccups)

Jordan, Robert ; Knife of Dreams (F) (Wheel of Time, 11)

Greenburg, Dan ; Secrets of Dripping Fang series (F, allergies)

Gliori, Debi ; Deep Fear/Pure Dead Frozen (M, permacold ; F almost-sneezing-while-hiding)

Sage, Angie ; Physik (F,triples)

Sage, Angie ; Queste (M, goat allergy)

Nix, Garth ; Lirael (F, pollen)

Klause, Annette Curtis ; Blood and Chocolate (F, dust, lighter fluid)

Revis, Beth ; Across the Universe

Oliver, Lauren ; Delirium (allergies)

Roberts, Willo Davis ; The Girl With The Silver Eyes (M&F, pollen)

Banks, Iain M ; Inversions (M)

Pratchett, Terry ; The Last Continent (M, cold)

Gilden, Mel ; ST Next Generation: Boogeymen (M, pretend-cold)

Dostojevsky, Fyodor M. ; Crime and Punishment (F, cold)

Cusick, Richie Tankersley ; Trick or Treat (M)

Cusick, Richie Tankersley ; Walk of the Spirits (M)

Gabaldon; Diana ; Dragonfly in Amber (M, allergy, cold) (Outlander Series)

Ross, Kate ; The Devil in Music (M)

Clarke, Susanna ; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel (M, cold/soot (or dust))

Harrison, Kim ; Rachel Morgen (series) (F, plaster dust a.o

Wright, Richard ; Native Son (M, snow)

Barker, Clive ; Damnation game (soot)

Martin, George R.R. ; A Storm of Swords (M, spices)

Heller, Joseph ; Catch 22 (M, allergies, fit)

Cook, Robin ; Invasion (taken over, one of first symptoms sneezing)

Nix, Garth ; The Ragwitch (M)

Gardner, James Alan ; Ascending (F, induced)

Swainston, Steph ; The Year of Our War (M)

Swainston, Steph ; No Present Like Time (M)

Herriot, James ; All Things Wise and Wonderful (M, colds)

Kittredge, Caitlin ; Black London (M, cold)

Ward, J.R. ; Crave (M, flower allergy)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Fight Club (M)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Choke (M&F)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Haunted (F)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Pygmy (F)

King, Stephen ; Tommyknockers (F, about 2/3 in)

King, Stephen ; The Waste Lands (half-cybernetic bear)

King, Stephen ; The Stand (first few chapters)

King, Stephen ; A Doctor's Case (M, cats)

King, Stephen ; Desperation (M, gross

King, Stephen ; The Long Walk

King, Stephen ; Salem's lot

King, Stephen ; The running man

King, Stephen ; The Plant (allergies)

King, Stephen ; The Talisman

King, Stephen ; The Eyes of The Dragon

King, Stephen ; Insomnia

King, Stephen ; Everything's Eventual

King, Stephen ; Lisey's story (allergies)

King, Stephen ; Duma Key

King, Stephen ; Just After Sunset

King, Stephen ; Wizard and glass

Dinotopia series (F)

Pike, Christoper ;

Koontz, Dean ; (dogs)

Death Day (M, flu)

Stine, R.L. ; Goosebumps

- Book 8: The Girl Who Cried Monster (F,dust)

- Book 12: Be Careful What You Wish For (F,flu, no sneezing)

- Book 20: The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (F, hay fever)

- Book 35: A Shocker on Shock Street (F,spiders)

- The Phantom of the Auditorium (F, allergies)

- The Haunted School (F, cold)

- Horror at Camp Jellycam

Edited to update the list. (Will try to keep these lists updated.)

Edited July 9, 2011 by Sigrith

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Oh, and here is the alphabetically sorted list. I Linux. There will probably be some errors even though I tried to sort it out, but well, the un-sorted list is just one post higher up.

Banks, Iain M ; Inversions (M)

Barker, Clive ; Damnation game (soot)

Bradley, Marion ; Rediscovery (F, allergies)

Calvino, Italo ; Marcovaldo (M, snow)

Clarke, Susanna ; Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel (M, cold/soot (or dust))

Cook, Robin ; Invasion (taken over, one of first symptoms sneezing)

Cusick, Richie Tankersley ; Trick or Treat (M)

Cusick, Richie Tankersley ; Walk of the Spirits (M)

Death Day (M, flu)

Devlin,D. & Emmerich, R. ; Stargate (M, allergies)

Dinotopia series (F)

Doody, Margaret ; Aristotle Detective (M, cold)

Dostojevsky, Fyodor M. ; Crime and Punishment (F, cold)

Duncan, Dave ; The Hunters' Haunt (sick minstrel)

Durrell, Gerald ; My Family and Other Animals (M, cold)

Flynn, Vince ; Transfer of Power (M, dust/allergies)

Gabaldon; Diana ; Dragonfly in Amber (M, allergy, cold) (Outlander Series)

Gardner, James Alan ; Ascending (F, induced)

Gilden, Mel ; ST Next Generation: Boogeymen (M, pretend-cold)

Gliori, Debi ; Deep Fear/Pure Dead Frozen (M, permacold ; F almost-sneezing-while-hiding)

Gollancz, S.F. ; Barry Trotter And The Shameless Parody (travelling snuff)

Greenburg, Dan ; Secrets of Dripping Fang series (F, allergies)

Grossman, Lev ; The Magicians (M,F pollen)

Hale, Shannon ; River Secrets (M, hay)

Harrison, Kim ; Rachel Morgen (series) (F, plaster dust a.o

Harris, Thomas ; The Silence Of The Lambs (F, dust)

Heller, Joseph ; Catch 22 (M, allergies, fit)

Herriot, James ; All Things Wise and Wonderful (M, colds)

Jones, Diane Wynn ; Howl's Moving Castle (M, cold)

Jordan, Robert ; Knife of Dreams (F) (Wheel of Time, 11)

King, Stephen ; A Doctor's Case (M, cats)

King, Stephen ; Desperation (M, gross

King, Stephen ; Duma Key

King, Stephen ; Everything's Eventual

King, Stephen ; Insomnia

King, Stephen ; Just After Sunset

King, Stephen ; Lisey's story (allergies)

King, Stephen ; Salem's lot

King, Stephen ; The Eyes of The Dragon

King, Stephen ; The Long Walk

King, Stephen ; The Plant (allergies)

King, Stephen ; The running man

King, Stephen ; The Stand (first few chapters)

King, Stephen ; The Talisman

King, Stephen ; The Waste Lands (half-cybernetic bear)

King, Stephen ; Tommyknockers (F, about 2/3 in)

King, Stephen ; Wizard and glass

Kittredge, Caitlin ; Black London (M, cold)

Klause, Annette Curtis ; Blood and Chocolate (F, dust, lighter fluid)

Koontz, Dean ; (dogs)

Letts, Billie ; Where the Heart Is (F, several causes)

Levine, Gail Carson ; The Princess Test (cold)

Martin, George R.R. ; A Storm of Swords (M, spices)

Mitchell, David ; number9dream (M)

Mitchell, David ; The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (M)

Moore, Perry ; Hero (M,cold(?))

Myracle, Lauren ; L8r G8r (M&F, cold)

Nix, Garth ; Lirael (F, pollen)

Nix, Garth ; The Ragwitch (M)

Noon, Jeff ; Pollen (dogcop, pollen)

O'Brien, Flann ; At Swim-Two-Birds (M)

Oliver, Lauren ; Delirium (allergies)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Choke (M&F)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Fight Club (M)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Haunted (F)

Palahniuk, Chuck ; Pygmy (F)

Pike, Christoper ;

Plato ; Symposium (Aristophanes, to cure the hiccups)

Pratchett, Terry ; The Last Continent (M, cold)

Revis, Beth ; Across the Universe

Roberts, Willo Davis ; The Girl With The Silver Eyes (M&F, pollen)

Ross, Kate ; The Devil in Music (M)

Sage, Angie ; Physik (F,triples)

Sage, Angie ; Queste (M, goat allergy)

Sanches, Alex ; So Hard to Say (M, nose blows, sniffling, no sneezing)

Sanchez, Alex; Rainbow Boys (M, rain) - Horror at Camp Jellycam

Sanchez, Alex; Rainbow High (M, noseblow, no sneezing)

Stine, R.L. ; Goosebumps

- Book 12: Be Careful What You Wish For (F,flu, no sneezing)

- Book 20: The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (F, hay fever)

- Book 35: A Shocker on Shock Street (F,spiders)

- Book 8: The Girl Who Cried Monster (F,dust)

- The Haunted School (F, cold)

- The Phantom of the Auditorium (F, allergies)

- Horror at Camp Jellycam

Swainston, Steph ; No Present Like Time (M)

Swainston, Steph ; The Year of Our War (M)

Thurman, Rob ; Chimera (M, cat allergies)

Tolkien, J.R.R. ; The Hobbit (M, cold)

Tolstoy, Leo ; Four Reading Books (M, tobacco leaves)

Ward, J.R. ; Crave (M, flower allergy)

Wells, H.G ; The invisible Man (M, cold)

Wright, Richard ; Native Son (M, snow)

Ziegesar, Cecily von ; Gossip Girl: Because I'm Worth It (F, noseblowing, no sneezing)

Ziegesar, Cecily von ; Gossip Girl: I Like It Like That (F, stuffy/runny nose, no sneezing)

Edited to add updates to the list.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Sigrith

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

Hmm. I could've sworn this was mentioned in this thread, but maybe not (I know it was in a different one): James Herriot, "All Things Wise and Wonderful" (M, multiple characters, from colds).

Edited to add: A giant THANK YOU to Sigrith for compiling all of this data. As you can see, it makes it much easier to know what has and hasn't been mentioned here.

Edited July 8, 2011 by TheSneezeChick

[NoV]

Oh, and here is the alphabetically sorted list.

Sigrith - you are a legend for taking the time to sort this Many thanks!

Edited July 8, 2011 by NoV

[Scion]

In Black London by Caitlin Kittredge, the main character's love interest, Jack, sneezes once from a cold. Oh how I love him. Also, in Crave by J.R. Ward, one of the characters, Eddie, an Angel, sneezes quite a few times from a flower allergy.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Scion

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Edited to add: A giant THANK YOU to Sigrith for compiling all of this data. As you can see, it makes it much easier to know what has and hasn't been mentioned here.

Oh, and here is the alphabetically sorted list.

Sigrith - you are a legend for taking the time to sort this Many thanks!

You're welcome.

Did notice when I was making the list that I know several books with sneezing that haven't been mentioned yet... should go and dig them up some time and add them. ^^

Edited July 9, 2011 by Sigrith

[Neesan]

Sigrith, you're sooooo awesome and I so bookmarked this since I'm in the "Ice and Fire" series at the moment and my ADD will lead me off and like crazy. LOL Thanks so much!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Sigrith, you're sooooo awesome and I so bookmarked this since I'm in the "Ice and Fire" series at the moment and my ADD will lead me off and like crazy. LOL Thanks so much!

You're welcome.

Found another one in the recesses of my childhood book collection.

Recheis, Käthe ; Die Gespensterburg (M, hay fever)

In the first story of the book (don't know whether it's been translated into English) of this children's book a ghost is chased out of the castle where it takes place by making use of his terrible allergy to Viola's.

[Bondi]

Regarding the list, I'm pretty sure no one sneezes in Stephen King's Salem's Lot. I read the book twice and I even checked the Amazon.com search through the book feature, and it didn't come up with any instances of the words "sneezed", "sneeze", "sneezes", or "sneezing". Just saying.

[Chanel_no5]

Regarding the list, I'm pretty sure no one sneezes in Stephen King's Salem's Lot. I read the book twice and I even checked the Amazon.com search through the book feature, and it didn't come up with any instances of the words "sneezed", "sneeze", "sneezes", or "sneezing". Just saying.

Ben Mears is mentioned to having a bad hayfever attack after helping to search for the lost boy. But no, there isn't actually printed that he was sneezing, so if I give you half right, you give me half right? Deal?

[Bondi]

I don't remember that part, but sure.