# Book(s) You read that you're pretty sure nobody else has read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645 "2012-05-02T15:22:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/81 "2012-05-21T22:00:12Z")
**Who Goes There?** Points if you know what movie was based on it. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/82 "2012-05-21T22:38:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Going After Cacciato** _, by Tim O’Brien. A slightly retarded GI decides to desert during the Vietnam War and walk to Paris. I always wanted to see someone make a movie of this with Michael J Pollard as Cacciato, Richard Widmark as his overage Lieutenant, and the mustached dude from _Apocalypse Now_ as Stink. [_Going After Cacciato_](http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9463929) is among my top five favorite books and even better, I think, than _The Things They Carried_. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Crazyquilt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@Jack\_Crazyquilt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Crazyquilt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/83 "2012-05-21T23:05:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **Who Goes There?** Points if you know what movie was based on it. I _think_ I know the story you’re referring to, but I thought it was a short story rather than a novel? It’s been a very long time since I read it, but I recall I did it all in one go, which I’ve _never_ managed with a full novel. Would James Arness and Kurt Russell be relevant names for the movie tie-in? Having lurked in The Straight Dope for a long time, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I’ve ever read that someone here hasn’t also read at some time, but here’s a couple I liked enough to read twice, but would bet that most people have never even heard of: **Buddenbrooks** , by Thomas Mann, and **The Worm Ouroboros** , by E.R. Eddison. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/84 "2012-05-21T23:30:54Z")
> [@Jack\_Crazyquilt](#): > > I _think_ I know the story you’re referring to, but I thought it was a short story rather than a novel? It’s been a very long time since I read it, but I recall I did it all in one go, which I’ve _never_ managed with a full novel. Would James Arness and Kurt Russell be relevant names for the movie tie-in? I’m not **Chefguy** but you’re right. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Having lurked in The Straight Dope for a long time, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I’ve ever read that someone here hasn’t also read at some time, but here’s a couple I liked enough to read twice, but would bet that most people have never even heard of: **Buddenbrooks** , by Thomas Mann, and **The Worm Ouroboros** , by E.R. Eddison. I’ve heard of the Mann book and have tried to read the Eddison, but it puts me to sleep. Maybe it’s a morning book. I think the last time we did a thread like this, my pick was _The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H._ but a bunch of Dopers were familiar with it. How about _The Last of the Just_ by Andre Schwarz-Bart? That book made an indelible impression on me when I was a teenager. Nightmares even. Oh! Here’s one! I read it on a plane trip. I’d gone to visit friends in a book group. One of them had lost a book I’d loaned her, and she replaced it with _Bighead_ by Edward Lee. More nightmares. And I really hoped no one on the plane would ask me about the book, or recognize it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/85 "2012-05-21T23:40:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _The Rape of the A.P.E (American Puritan Ethic : The Official History of the Sex Revolution, 1945-1973)_ by Allan Sherman. > Yep-the same guy what sung “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” Own it and have read it many times over. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/86 "2012-05-21T23:44:37Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > [_Going After Cacciato_](http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9463929) is among my top five favorite books and even better, I think, than _The Things They Carried_. Despite loving both of these, I must insist that you are wrong. With respect to other books, years ago I read a series of novels centering on the dregs of the Germany army, written by a guy named **Sven Hassel**. They were coarse, implausible and thoroughly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/87 "2012-05-21T23:47:08Z")
> [@Jack\_Crazyquilt](#): > > I _think_ I know the story you’re referring to, but I thought it was a short story rather than a novel? It’s been a very long time since I read it, but I recall I did it all in one go, which I’ve _never_ managed with a full novel. Would James Arness and Kurt Russell be relevant names for the movie tie-in? > > Having lurked in The Straight Dope for a long time, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I’ve ever read that someone here hasn’t also read at some time, but here’s a couple I liked enough to read twice, but would bet that most people have never even heard of: **Buddenbrooks** , by Thomas Mann, and **The Worm Ouroboros** , by E.R. Eddison. I’ve tried reading _The Wor,m Ouroboros_, too. It’s one of the fantasy novels that was republished in the wake of _The Lord of the Rings_ to try to cash in on Tolkien’s popularity. I couldn’t finish it, either. It had a stack of sequels, as well. I know _Buddenbrooks_, although I never read it. Here in Boston the _Paperback Booksmith_ chain changed its name to _Buddenbrooks_ (there was a big one on Boylston Street, opposite the Prudential Center), so you couldn’t miss it. As for _Who Goes There?_, it’s pretty famously the John Campbell short story on which _The Thing_ is based. Although there was a book of that title, it was a collection of Ca,mpbell short stiories. The story’s been anthologized a number of times, as well, including _The Best of john W. campbell_ and in Healy and McComas’ influential anthology _Adventures in Time and Space_, which Hollywood must have perused, because they also made movies out of _Farewell to the Master_ (which became _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ and _the Twonky_, and the Raymond F. Jones story in there has almost the same plot as the other Jones story that became the first part of _This Island Earth_. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/88 "2012-05-21T23:57:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve tried reading _The Wor,m Ouroboros_, too. It’s one of the fantasy novels that was republished in the wake of _The Lord of the Rings_ to try to cash in on Tolkien’s popularity. I couldn’t finish it, either. It had a stack of sequels, as well. Last year my teenage stash of sci-fi/fantasy books turned up (Mom had it in the attic), and _The Worm Ouroboros_ was one of them. I really recalled liking it back then, but trying to reread it a few months ago…meh. Up soon is a book that might be equally obscure, F. Paul Wilson’s _Healer_. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/89 "2012-05-22T00:03:32Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > [_Going After Cacciato_](http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9463929) is among my top five favorite books and even better, I think, than _The Things They Carried_. Blasphemy! “The Things They Carried” is one of the greatest short stories of the modern era. _Going After Cacciato_ is a good novel. Why are people posting bestsellers in this thread anyway? If you want obscure, how about _The Collected Adventures of Nick Danger: Third Eye_? It’s absolutely not what you think. (Although the Firesign Theatre are themsleves threatening to slip into obscure territory.) It’s two series of parody adventures of Nick Danger, written by J. R. Reddig and published originally in the Midway Multiplex, the onship newspaper of the U. S. S. Midway. Reddig later mimeographed the typewritten originals and bound them in thicker cover stock. But I bought this in a used bookstore and I’ve seen references to other copies out there (try to find one: just try) so this counts as a book. A truly obscure book. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Crazyquilt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@Jack\_Crazyquilt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Crazyquilt)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/90 "2012-05-22T00:24:27Z")
Two helpful tips for reading **The Worm Ouroboros** : **1.** Find a copy of the book that includes lots and lots of footnotes. **2.** Tear out the first dozen or so pages and burn them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/91 "2012-05-22T00:33:23Z")
[_The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy,_](http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Doctor-Eszterhazy-Avram-Davidson/dp/0913896284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337646715&sr=1-1) by [Avram Davidson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Davidson) (who is popular enough to support a [website](http://www.avramdavidson.org/), but I can’t recall actually meeting anyone else who has read that book, which I re-read frequently, can’t get enough). ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/92 "2012-05-22T00:36:44Z")
I don’t know anyone else who ever read this book. I know in the town library I had been the only person to check it out in the whole of the 70s. (Who knows if it’s still there) [The Baby Whale, Sharp Ears, by John Y Beaty.](http://www.amazon.com/The-Baby-Whale-Sharp-Ears/dp/B000WG0PIE) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/93 "2012-05-22T00:40:34Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Blasphemy! > > “The Things They Carried” is one of the greatest short stories of the modern era. _Going After Cacciato_ is a good novel. Agree that _The Things They Carried_ is one of the greatest short stories of the modern era. Absolutely do not agree that _Going After Cacciato_ is merely a good novel. It’s an hallucinatory, perfectly crafted, 352-page sustained mind-fuck. I can think of few novels as brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/94 "2012-05-22T21:22:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [_The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy,_](http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Doctor-Eszterhazy-Avram-Davidson/dp/0913896284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337646715&sr=1-1) by [Avram Davidson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Davidson) (who is popular enough to support a [website](http://www.avramdavidson.org/), but I can’t recall actually meeting anyone else who has read that book, which I re-read frequently, can’t get enough). I had a copy, but lost it before I could read it. This is a shame, because I love the Davidson I have read (They loved me in Utica, Big Sam, The golem) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/95 "2012-05-22T21:35:46Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Despite loving both of these, I must insist that you are wrong. > With respect to other books, years ago I read a series of novels centering on the dregs of the Germany army, written by a guy named **Sven Hassel**. They were coarse, implausible and thoroughly entertaining. I remember those, about a Waffen-SS unit (I believe) fighting the Russians during WWII. I thought they were awesome too! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/96 "2012-05-22T21:39:35Z")
In the last 30 years, I’ve only known one other person who had read Kurt Vonnegut’s _Slaughterhouse Five_ **and** _Mother Night_. Is anyone here familiar with both works? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/97 "2012-05-22T22:02:10Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Anyone else read _The Motel of the Mysteries_? A wonderfully illustrated book about an archaeologist in the future unearthing a motel room and assigning totally spurious meanings to the artifacts he finds there. Yup. I remember the illustration of the “priest” wearing the toilet on his head. I read _None Dare Call It Treason_ in a paranoid moment, as well as _Masters of Deceit,_ by none other than J. Edgar himself. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/98 "2012-05-22T22:39:53Z")
> [@Jack\_Crazyquilt](#): > > I _think_ I know the story you’re referring to, but I thought it was a short story rather than a novel? It’s been a very long time since I read it, but I recall I did it all in one go, which I’ve _never_ managed with a full novel. Would James Arness and Kurt Russell be relevant names for the movie tie-in? > > Having lurked in The Straight Dope for a long time, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I’ve ever read that someone here hasn’t also read at some time, but here’s a couple I liked enough to read twice, but would bet that most people have never even heard of: **Buddenbrooks** , by Thomas Mann, and **The Worm Ouroboros** , by E.R. Eddison. As others have already noted, you’re correct. I remember (as a kid) taking the book off the shelf and opening to the first story, the first line of which was: “The place stank.” I was hooked. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/99 "2012-05-22T23:16:08Z")
I don’t expect that I’m the only Doper who’s read Plato’s _Republic_, but I reckon there’s a very good chance that I’m the only one who has read it in the original Greek. (Jeebus but it was nearly 30 years ago.) I don’t think I read the whole of Lucretius’ _De Rerum Natura_, in Latin, but I certainly read large chunks of it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645/100 "2012-05-22T23:37:55Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > National Sunday Law > > This was mass mailed to a LOT of people. I think I’m the only one who actually read it. The Catholic church is the beast of Revelations. A law mandating Sunday as the day of rest is his mark. I enjoy the rantings of the crazed and have read it cover to cover many times. I got a copy recently. I didn’t read it from cover to cover, but I read enough of it. Afterward I thought about opening a Pit thread called something like “Great, Rorschach has my mailing address.” > [@Ludovic](#): > > Most of Nabokov’s stuff besides _Lolita_ and _Pale Fire_, my favorite being _Ada_. When I took out Ada in 1992, it was still on the shelf despite last having been checked out in the late 1970s. I just got _Ada_ as a birthday present, so I’ll be joining your club shortly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-s-you-read-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/620645.md?page=6)