# Books that apparently,you're the only person to read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020 "2004-03-13T02:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/1 "2004-03-13T02:56:22Z")
(thread remix) Okay, _The Devil’s Day_ by James Blish. It’s an interesting story about magic from the classic Christian perspective (summoning of demons and angels) set in modern times. I lost my copy years ago, but I must’ve read it at least once a month. Also, I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s read Mark Twain’s _Letters from the Earth_. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/2 "2004-03-13T03:08:49Z")
“The Faerie Queene.” I think there are only a dozen of us, scattered across the globe, weeping. Julie ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/3 "2004-03-13T03:15:10Z")
“The Quiet Earth” by Kiwi author Craig Harrison, upon which the bewildering movie of the same name was based. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/4 "2004-03-13T03:18:31Z")
_Under the Frog_ by Tibor Fischer. It’s a humorous account of the 1956 Hungarian uprising, if that can be believed. The account of the Jesuit priest returning to his hometown to face off with the local Communist lackey in a winner-take-all eating contest has to be the one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/5 "2004-03-13T04:08:48Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > “The Faerie Queene.” I think there are only a dozen of us, scattered across the globe, weeping. Heh…hopefully by this summer I shall be among your number. (I’ve read chunks of it, but not the whole thing.) I have to read it in preparation for my doctoral exams, as one can hardly be a specialist in Renaissance literature and not have read _The Faerie Queene._ Though I doubt I’ll enjoy it much. I actually don’t mind _studying_ Spenser, but _reading_ him is another matter… 😉 (I said this to the last prof I studied Spenser with, and he said “You Shakespeareans are all wimps.”) ---
**Author:** ![ChrisM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@ChrisM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisM)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/6 "2004-03-13T04:21:16Z")
Hey, I’ve read _The Devil’s Day._ I also read _Black Easter_. Blish is one of my favorite sf authors. I may be the only person who has read David Ketterer’s critical biography of Blish, the name of which is escaping me at the moment. I did not realize that _The Quiet Earth_ was based on a book. That’s kind of an interesting movie. I’m having a hard time thinking of anything too obscure that I’ve read. Hmmm. Chad Oliver’s sf novels, maybe? (_Unearthly Neighbors_ or _Shadows in the Sun._) Drew Mendelson’s _Pilgrimage_ is an interesting sf novel, set in a gigantic moving city, but as far as I can tell it’s the only thing he ever wrote, so I don’t know how many people ever read it. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/7 "2004-03-13T04:34:26Z")
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson… Loved the books. I can’t say why, exactly, a lot of the time they were seriously overwritten, heavy prose, etc, but I just loved the series. And then there’s The Mirror of Her Dreams, and A Man Rides Through, also by Donaldson. Much more readable, and just as phenomenal. No one else ever seems to have heard of them though which frustrates me. And when I was a kid… The Teddy Bear Habit. Loved that book, and it’s apparently out of print, because I’d love to get that for my kids. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/8 "2004-03-13T04:47:42Z")
Jeebus, where do I start? Far Tortuga by Peter Mattheisson The Outline of History by H.G. Wells Jack of Eagles by James Blish Any Gor novel after #7 (Captive of Gor) (with the caveat that I am apparently the only non-Gorean who will admit to having read them, and to having liked them.) ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/9 "2004-03-13T04:53:32Z")
Both “In His Own Write” and “A Spaniard In The Works” by John Lennon. I _love_ the way he used gobbledygook as a medium, and he had a wicked sense of humor. The thing is, I _understand_ most of what he was saying through the gobbledygook! I remember reading it at school, and laughing so hard I could barely breathe. Somebody would ask me what was so funny. I’d hand them the book. Without exception, every single one of them handed it back to me, looking at me as if I were from outer space. Jumble Jim, who shall remain nameless, was slowly asking his way through the underpants… ---
**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/10 "2004-03-13T07:45:27Z")
**Biting The Sun** by Tanith Lee. My hubby isn’t into sci-fi or fantasy at all and I kind of picked this up by accident. I’ve read a lot of her short stories in anthologies but I had never read any novels by her before this. I was pleasantly surprised. (It’s actually two novellas, but WTF?). ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/11 "2004-03-13T08:01:46Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > (thread remix)Also, I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s read Mark Twain’s _Letters from the Earth_. _Letters from the Earth_ is one of my favorite books. But you’re right. There don’t seem to be many people with whom I can talk about it. You can’t really be such a monster. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/12 "2004-03-13T08:07:02Z")
I’ve never met anyone who has read _A Cry Of Angels_ by Jeff Fields. It came out in, I think, the '70s, and I don’t know of any other books by this author. I’m sure it’s out of print, but if you can find it in your local library it’s well worth a read. Lots of great character studies and very sensitive writing. ---
**Author:** ![DevilDan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@DevilDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DevilDan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/13 "2004-03-13T08:10:52Z")
Kafka’s _The Castle_ took a lot of work to actually finish. Don’t get me started on Rand’s _Atlas Shrugged_ and Hobbes’s _Leviathan_. Boy, was I glad to get through those. (Note, I only read the first two volumes of the Leviathan. Anything more would have surely shattered my mind.) A lot of people begin to read Atlas Shrugged, but what percentage actually finish it? Charles Dickens’ _Hard Times_: people aren’t likely to pick it up when they find out that Dickens didn’t get to finish writing it. Book that was so blood-chillingly awful offal that I couldn’t get past the second or third chapter: Heinlein’s _The Number of the Beast_. Books on my someday list (actually feel guilty): _Paradise Lost_. _Orlando Furioso_. Something by Kundera. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/14 "2004-03-13T08:42:32Z")
I have yet to meet anyone else - aside from me eldest brother, who recommended it to me - that has read Arthur C. Clarke’s _The Hammer Of God_. 'Tis an excellent book, in my opinion… some may hate the near-unnecessary amount of backstory that clogs the first half of the book, but to me it felt like reading an anthology of mini-stories that led up to the big plot. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/15 "2004-03-13T09:26:21Z")
John Hawkes - _Second Skin_; I was introduced to this book in an English Lit class on American Gothic. I have never met anyone outside of that class who has read that book. Frederic Manning - _The Middle Parts of Fortune_; Set during WWI and, IMHO, a more honest portrait of war than most everything except _All Quiet on the Western Front_. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/16 "2004-03-13T11:53:06Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > “The Faerie Queene.” I think there are only a dozen of us, scattered across the globe, weeping. > > Julie Count me as one. Well, actually, don’t. I only got through a couple of chapters, at which point I decided that I could afford to get marked down for participation over the week we discussed it. I think about 3/4 of the class ended up doing the same… It was a pretty lame week in Arthurian Legend 😉 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/17 "2004-03-13T17:47:45Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson… > > Loved the books. I can’t say why, exactly, a lot of the time they were seriously overwritten, heavy prose, etc, but I just loved the series. > > And then there’s The Mirror of Her Dreams, and A Man Rides Through, also by Donaldson. Much more readable, and just as phenomenal. > > No one else ever seems to have heard of them though which frustrates me. > > And when I was a kid… The Teddy Bear Habit. Loved that book, and it’s apparently out of print, because I’d love to get that for my kids. I read Donaldson several years ago. I understand what you mean. I can’t say I liked them, but some how had to keep reading. My entry would be _The Magus_ by John Fowles ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/18 "2004-03-13T17:54:30Z")
Day of the Drones, by A. M. LIghtner. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/19 "2004-03-13T19:07:03Z")
> [@DevilDan](#): > > Charles Dickens’ _Hard Times_: people aren’t likely to pick it up when they find out that Dickens didn’t get to finish writing it. Do you mean _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_? As far as I know, _Hard Times_ is indeed complete. Well, I DO know one other person who’s read Oswald Spengler’s _The Decline of the West_…an old college buddy who would sit down after dinner with a look of wild glee on his face, shouting “Time to read Spengler!!!” ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/20 "2004-03-13T19:19:51Z")
I don’t doubt at all that there are a lot of people who have read Lulu Wang’s “the Lily theater”, but I haven’t met anybody. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020.md?page=2)