# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/21 "2004-03-13T20:28:36Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#): > > 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… Read it. In fact it got passed around at work so several of my co-workers have read it. How about ‘shantyboat’ and ‘shantyboat on the bayou’ by harland hubbard. I’m sure others have read it but I’ve never met them. Or ‘alters of unhune stone’ by wes jackson ---
**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, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/22 "2004-03-13T21:16:21Z")
> [@Katisha](#): > > Heh…hopefully by this summer I shall be among your number. (I’ve read chunks of it, but not the whole thing.) Another in our leetle cult! Mwahahaha! 😃 Actually, I loved the whole damned thing, really. I had a class dedicated to it, and I loved it. But now I look at my hugemongous annotated copy and realize that I couldn’t tell you anything about Spenser that you couldn’t get from the opening paragraph of a Cliff’s Notes and _then_ I want to bawl like a bitty baby! ---
**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, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/23 "2004-03-13T21:17:40Z")
> [@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. Read both sets of Chronicles plus Mordant’s Need. You are not alone in the universe! 🙂 Julie ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/24 "2004-03-13T21:18:30Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson… I read those in high school. I can still remember the giant’s name, Saltheart Foamfollower. I think I’m the only one to have read _Shadow Castle_. It’s a story about a little girl who comes across a man in the woods, and he tells her a story about a fairy man who fell in love with a human princess, and all the conditions that had to be met before they could get married. Also, _The War of Power_ series by Milan and Vardeman? Published by Playboy, funny enough, so they are a bit sexually graphic, but the story about Fost Longstrider and the twin royal sisters, Moriana, who should have been queen, and the evil Synalon, who overthrew her sister in the Sky City is rather good. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/25 "2004-03-13T21:28:03Z")
> [@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. Wow. I thought _everybody_ had read Stephen Donaldson. Have you checked out the Gap series by him? Amazing stuff. No one can write an anti-hero like Donaldson. If you think Thomas Convenant was a hard character to sympathize with, wait’ll you meet Angus Thermopyle. I’ve also read John Lennon’s two books of… call it poetry. And I’ve seen the movie _The Quiet Earth_, but not read the books. I haven’t met too many other people who have read James Morrow or Tim Powers, who are two of my absolute favorite authors. Everyone should read _Blameless in Abaddon_, and _The Anubis Gates_ is just too fuckin’ cool. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/26 "2004-03-13T21:31:19Z")
I’ll come out of the closet as another Spenserian … I really liked _The Faerie Queene_. I’m a sucker for a good sprawling, rambling, discursive, allegorical epic. Stephen Donaldson’s books had a fair-sized following at one time; they’re still pretty much continuously in print on this side of the ocean, anyway. Hmm. I know only one other person who’s read Nicholas Seare’s _Rude Tales and Glorious_ (a somewhat risqué retelling of the legends of King Arthur). But more people should. Really. ---
**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, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/27 "2004-03-13T21:43:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve also read John Lennon’s two books of… call it poetry. I recently read Yoko Ono’s “Grapefruit”. Is it in the same vein? Very beatnik, 60’s avantgardism. I swallowed it whole, I love that kind of art. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/28 "2004-03-13T21:56:22Z")
_Cold Comfort Farm_, by Stella Gibbons, and _The Bone People_, by Keri Hulme. None of my friends like to read very much; I can’t even get them to read the Discworld books. So when I make Discworld jokes, no one laughs. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/29 "2004-03-13T22:34:25Z")
\*Where Were You Last Pluterday \* by Dutch author Paul Van Herck. A comic sf novel that is actually funny. I’ve tried to explain the plot to people before, but it takes more time to explain the plot than to read the book. It involves time travel, class warfare, little green Martians, magicians, the Bible, and Sam dies and goes to heaven – four times. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/30 "2004-03-13T22:37:49Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Both “In His Own Write” and “A Spaniard In The Works” by John Lennon. Not only have I read them both, I’ve also read **Skywriting by Word of Mouth**. Awesome stuff. I’m a moldy moldy man… I’m moldy thru and thru ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/31 "2004-03-13T23:19:33Z")
My bookclub read a book called Immodest Acts. Its a history book, not a novel, about a fourteenth century (?) nun tried for what we would now call Lesbianism. I was pretty sure that outside of my bookclub or Gay/Lesbian acedemics or Medieval History professionals I’d never run into another human being that had read the book. Then there was a thread here on historical cases of homosexuality, and within minutes Maeglin and I both recommended the book. I will never again believe anything I read is obscure. ---
**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 14, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/32 "2004-03-14T01:11:59Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Everyone should read _Blameless in Abaddon_, and _The Anubis Gates_ is just too fuckin’ cool. Powers? Obscure? Didn’t he win the World Fantasy Award? I guess you can win that and still be obscure, but not obscure obscure like Mark S. Geston. Anyway, I read everything Powers writes as soon as I can get my hands on it. “Declare” is my fave to date, though I’d love to see a movie made from “On Stranger Tides.” ---
**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 14, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/33 "2004-03-14T01:16:05Z")
> [@Julius Henry](#): > > \*Where Were You Last Pluterday \* by Dutch author Paul Van Herck. A comic sf novel that is actually funny. I’ve tried to explain the plot to people before, but it takes more time to explain the plot than to read the book. It involves time travel, class warfare, little green Martians, magicians, the Bible, and Sam dies and goes to heaven – four times. Read it, in fact, its titular concept entered into our family vocabulary. When we go out on the street and traffic is unusually light, or we go to a popular store or restaurant that has very few people in it, one of us is prone to ask, “Is it Pluterday already?” ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/34 "2004-03-14T01:38:30Z")
_Birthright_ by Andrew Coburn. In it, the author supposed that the Lindbergh baby survived, entered politics, and on the eve of a Senate (?) campaign, found out his actual heritage. ---
**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 14, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/35 "2004-03-14T01:39:01Z")
Yay, I’m so glad not to be alone. I remember stumbling across the Books In A Minute page, and was stunned to find a summary for the Covenant series. If you haven’t checked this site out, you have to. Funny, funny stuff. > [@Books In A Minute website](#): > > Lord Mhoram > Thomas Covenant, you are the savior of The Land. > Thomas Covenant > Bite me. > (Thomas Covenant saves The Land.) [Books In A Minute](http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/donaldson.first.shtml) A more apt summary I’ve never seen. ---
**Author:** ![look\_hergo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@look\_hergo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_hergo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/36 "2004-03-14T02:15:41Z")
“Ariel, a Book of the Change”, by Steven R. Boyett. This book has everything: post-apocolyptic doom, samurai swordfights, hang-gliding, evil overlords, sex, and unicorns! What’s not to love? And yet no one else has ever heard of it… ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/37 "2004-03-14T02:33:56Z")
Here’s another who’s read _The Faerie Queene_. I couldn’t tell you a damned thing about it now; I seem to remember something about a knight. But I read the whole thing in undergrad, about 12 years ago. I’ve yet to run into any other fans of J. P. Donleavy. Whenever I go into a bookstore, I head over to the Ds to see if they’ve got any of his I haven’t read yet. They rarely do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/38 "2004-03-14T02:57:52Z")
> [@Julius Henry](#): > > \*Where Were You Last Pluterday \* by Dutch author Paul Van Herck. A comic sf novel that is actually funny. I’ve tried to explain the plot to people before, but it takes more time to explain the plot than to read the book. It involves time travel, class warfare, little green Martians, magicians, the Bible, and Sam dies and goes to heaven – four times. I’m sure I’ve read this. It’s about what rich people do with all the time they save, isn’t it? And doesn’t it start off with the lead not knowing what the traditional calendar is based on because Christ was just some guy? “Uh…no. Christ, I think.” is a line that sticks in my head. Is this the one. ---
**Author:** ![epepke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@epepke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epepke)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/39 "2004-03-14T03:08:31Z")
> [@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. You must be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Everyone has heard of Thomas Covenant. Terrible, terrible writing, yet at the same time, totally brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020/40 "2004-03-14T03:41:17Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Both “In His Own Write” and “A Spaniard In The Works” by John Lennon. REad them, and love them. Lennon was an amazing wordsmith. I haven’t read it, but **The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant** was one of the best selling fantasy series of all time. It’s hard to believe anyone would think it only hand a small number of readers. For my choices, first is **The Ultimatum to Mankind** by Zeev Dickman. I may be the only person other than the author to read it – it was self-published and pretty bad. I only did it because I was writing a review. I am the only person I know who’s read “The Greatest Gift,” the story that inspired “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I’m certainly the only person on this board who read it before I saw the movie, or even knew the movie existed. **Coming Soon!!!** by John Barth **The Iron Dream** by Norman Spinrad (I’m one of the few who actually read it all – the book is deliberately poorly written). **Les Clowns de l’Eden** by Alfred Bester (in French – US title: “The Computer Connection”) **The Time Servers** by Russell Griffin **Walk the Moons Road** by Jim Aiken [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-apparently-youre-the-only-person-to-read/234020.md?page=3)