# Great books you've read that nobody else seems to know of... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215 "2006-04-25T22:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/41 "2006-04-26T19:24:23Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > John Christopher’s [Tripods Trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tripods) was always a favorite of mine (_and_ my Dad’s), growing up. Basically an english boy and his newfound friends’ quest to escape a de-industrialized europe held for a century under the mental domination of alien conquerers. I loved these books as a kid. Strangely enough, someone alluded to them in a post maybe six months ago. But I notice my public library has the series, so I think maybe I’ll recommend them to my kids. And just so as to nominate something that’s not SF, how about _New Grub Street_ by George Gissing. Or _Oblomov_ by Ivan Goncharov. Or _The Radetzky March_, by Joseph Roth, which I was plugging in a recent thread. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/42 "2006-04-26T19:33:35Z")
**Silverlock** is in print through NESFA Press (New England Science Fiction Association). They also have lots of other obscure goodies, like the virtually complete works of Cordwainer Smith, William Tenn, and Hal Clement. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/43 "2006-04-26T19:34:53Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Silverlock is in print. I bought it on DungBeetle’s rec last year but haven’t read it yet. Oh my! Now I feel guilty for going after The Ideal Genuine Man by interlibrary loan! And **Khadaji** ’s looking for Silverlock too…gee, I hope it was as good as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/44 "2006-04-26T19:40:20Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > The book I just read is called Silverlock, by John Myers Myers. My high school drama teacher once mentioned that book, and just from his description I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. Now that you’ve reminded me and given me the author’s name, I’ll have to give it a look. Searching for the title of _Darkness at Noon_ draws 12 hits on the SDMB, and three are from me. This book made the Modern Library top 10, placing it with company like _Catch-22_ and _Lolita_, but I’d never even heard of it at the time. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/45 "2006-04-26T20:11:37Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > And just so as to nominate something that’s not SF, how about _New Grub Street_ by George Gissing. Oooh, I have this one. I went on a 19th century realism kick a few years ago, read a bunch of Zola, bought several more authors but haven’t gotten to them yet. (Zola’s a tough act to follow.) According to K. W. Jeter in “Horror: Another 100 Best Books”, New Grub Street is “at its heart a horror novel”, the horror being wasting one’s life. He also says that Grub Street is “widely considered to be the best ever written about writers and the writing life.” Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/46 "2006-04-26T20:13:09Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > **Rude Tales and Glorious** I LOVE that book! Especially the poor priest. 😛 I figured Searehad to be a pen name, but I never was sure whose it was. I’ve started here before, my all time favorite is **Ancient Lights** by Davis Grubb (the same guy who wrote "The Night of the Hunter.) It was written when he knew he was dying from an incurable cancer. It’s religious, magical, blatantly pornographic in places, but in the end, full of hope. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/47 "2006-04-26T20:14:56Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Oh my! Now I feel guilty for going after The Ideal Genuine Man by interlibrary loan! Did you read it? Or are you getting it now? It’s out of print – all of Robertson is out of print – but there are tons of used copies in the usual places. You **will** want to own this book. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/48 "2006-04-26T20:18:41Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > I’ve started here before, my all time favorite is **Ancient Lights** by Davis Grubb (the same guy who wrote "The Night of the Hunter.) It was written when he knew he was dying from an incurable cancer. It’s religious, magical, blatantly pornographic in places, but in the end, full of hope. So you’re the one I can thank for recommending that book? I loved it too. How impossibly rich can language be? The only Grubb that’s been a disappointment for me is Barefoot Man. It went nowhere and I didn’t finish it. I just traded Ancient Lights this week for some Christopher Fowler and Tim Powers – recommendations from another thread. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/49 "2006-04-26T20:22:12Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > As odd as it seems to me (as I read it as part of public education), no one I know has ever heard of _One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn. I love that book and also his _August, 1914_. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/50 "2006-04-26T20:24:34Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I loved these books as a kid. Strangely enough, someone alluded to them in a post maybe six months ago. But I notice my public library has the series, so I think maybe I’ll recommend them to my kids. Ditto on the Tripods. Read these about fifth grade iirc. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/51 "2006-04-26T20:25:29Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Did you read it? Or are you getting it now? It’s out of print – all of Robertson is out of print – but there are tons of used copies in the usual places. You **will** want to own this book. Getting it now as a result of your recommendation in this thread. I don’t expect to have any trouble finding it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/52 "2006-04-26T21:55:54Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Getting it now as a result of your recommendation in this thread. I don’t expect to have any trouble finding it. I hope not. I’d be interested in knowing Robertson’s status on library shelves. I don’t have access to a large library. If a book isn’t new or popular, my library doesn’t have it. If you can’t get it, I’d be glad to send you one. Most of my Robertson titles are from a big fan who winnowed his paperbacks as he found hardcovers. Lucky me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/53 "2006-04-26T23:52:43Z")
Ariel, by Steven R Boyett. Great fantasy novel about a world where all advanced technology including gasoline engines and firearms, stop working and magic STARTS working, and all sorts of magical creatures appear. But it doesn’t take the fairy story mindset…it’s a grim, grimey, dirty world descended into tortuous anarchy. Which nicely offsets the otherwise cutey setup of a 20 year old virgin man and the unicorn that is bonded to him spiritually. Very, very cool book. Sadly, Boyett was turned off of writing novels for years due to a bad experience with a series he was starting after Ariel came out. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/54 "2006-04-27T04:01:46Z")
I have a couple that I thought would have already been mentioned in this thread, but haven’t, so I’m throwing them out there… Two from James Morrow, “Only Begotten Daughter”, and “Bible Stories for Adults”. The former is a telling of a modern day, um, virgin birth, and the later is a collection of short stories the standout being The Assemblage of Kristen. One of the best organ donation stories I’ve ever read. Another is “Bangkok 8” by John Burdett. I picked this up in an airport, thinking it would be a good way to kill some time during a layover. I finished it halfway through my flight, and started again right then and there. Hugh Laurie’s “The Gun Seller” is a good satire of the spy thriller, and “Making History” or “The Hippopotamus” by his longtime creative partner and this centuries Oscar Wilde, Stephen Fry are two of my favourite books. Anything by George Saunders should have been a best seller, and I’ll end with “More than Human” by Theodore Sturgeon I know it’s a cliche, but so many books…so little time! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/55 "2006-04-27T04:20:59Z")
Bah, I’ll name a whole writer: [Michael Bishop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bishop_%28author%29). I read the collection _One Winter in Eden_ & was struck by the range of stories. Some are clearly “fantasy,” whereas others are just … odd. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/56 "2006-04-27T12:04:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Silverlock** is in print through NESFA Press (New England Science Fiction Association). They also have lots of other obscure goodies, like the virtually complete works of Cordwainer Smith, William Tenn, and Hal Clement. I can see myself sending a _lot_ of money to them in the near future! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/57 "2006-04-27T12:20:01Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I hope not. I’d be interested in knowing Robertson’s status on library shelves. I don’t have access to a large library. If a book isn’t new or popular, my library doesn’t have it. > > If you can’t get it, I’d be glad to send you one. Most of my Robertson titles are from a big fan who winnowed his paperbacks as he found hardcovers. Lucky me. 🙂 Re: Don Robertson on library shelves My library has Prisoners of Twilight, Paradise Falls, The Sum and Total of Now, The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread, and A Flag Full of Stars. Thanks for the offer! I’ll take you up on it if they don’t come through for me. I don’t have time to list them all, but I’m taking lots of other recommendations from this thread as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/58 "2006-04-28T18:59:30Z")
The Ideal Genuine Man is ready for me to pick up at the library! I know you weren’t waiting with bated breath or anything, but I thought I’d bump the thread. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/59 "2006-04-28T20:35:37Z")
I hope you like it. Paradise Falls is excellent too. It takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War, in a small town in Ohio. Some of the same characters appear in his Civil War books. It’s sort of an old-fashioned book, in that a lot of stuff happens to memorable characters. Robertson gives life to all of his people, even the minor ones. It reminded me of Our Town and Main Street, only richer. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/60 "2006-04-28T20:50:23Z")
**CalMeacham** that Steinbeck you mentioned was an unfinished work, don’t know if that has anything to do with its sinking back into obscurity. Loved love lend to friends [This Side of Brightness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312421974/sr=8-1/qid=1146257088/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6650721-8814351?%5Fencoding=UTF8) by Colum McCann, interweaving history of people’s lives over four generation in NY. And [The Good Fairies of New York](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933368365/sr=8-1/qid=1146257222/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6650721-8814351?%5Fencoding=UTF8) which thanks to this thread I’ve just discovered is going to be re-printed. It’s an everyday story of a couple of Scottish thistle fairies in New York. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215.md?page=4)