# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/61 "2006-04-29T03:56:23Z")
**John Brunner** ’s Dystopian trilogy of _Stand up on Zanzibar_, _The Sheep Look Up_ and _The Shockwave Rider_. They are chilling, gripping books looking at the effects of overpopulation, pollution and technological isolation respectively. The Shockwave Rider is especially amazing for being published 30 years ago and yet STILL seeming futuristic with only a handful of anachronisms. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/62 "2006-04-29T07:14:08Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > **John Brunner** ’s Dystopian trilogy of _Stand up on Zanzibar_, _The Sheep Look Up_ and _The Shockwave Rider_. The first two are major favorites of mine. (See my comments earlier about invented future slang…I’d love to be able to really use expressions like “sheeting hole!”) Is your Doper name by any chance influenced by _Zanzibar_? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/63 "2006-04-29T16:39:11Z")
[The Annals of Klepsis](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587154269/ref=sr_11_1/104-4920488-1479921?%5Fencoding=UTF8), by R. A. Lafferty. Set on the pirate planet of Klepsis, the book tells the story two royal brothers who are competing for the throne. Unfortunately they are completely identical twins, so nobody knows which one is the rightful king and which one is the usurper. The only difference is that the younger brother can “go vague”, i.e. fade out of existence for a few hours and materialize somewhere else. Also included: prophets, prisoners, golden bears, slave auctions, insurance salesmen, mountain climbers, newspaper printers, one-legged Irishmen, and the end of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/64 "2006-04-30T07:33:40Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > The first two are major favorites of mine. (See my comments earlier about invented future slang…I’d love to be able to really use expressions like “sheeting hole!”) Is your Doper name by any chance influenced by _Zanzibar_? But of course! Do check out Shockwave rider if you’ve not done so already. Stylistically, Zanzibar is still my favourite by Shockwave is amazing in how prescient it manages to be. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/65 "2006-04-30T14:53:53Z")
_The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger_ by Noel Langley. It’s one of those “kid’s” books that adults can love. _Period Piece_ by Gwen Raverrat. She is a grandaughter of Charles Darwin. She tells of her pre-teen and adolescence in Cambridge circa 1890 or so. Lovely. _A New England Girlhood_ by somebody Hale. She is the great great etc grandaughter of Nathaniel Hale. Growing up in the '30’s(?). _Our Hearts Were Young and Gay_ by Skinner and ? (sorry, can’t get to these books to check). Two young women conquer Europe in the 1920’s–hysterically funny. Not SF or fantasy, but good reading. These seem to be chick lit before there was such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![airtank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@airtank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airtank)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215/66 "2006-04-30T15:50:50Z")
> [@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. > Probably the best novel I’ve ever read, although I do mix it up with Elie Wiesel’s _Night_ occasionally. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **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 read it when I was in 10th grade. I also recall being the only person in the class who thought anything of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-books-youve-read-that-nobody-else-seems-to-know-of/354215.md?page=3)