# Name a good book that you're pretty sure nobody else has read **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941 "2008-08-22T17:32:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/61 "2008-08-23T07:13:05Z")
[QUOTE=Waenara] [_Replay_](http://www.amazon.com/Replay-Ken-Grimwood/dp/068816112X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219470301&sr=1-1) by Ken Grimwood. I _love_ this book, and re-read it once a year or so. It makes my ponder my own existence and where my life is going and how I want to get the most out of things, and that it’s never too late to make changes in your life. [/QUOTE] Read it (way back in high school, I think). Another nomination: _Divided Kingdom_ by **Rupert Thomson**. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/62 "2008-08-23T07:55:12Z")
Another one who has read Bride of the Rat-God and Snouters. Both well worth the read. Probably the best book I can think of is Barry B. Longyear’s [Saint Mary Blue](http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Mary-Blue-Barry-Longyear/dp/0595138853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219477488&sr=8-1), a novel inspired by his stay at an inpatient alcohol/drug addiction rehab facility. It’s a wonderfully affecting book, and a very good look at a modern group therapy based mental illness treatment facility. A nice bit of fluff I’ve really enjoyed is Roger F. Young’s [Eridahn](http://www.amazon.com/Eridahn-Robert-F-Young/dp/0345308549/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219477718&sr=1-1). Also his [The Vizier’s Second Daughter](http://www.amazon.com/Viziers-Second-Daughter-Robert-Young/dp/0886770041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219477842&sr=1-1). (Dammit I loaned out my copy of that a few years back, and never got it back. _sob_) Both books are rather pedestrian time-travel adventures, without any really outstanding ideas, aside from a pair of romances that I cannot describe without sounding really skeevy. But, while reading the books, they work, and are enjoyable for what they are. Not deep works, but fun. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/63 "2008-08-23T09:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Ranchoth** : > Tik-Tok—By John Sladek > Kinda like Gulliver’s Travels, only with more robots, and less respect for human life. > > Back to the Moon—By Homer H. Hickam > Nice techno-thriller adventure, if occasionally a bit over the top and occasionally amateurish. Though I’d swear I caught a few little bits that the author must have put in to lure an editor into cutting\* that slipped through. > > The Marching Morons—Cyril Kornbluth Haven’t read the middle one, but Tik-tok and The Marching Morons are among the most unforgettable things I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/64 "2008-08-23T09:29:31Z")
Down to a Sunless Sea, by David Graham. It’s a horribly dated, racist and sexist post-apocalyptic thriller concerning the passengers of a trans-Atlantic airliner in the aftermath of a nuclear war, but there are a couple of passages that have stuck with me for twenty years - particularly the bit where the Russian plane needs to lighten the load. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/65 "2008-08-23T10:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] Haven’t read the middle one, but Tik-tok and The Marching Morons are among the most unforgettable things I’ve ever read. [/QUOTE] Heh-heh-heh…I guess I still know how to pick 'em. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/66 "2008-08-23T10:06:12Z")
Well, I’ve read several mentioned so far, including _Bear_ by **Marion Engel** _Divine Right’s Trip_ by **Gurney Norman** it sat on the shelf for years before I actually read it and found it was pretty good! _The Long Ships_ by **Frans G Bengtsson** _No One Thinks of Greenland_ by **John Griesemer** - I’ve been half-heartedly trying to remember the name of this one for a year or two now; thanks! _Silverlock_ by **John Myers Myers** But how about _The Green Child_ by **Herbert Read**? A child emerges from an underground cavern… Or _The Hope_ by **James Lovegrove** A huge liner that never docks for decades… Or _The Lost Traveller_ by **Ruthven Todd**. Although that’s getting a bit too obscure, I suspect! I used to read my dad’s old copy back in the 70s… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/67 "2008-08-23T10:27:19Z")
[Mockingbird](http://www.amazon.com/Mockingbird-Del-Impact-Walter-Tevis/dp/0345431626/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219486170&sr=1-3) by _Walter Tevis_ author of _The Hustler_, _The Color of Money_ and _The Man Who Fell to Earth_. Just about the only SF I have read since I stopped reading SF in my early 20s. I only picked this up because I had read the two pool books and _The Queens Gambit_, a chess novel, and loved his style. [Suspects](http://www.amazon.com/Suspects-David-Thomson/dp/0394744683) by movie critic David Thomson. A mysterious narrator fills in the life stories of about 100 characters from classic movies. What was Jake Gittes childhood like, who was Travis Bickle’s father, what happened to George Bailey after “It’s a Wonderful Life” ended. Were Noah Cross (Chinatown) and Nora Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) lovers in the 1920s, which famous plane crash killed Ilsa Lund(Casablanca)? The stories begin to intertwine, real people start to appear and the whole thing becomes a pleasure for fans of film noir. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/68 "2008-08-23T14:28:41Z")
Am I one of the few who’s read **Norstrilia** and **The Best Of** by [Cordwainer Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith)? For as highly influential as he was, I rarely see him mentioned. He’s still my favorite SF writer. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/69 "2008-08-23T14:36:13Z")
Oh, ha, I did a search after the fact and Voyager [mentioned him](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10089272&postcount=53) August 11, in a thread I started, no less! ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/70 "2008-08-23T14:40:28Z")
FYI, _Norstrilia_ and five related stories have just been reissued in paperback by Baen as _We the Underpeople_ (isbn 9781416555674) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/71 "2008-08-23T15:25:27Z")
**Virgin Planet** by Poul Anderson It’s basically Planet of the Apes with women who’ve never met a man instead of apes who enslave humans. Oh, and it ends with our hero astronaut about to get it on with two female warriors. It’s the greatest book ever. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/72 "2008-08-23T15:27:52Z")
I don’t really think for a minute that these will Stump the Dope™, but… …anyone else read **The Bear Comes Home** by Rafi Zabor? **Space War Blues** by Richard Lupoff? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/73 "2008-08-23T15:40:46Z")
I read _Virgin Planet_ when it came out in the UK… when I was young I loved _One Million Centuries_ by **Lupoff** , but when I saw _Space War Blues_ years later it didn’t appeal, I’m afraid… ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/74 "2008-08-23T16:38:31Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Read it. Great book. But his masterpiece is _The Dwarf._ [/QUOTE] Yup - great book! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/75 "2008-08-23T20:53:20Z")
Ricardo Piglia’s ‘‘[The Absent City.](http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/catalog/show_comment/850)’’ (Originally _La ciudad ausente_.) I read it in Spanish for a surrealist literature course, so I don’t know how great it is in English, but I found it absolutely hypnotic. It is the bizarre tale of a journalist trying to investigate a scandal – a machine (created by the husband of a ‘‘disappeared’’ woman) that is spitting out her unauthorized memories. It is chock full of literary and political symbolism and the beautiful, lush, stream-of-consciousness creativity I tend to adore. It’s also a heartbreaking look into the suffering and censure that Argentinians endured under the military dictatorship of the 70s and 80s. If you like Borges, you will like this novel. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/76 "2008-08-23T21:20:54Z")
_The Tale of the Land of Green Ginger_ by Noel Langley. It’s much like _The Phantom Tollbooth_ in that it can be enjoyed by kids and adults in different ways. It’s out of print. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/77 "2008-08-23T21:39:57Z")
[Dream World by Kent Winslow](http://www.amazon.com/Dream-World-Kent-Winslow/dp/B000KSBR86). One of my very favorites, as good and anti-authoritarian as anything buy B. Traven. Joe ETA : [A better link](http://reviews.blether.com/blether.php?id=10905). Joe ---
**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:** [August 23, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/78 "2008-08-23T21:43:34Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] _Tik-Tok_—By John Sladek Kinda like Gulliver’s Travels, only with more robots, and less respect for human life. [/QUOTE] I’ve had Tik-Tok on my shelf for YEARS without reading it. I probably heard about it first here on the Dope. I’ll have to get it down finally and give it a spin. I first read the Swedish decadent [Hjalmar Soderberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hjalmar_S%C3%B6derberg) in college. The priest-murdering **Doktor Glas** and the adulterers of **The Serious Game** provide fine novelistic entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/79 "2008-08-23T21:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] **The Snouters** --by Harald Stumpke. It’s sort of a parody of evolution and biology books. The premise is that, like Darwin’s Galapagos finches, one family of large-nosed mouse-like creatures reached a Pacific island and proceeded to fill all the available niches by evolving into weird forms. Profusely illustrated, with some of the Snouter species looking as if they’re caricatures of the author’s friends. Or enemies. Published by the University of Chicago Press. See the second entry in the first link below for some pictures. Also the third link: [http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/rgendron/Caminalcules.shtml](http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/rgendron/Caminalcules.shtml) > **[The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades (English and German Edition):...](https://www.amazon.com/Snouters-Rhinogrades-Phoenix-English-German/dp/0226778959)** > > The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades (English and German Edition) \[Harald Stumpke, Leigh Chadwick, Gerolf Steiner\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades (English and German... > **[Snouters](https://hoaxes.org/tall-tales/pacific-islands.html)** [/QUOTE] Not only have I read it, I wrote a report for my high school biology class on it and got an A. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/80 "2008-08-23T22:56:44Z")
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie (Andrews) Edwards The Teddy Bear Habit Two of my favorite books from childhood and I’ve never come across anyone who’s ever even heard of them. Please let me know if you have! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941.md?page=5)