# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/121 "2008-08-26T22:47:57Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] How about Richard Hooker’s sequels to MASH - the real ones, not the ones based on the TV show. The ones I read are \*MASH Goes to Maine \* and _MASH Mania_. In these, the standard curse word for the characters is “Democrat” and in the final one Hawkeye tells a fable of how he convinced a sea monster to incinerate Hiroshima when it was discovered that the bomb wouldn’t work. Designed by Hooker to give Alan Alda the cold shivers no doubt. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Those were the only two actually written by Hooker. All the others, with the city names in the titles, were ghostwritten and got increasingly silly. I can vouch for that because I read most of them. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/122 "2008-08-26T22:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I have a minor obsession with [Flicker](http://www.amazon.com/Flicker-Novel-Theodore-Roszak/dp/155652577X) by Theodore Roszak. There’s something about his idea of movies within movies that intrigues me. [/QUOTE] A friend gave me \*Flicker \*to read - I didn’t buy into the premise (having already seen something along those lines as comedy on Max Headroom), but I’ll admit to feeling a bit squiffy about Shirley Temple movies. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/123 "2008-08-27T00:39:11Z")
In college, I took 2 classes called “20th Century European Fiction” and “Irrational Fiction” as my English requirements (being a Math major). They were taught by one fascinating professor. It was almost 20 years ago, but some of the books really impacted my views on life and affect me to this day. I’ll usually go back and read 1-2 a year. I have no idea how many of you have read these: Kundera, Milan **The Farewell Party** Gide, Andre **The Immoralist** Zamiatin, Eugene **We** - Huxley’s **Brave New World** and Orwell’s **1984** quite obviously were heavily influenced by this book Kosinsky, Jerzy **The Painted Bird** Frisch, Max **Homo Faber** Silone, Ignazio **Bread and Wine** plus a bunch by Hesse and Camus ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/124 "2008-08-27T19:02:00Z")
**Not Fade Away** by Jim Dodge – a believable (in its own weird way), poetic and funny novel, narrated by a benny-popping young trucker who’s been hired to drive a Cadillac across the USA and deliver it – a Cadillac which was owned by the legendary Big Bopper until just recently, and which might or might not be haunted by his ghost… **Freaks Amour** by Tom deHaven – it’s a tragedy about prejudice, family, loyalty vs betrayal and love vs jealousy – y’know, all the big tragedy themes – which is also a paranoid mindwrencher that goes off in amazing directions and is funny as hell besides: very very dark humor, true, but amazing. Takes place after a mysterious explosion in a residential part of Jersey City mucks around the genetic makeup of a lot of the citizenry, turning them into all sorts of picturesque monstrosities and causing their goldfish to start laying eggs that kill you for four hours if you eat them. \*\*The Tenants Of Moonbloom \*\* by Edgar Lewis Wallant – by the same guy who wrote The Pawnbroker – an excellent but depressing novel itself – this one’s nowhere near as well known, or so much of a downer either. **The Throne Of Bones** by Brian McNaughten – a fantasy novel made up of several interconnected stories, that’s grim, gritty and hideous on one hand, while it’s also touching and sad, beautifully written, and totally engrossing. **The Texts Of Festival** by Mick Farren – I’ve mentioned this one on here before. It’s a post-Apocalyptic Western of sorts wherein, a century or so after the war that ended life as we know it, civilization has regressed (or pulled itself back up from the ashes?) to something like a Wild West level of technology and culture. Except they consider the rock music of the late 1960s’early 1970s to be Holy Scripture and a record of the past era And there are pillaging barbarian tribes who ride motorcycles they built by hand from scavenged salvage and snort cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/125 "2008-08-27T19:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] **The Throne Of Bones** by Brian McNaughten – a fantasy novel made up of several interconnected stories, that’s grim, gritty and hideous on one hand, while it’s also touching and sad, beautifully written, and totally engrossing. [/QUOTE] Awesome book! I never thought I’d sympathize with ghouls, but I did. Your recommendation of this book means I’ll check out the others you recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Buran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/126 "2008-08-27T22:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] 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. [/QUOTE] Its been a while since I’ve read this book but can you specify what was racist and sexist in it? Thanks btw agreed that it had some extremely powerful scenes such as the one you mentioned. Some of the imagery was memorable as well. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/127 "2008-08-28T04:51:47Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] … causing their goldfish to start laying eggs that kill you for four hours if you eat them… [/QUOTE] Is this a typo? Or does one come back to life after four hours? ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/128 "2008-08-28T14:09:20Z")
**The Nun’s Story** , by Kathryn Hulme. The book that the Audrey Hepburn movie is based on, about a Belgian nun’s faith being tested in the Congo. **Mirabile** , by Janet Kagan. This is a collection of related short stories that were first published in _Asimov’s_ sci-fi magazine. Janet Kagan was a Hugo-winning author who died recently after a long illness that sadly kept her from being prolific. She’s best known for writing one of the better Star Trek novels, **Uhura’s Song**. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/129 "2008-08-28T15:59:14Z")
I’ve read The Nun’s Story - & I recommend it also. Powerful. After seeing “The Forsyte Saga” and “The Jewel in the Crown” on PBS Masterpiece theatre, I went and read all the books in those series. Quality varied, but both were worth reading, and I haven’t met anyone else yet who has done so. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/130 "2008-08-28T18:17:20Z")
[QUOTE=Hazle Weatherfield] Also the “Finn Family Moomintroll” series by Tove Jansson. I was and still am absolutely mesmerized by these books. I actually found Moomintroll magnets at a shop in Honolulu. Jill M. from Junior High introduced me and she and I are the only people I know of that have even heard of the Moomins. [/QUOTE] Add me to that list - particularly _Moominsummer Madness_. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/131 "2008-08-28T18:32:20Z")
[QUOTE=Eutychus] “L 1 L 2 NJC” by J. J. sephoJ [/QUOTE] What is this book? The title intrigues me… thwartme ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/132 "2008-08-28T18:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] After seeing “The Forsyte Saga” and “The Jewel in the Crown” on PBS Masterpiece theatre, I went and read all the books in those series. Quality varied, but both were worth reading, and I haven’t met anyone else yet who has done so. [/QUOTE] I have, also the Trollope novels that make up “The Pallisers” after watching that whole miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/133 "2008-08-28T18:38:51Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] I have, also the Trollope novels that make up “The Pallisers” after watching that whole miniseries. [/QUOTE] Me too (Forsyte Saga). Would you recommend the Pallisers novels? I love family sagas. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/134 "2008-08-28T18:41:48Z")
Has anyone ever **“By Reason Of Insanity”** by Shane Steven? For anyone who hasn’t, this is the Daddy of all serial killer books… if you like that sort of thing. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/135 "2008-08-28T21:52:55Z")
Let’s see … of those mentioned so far, I’ve read Faber’s _Under The Skin_, Pollack’s _Unquenchable Fire_, Sladek’s _Tik-Tok_; I’ve got (and read, and enjoyed) the NESFA reprints of Cordwainer Smith; I’ve read a fair chunk of Kornbluth’s short stories (including “The Marching Morons”); and I can knock off two weighty tetralogies, Paul Scott’s “Raj Quartet” (_The Jewel in the Crown_ and sequels) and Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet”, both of which I can heartily recommend. Perhaps regrettably, I’m not the Stephen Wright who wrote _Meditations in Green_. (I say “perhaps”, because I’ve never read it, either.) For my obscure book, I will nominate _The Haunted Woman_ by David Lindsay, which is an interesting read in its own right, and also threw a lot of light (for me) on Lindsay’s better-known _A Voyage To Arcturus_, a book which always makes me feel a bit stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/136 "2008-08-28T21:56:59Z")
I don’t think I know anyone who’s read _Stand on Zanzibar_. Yet it is an awesome book. I know it’s not unknown to everyone… but it seems to be unknown to everyone I’ve ever had the occasion to ask. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/137 "2008-08-28T21:58:50Z")
Ooo I’ve read Tik-Tok. Didn’t think it was that great, though, TBH. Can’t remember why. -FrL- ---
**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 28, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/138 "2008-08-28T22:11:09Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I don’t think I know anyone who’s read _Stand on Zanzibar_. Yet it is an awesome book. [/QUOTE] **Huge** favorite of mine. We have a number of Brunner fans on the Dope. Including one named **Shalmanese**. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/139 "2008-08-28T22:17:47Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] I’ve read The Nun’s Story - & I recommend it also. Powerful. After seeing “The Forsyte Saga” and “The Jewel in the Crown” on PBS Masterpiece theatre, I went and read all the books in those series. Quality varied, but both were worth reading, and I haven’t met anyone else yet who has done so. [/QUOTE] Hah! I just started reading the first Forsyte book. I’m not sure I’ll get through more than one, though. The characters strike me as a bit caricatured, and the author seems to hate them all. ---
**Author:** ![Buran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941/140 "2008-08-29T00:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I don’t think I know anyone who’s read _Stand on Zanzibar_. Yet it is an awesome book. I know it’s not unknown to everyone… but it seems to be unknown to everyone I’ve ever had the occasion to ask. -FrL- [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Frylock] I don’t think I know anyone who’s read _Stand on Zanzibar_. Yet it is an awesome book. I know it’s not unknown to everyone… but it seems to be unknown to everyone I’ve ever had the occasion to ask. -FrL- [/QUOTE] Agreed, one of my favourite books. I recently finished ‘The Jagged Orbit’ by the same author and really enjoyed it, if not quite as much as ‘Stand on Zanzibar’. Not sure how obscure some of these are but I’ll list them anyway in case someone finds them interesting. I have an interest in the Cold War and one of the best fiction books of its type I’ve read is ‘Chieftans’ by Bob Forest-Webb depicting a British tank-crew in Germany during WW3. The ending is chilling and disturbingly plausible. In a similar vein is ‘Ende: A Diary of the Third World War’ by Anton-Andreas Guha, this time a civilian perspective on the same scenario as in the above book. ‘The Fall of the Russian Empire’ by Donald James, written in 1983 it depicts the rise to power of a female Gorbachev like figure and the consequences of that. ‘Storming Intrepid’ by Payne Harrison, technothriller about the Soviets stealing an American space shuttle. It also has a semi-sequel featuring some of the same characters, ‘Thunder of Erebus’, not quite as good but still worth a read. Again I’m not sure how obscure this one is but, ‘The Third World War’ and its semi-sequel ‘The Third World War: The Untold Story’ by General Sir John Hackett. Exactly what it says on the tin. An interesting book I came across in a second hand store is, ‘Hitler Victorious: Eleven Stories of the German Victory in World War II’, a collection of short stories with the above premise. My favourite of the stories is, ‘Thor Meets Captain America’ by David Brin, sounds extraordinarily silly but its a great story. ‘The Aardvark is Ready for War’ by James Blinn, reminded me of Catch-22 in a lot of ways. ‘The Hermes Fall’ by John Baxter, asteroid impact disaster book but rises above its subject matter to provide some of the most extraordinary visual imagery and memorable moments I’ve come across in a book of its type depicting the sheer magnitude of effects such an event would entail. ‘Thin Air’ by George E. Simpson and Neal R. Burger, this is the book where I first came across the Philidelphia Experiment causing me to read up more on it. The authors did an excellent job of building an interesting story around the ‘facts’ of the case. ‘To Kill The Potemkim’ by Mark Joseph. ‘Total War 2006’ by Simon Pearson, released in 1999 its an interesting ‘future history’ book which still tells a good story. ‘Warday’ by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka. Its just a pity the proposed sequel from the Soviet perspective never made an appearance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-good-book-that-youre-pretty-sure-nobody-else-has-read/460941.md?page=8)