# Recommend a Delightful, Old, Forgotten Book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660 "2007-06-20T00:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/41 "2007-06-20T17:34:56Z")
_Penrod_, by Booth Tarkington. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/42 "2007-06-20T18:59:00Z")
_The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant_, or any of the other funny, engaging novels by Douglass Wallop. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/43 "2007-06-20T22:46:15Z")
[_The Friendly Persuasion_](http://www.amazon.com/Friendly-Persuasion-Jessamyn-West/dp/015602909X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3948711-4347951?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182378461&sr=1-1), by Jessamyn West. The book description makes it sound twee as all get-out, but it’s really not; it’s well-written and quietly funny. One of the chapters, “The Pacing Goose”, appeared in one of my textbooks in junior high as a stand-alone story (all the chapters work as stand-alone stories; makes it a good book to read out loud). Another one I like is _Let Us Consider One Another_, by Josephine Lawrence. Written and published during WWII, it centers mainly around a young Catholic girl who marries a Jewish staff sergeant, and her family’s reaction to it, but there’s several side plots going as well with other characters, all of which are brought to quite satisfying conclusions. I found both those books in a cache of dusty old tomes my mother has been hanging onto forever; they all belonged to either my grandmother or my great-grandfather. That’s also where I found _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea_ and a falling apart copy of _Tarzan of the Apes_. I think _Lady Chatterley’s Lover_ is in there too, but I haven’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/44 "2007-06-20T23:01:46Z")
The Return of the Twelves, by Pauline Clark. It’s an excellent story for children. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/45 "2007-06-21T01:53:13Z")
**FaeriBeth** –I loved _Magic Elizabeth_! How about Rumer Godden’s\* In This House of Brede\*? ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/46 "2007-06-21T01:54:01Z")
Almost anthing by [E. (for Edith) Nesbit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Nesbit). I particularly like [The Phoenix and the Carpet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_and_the_Carpet) and [The Railway Children](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Children). Most of her stuff is available at [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/n#a407) for free. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/47 "2007-06-21T02:47:48Z")
**The Portmanteau Book** by Thomas Rockwell of **How to Eat Fried Worms** fame. It’s full of crazy, funny stories for kids around middle-school age. One story that sticks in my mind concerns a group of boys looking for a place to hang out and tell shaggy-dog stories, and it’s divided into sections called “Nakedness” (one boy gets locked out of the house naked as a practical joke) “Toilet Paper” (another boy is trapped in the girls’ bathroom), “Underwear” (a sci-fi story in which aliens take over the world, disable all technology, and force everyone to walk around in their underwear) and “Love” (the boys disrupt someone’s sister’s play rehearsal). The sheer puerile, concerned-parent-baiting fun of these stories ensures this book will stay out of print for awhile. I just hope someone finds it in their heart to reprint it by the time the Princess is in middle school; I just know she’ll love it. ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/48 "2007-06-21T03:31:45Z")
Pretty much anything by Tim Powers, especially [Last Call](http://www.rambles.net/powers_last.html) and [The Anubis Gates](http://www.leftfield.org/~rawdon/books/sf/powers_tim/). They’re old faves; I guess I read _Last Call_ at least once every couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/49 "2007-06-21T12:47:15Z")
“The Egg and I”, or anything else by Betty MacDonald is well worth a read. She had an ability to make even the most mundane circumstances seem hysterically funny. Even her childrens books are worth reading by adults. Her sister’s book, “Anybody Can Do Anything” is great too. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/50 "2007-06-21T14:10:06Z")
Archergal writes: \> Almost anthing by E. (for Edith) Nesbit. Why Nesbit isn’t as well known as J. K. Rowling is beyond me. Nesbit is clearly the most influential author of children’s fantasy of the past century and a half. (Yes, even more influential than Lewis Carroll, although he’s somewhat the better writer, but it’s just too hard to imitate him.) She’s not unknown, and most of her stuff is in print, but it ought to be better known. Start with her series _Five Children and It_, _The Phoenix and the Carpet_, and _The Story of the Amulet_. One of the few good children’s books in the style of Carroll is _The Magic Pudding_ by Norman Lindsay. ---
**Author:** ![delsol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6f9a4e/32.png) [@delsol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delsol)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/51 "2007-06-21T15:08:12Z")
Conversations with God, Neil Walsh. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/52 "2007-06-21T17:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] _God Stalk_,by PC Hodgell, about a monotheist outcast girl with amnesia who ends up in a city with thousands of gods. [/QUOTE] This is arguably my favorite book ever, a position it’s held through decades and countless rereadings. Just in case you don’t already know (and to plug the books, which I try to do at every opportunity), _Godstalk_ is the beginning of a series, even though its own story is largely self-contained. It’s followed by _Dark of the Moon_, _Seeker’s Mask_, and _To Ride a Rathorn_ (which just came out last year), all of which are worthy successors. _Dark of the Moon_ is probably the weakest of the lot–fortunately, it’s now available in an omnibus edition along with _Godstalk_. The series isn’t complete yet, either. Hopefully, the next book will come along a bit more quickly. The anthology _Blood and Ivory_ offers more Jame stories, some of which aren’t precisely canonical, and one of which happens square in the middle of _Godstalk_ and was trimmed from the novel. It also has an exceptionally good Sherlock Holmes story, of all things. Okay, Hodgell hijack over. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/53 "2007-06-21T17:51:26Z")
If you want thought-provoking and symbolic, pick up “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood. It’s a short read, a little depressing (it’s dystopian) but ultimately empowering. For Victorian values, romance, plot twists, and a very satisfying ending, pick up Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” For light-hearted entertainment that will later make you go, “Hmmmmm…” get a copy of John Kennedey Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces.” These are all part of the English language literary canon (Toole was American, Atwood is Canadian and Bronte, of course, was English) and should be in any well-stocked bookcase. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/54 "2007-06-21T17:54:21Z")
**Sunrazor** , I don’t think I’d call any of those choices “forgotten” books. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/55 "2007-06-21T18:03:40Z")
Ever since I learned about this book on the SDMB, I’ve been plugging it at every opportunity: [New Grub Street](http://www.amazon.com/New-Grub-Street-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140430326/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-7102647-9705409?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182448883&sr=1-2) by George Gissing. So interesting and well-written. Also, I can never say enough good things about [The Brothers K](http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-K-David-James-Duncan/dp/055337849X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7102647-9705409?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182448978&sr=1-1) by David James Duncan, which isn’t nearly as old but is at least as wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/56 "2007-06-21T19:59:23Z")
[QUOTE=K364] [“The Twenty-One Balloons”](http://www.amazon.com/Twenty-One-Balloons-William-Pene-Bois/dp/0140320970) by William Pene Du Bois Written at about a Grade 6 level, it is the story of an explorer who lands on the island of Krakatoa just prior to the famous 1883 explosion. Surprisingly, there is a sophisticated and worldly society that has secretly rooted there. The story relates their amazing secrets of technology, political sociology as well as the stunning wealth of the diamond caves under Krakatoa. This book was the trigger for my life-long love of science-fiction, geography, sociology and history. [/QUOTE] I loved this book. And, if you read the Wikipedia article on it you’ll see that someone is trying to make a movie of it; at this point it looks like it’s merely reached the proposal and shopping around stage. An old book that NOBODY knows is “Salt: Or, The Education of Griffith Adams”, a skewering of the American educational system around 1910, by Charles Norris (brother of Frank Norris who wrote _McTeague_). I don’t think it’s considered a terribly good novel, but its description of college life around 1910 was interesting, and at a later point when the protagonist goes to work in a large NYC office, we see something about how that worked, too. Eventually he gets fired, and the sequence leading up to that is described with remarkable starkness. Speaking of college life, apparently classes (years) back then had weird fads of dress they were expected to follow; for example, all the seniors wearing plug hats. I know up to the 1940s, at Berkeley, juniors (I think) were supposed to wear the same pair of cords all year…WITHOUT WASHING!!!. And to think those very same guys ended up complaining about “dirty hippies” in the 1960s! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/57 "2007-06-21T20:22:33Z")
I think I might be misunderstanding the thread but I never miss a chance to think fondly of **The Phantom Tollbooth**. I also would like to read the Madeline L’Engle books (A Wrinkle in Time, that one with the starfish, etc.) again sometime. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/58 "2007-06-21T20:40:29Z")
**Five in a Tent** by Victoria Furman (and [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) actually has it!). I loved this book when I was in 6th grade. It’s about a girls’ summer camp. **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** and **Maggie Now** by Betty Smith. Both are quirky, bittersweet novels. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/59 "2007-06-22T00:20:07Z")
[This](http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3431.html) [one](http://books.google.com/books?id=219mlAUzYa0C&dq=artie+by+george+ade&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=E9mDCqqyHq&sig=MT9Pgo7Sz6JOWF2Cs-XQHjfNix8#PPP7,M1). It fits all three criteria, and is an American classic besides. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660/60 "2007-06-22T02:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I think I might be misunderstanding the thread but I never miss a chance to think fondly of **The Phantom Tollbooth**. I also would like to read the Madeline L’Engle books (A Wrinkle in Time, that one with the starfish, etc.) again sometime. [/QUOTE] you beat me to it. ‘a wrinkle in time’ was the first book i thought of when i read the op. i have my childhood copy of it to this day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-delightful-old-forgotten-book/408660.md?page=4)