Whenever the subject of undeservedly obscure books arises, I think of P.C. Hodgell. I highly recommend her Kencyrath series:
Godstalk Dark of the Moon Seeker’s Mask
(The first two are available as an omnibus edition entitled Dark of the Gods.)
The series is hard to describe properly–it’s rather dark fantasy, but with a great deal of wry humor in it. Threaded through the often hectic (and sometimes downright bizarre) action are themes on destiny, faith, memory, prejudice, madness, and the nature of honor. Not to mention thievery, arboreal drift, wandering castles, millenia-long wars, and what to do when you’re not on speaking terms with your god (and He wants something).
Warning: The series isn’t finished yet. The author is taking a year off from teaching to work on the next book, but there’s no indication that it will be the last. Even so, it’s quite readable as-is–it’s not a novel broken into multiple parts, it’s a story arc. Each book has its own story, although each builds onto the background.
I seem to recommend two books by James Hilton a lot–they didn’t used to be obscure: Goodbye Mr. Chips and Random Harvest. I had a very good feeling after reading both. In fact, I’m going to make a note to read them again, since upon reflection, I can’t give a very good description of either; it’s just been too long.
Essentially, Goodbye Mr. Chips is about a schoolteacher and Random Harvest tells the story of a World War I soldier trying to fill in the gaps from when a war injury left him without memory of several years of his life. It’s certainly a lot more intriguing than I’m able to explain (especially without revealing anything crucial).
Maybe andrewdt85 was trying to indicate how certain demographic characteristics might be influential in what he was exposed to, when he identified those things.
Please, everybody, do yourselves a favor and read some Don Robertson. He’s written not one, not two, but three Great American Novels. I’d link to them but the Amazon reviews don’t do him justice, and for some reason, I can’t find the bio page with all the praise from the literary types.
Paradise Falls – small town America right after the Civil War
The River and the Wilderness – well-known historical characters and common soldiers from both sides of the Civil War
The Ideal, Genuine Man – an angry man gets angrier as he ages in Houston in the 70’s
Robertson has a strong, compelling writing style. He just grabs you and shakes you and makes you look at things like loyalty and love and living, without a shred of sentimentality. He’s freakin’ awesome.
The two best books that aren’t on any of those lists, are *Orlando Furioso * by Ludovico Ariosto and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome Jerome.
*Orlando * is an epic poem, written in Italian, about Charlemagne’s knights wandering around, fighting, wenching, and basically doing everything except what Charlemagne wanted them to do, which was fight the war against the invading Moors. Sword fights, strongest men, beautifullest women, pools of love, pools of hate, magic swords, evil enchanters. Shakespeare stole from it, it drove Don Quixote mad, and it inspired Lord Byron. Joe Nevada says check it out.
*Three Men in a Boat * is an idyll about a boat trip on the Thames toward the end of the 19th century. Well, sort of–mostly it consists of digressions. It is unique and wonderful and strangely overlooked. And, of course, very very funny.
I also applaud your intent - and I agree with many of the books listed here, especially Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - love that book.
Others might include:
You Can’t Win by Jack Black - an autobiography by a minor turn-of-the-century grifter and thief who ended up working at the San Francisco library. Well written and fascinating look at life back then.
Straight Time by Art Pepper - an oral history by a truly great jazz saxophonist. If you haven’t listened to his stuff, please do. This CD is a great into to his genius. Then knowing that he was a hardcore heroin addict and thief and did a lot of jail time just adds to the depth and complexity of this man.
Please Kill Me - An Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. I have recommended this in so many threads. A brilliantly researched and written oral history covering american alternative music from the late 60’s until about 1980, focusing on the NY punk scene. Required reading for anyone who claims to know anything about music in this era.
I didn’t see any insult in what he wrote…It just stuck out when I read it in my sinus headache, 2 different cold medicines that clearly are not working state of mind. Oh, and it was way before the coffee too. My apologies…
