“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip Dick.
You might recognize it as the basis for the movie “Blade Runner.” Don’t expect too many similarities. Read the book. This guy has creepy surrealism down.
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip Dick.
You might recognize it as the basis for the movie “Blade Runner.” Don’t expect too many similarities. Read the book. This guy has creepy surrealism down.
Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” series. They aren’t terribly obscure, but you won’t find them unless you hang out in the fantasy/sci fi sections. They started as a send-up of Tolkien et al., but are getting better all the time.
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 humorous novel “Good Omens.” Another good one is “A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law.” by Antonin Scalia. Should be required reading for anyone engaged in constitutional discussions on the “Great Debates” board (or elsewhere for that matter).
“Watership Down” I had to read when I was in school.
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers series can be found in a Hardbound edition.
I always liked Robert Aspirin’s Myth series, pretty popular when they came out though so I wouldn’t call it obscure. If you don’t mind puns coming out of the woodwork that is.
Add to that Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” and “Clans of the Alphane Moon”…you don’t have to be a sci-fi geek to appreciate these novels.
“The Black Dahlia” James Ellroy
“Black Elk Speaks” Black Elk
“Foxfire” Joyce Carol Oates
“Geek Love” Katharine Dunn
“Brighton Rock” Graham Greene
Tim
“My hovercraft is full of eels.”
Oooooh, Torgo – Geek Love is a favorite. Loaned it to a friend – she glanced at the title and asked “is it a manual?”
These are the books I push on my friends when they’ve read all my Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurty and Stephen King.
Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb – you all know about the movie (directed by Charles Laughton) and starring Robert Mitchum as the preacher who murders his new wife and then chases her kids down the river (cuz they’re supposed to know the whereabouts of money stolen by their dead father) – well, read the book.
The Book of Ebenezer le Page by G. B. Edwards – from the jacket: “Imagine a weekend spent in deep conversation with a superb old man, a crusty, intelligent, passionate and individualistic character at the peak of his powers as a raconteur …”
The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout – a “homesman” was the guy who would take pioneer women back to their homes in the east after prairie life drove them insane.
The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. by George Steiner – “A.H.” being Adolf Hitler. Israeli Nazi hunters find him in South America, 30 years after the war, and carry him out. It’s not what you’d expect and the writing and dialogue are brilliant and thought-provoking.
Natural Acts by David Quammen – a new way to look at “nature.” (I stole this book from a friend – she said I wasn’t the first – she just keeps buying more.)
The God in Flight by Laura Argiri – fairly new – a homosexual love story that (like Kiss of the Spider Woman) could make homophobes less homophobic.
The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer – okay, how about a half-breed bisexual boy raised in a turn of the century bordello. “A serious and heartfelt meditation on sexuality, race, and man’s relationship to the natural world.”
Heart of the Country and Power in the Blood by Greg Matthews – just great stories set in the old west – great villains, heroes and heroines who are good villains too.
The Dollmaker by Harriett Simpson Arnowe (forget the Jane Fonda movie) – this book will break your heart.
Damn! Almost forgot – anyone else really enjoy the Tarzan series?
After growing up with the monosyllabic Johnny Weismuller and Lex Barker, and even after what’s his name Lambert made him a sex symbol, I was not ready for these books.
Great adventure and romance. What a nice surprise.
Fuzzies are far superior to Ewoks in every way. Do you have the Fuzzy Bones sequel by William Tuning, PapaBear?
My list of obscure books (using the definition of “no one I know in real life has heard of them except when they saw the books on my shelf”):
Dawn Song by Sharon Green, more for the ideas than the writing.
Cold Iron by Melisa Michaels
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Street Magic by Michael Reeves
A Logical Magician and A Calculated Magic by Robert Weinberg
Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs
And less obscure ones:
Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni novels
Don Callander’s Dragon novels
Tara K. Harper’s Wolfwalker novels
Red Alert which was published in 1958. The character’s names and the ending was changed for the film version-Dr. StrangeLove.
Anything by P.J. O’Rourke. I list him as ‘obscure’ because his books are buried in the humor section, but they contain some amazing insights into the world.
Read “Holidays in Hell” and “Parliament of Whores”
Eris:
Would you tell me about The Ordinary Princess? It sounds like one I read years ago, but I may be mixing it up with another title.
Some of the above books got turned into movies. How about a history of the movies?
From the very, very beginning. Try to find “Billy Bitzer-His Story” by G. W. “Billy” Bitzer. When he started cranking film the movies could only be watched by one person at a time.
This is the only book to be written by the man who would become D.W.Griffith’s master cameraman.
Anything by Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City, Maybe the Moon). I would not have considered him “obscure”, but I’m constantly surprised by how many people, if they read any fiction at all, limit themselves to an exclusive diet of Jackie Collins or Danielle Steele. Feh.
Flora, if you liked Patrick Dennis, how about How Firm a Foundation? Hilarious!
Someday we’ll look back on this, laugh nervously, and change the subject…
Maria Riva’s biography of her mother, Marlene Dietrich. It’s such a fun, delicious bit of brain candy. One of my favorite stories is of Marlene trying to help her cow give birth.
thirdwarning –
I’m not Eris, but I’ll tell you about The Ordinary Princess. It’s the story of Princess Amethyst Amber Augusta Aurelia Anne (or something similar), henceforth to be known as Amy, who has a spell cast on her by a cranky fairy at her christening and becomes Ordinary. Of course, no princes want to marry a mousy-haired freckled tomboy (no great loss, they’re all stuffed shirts anyway), so the king and queen have to resort to drastic measures: they plan to hire a dragon to lay waste the land and foist Amy off on the first unsuspecting prince who slays him. When Amy finds out she’s destined to be dragon bait, she runs away and lives in the forest having adventures. Sound familiar?
“The First Circle” by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn.
My favorites:
The Least One by Borden Deal–great coming of age story of a young boy in the rural south during the depression. U. of Ala. Press
One pair of hands & One pair of feet by Monica Dickens. Granddaughter of Charles Dickens attempts to be a domestic servant in London in the 1930s. Hillarious! The feet book is her story about becoming a nurse.
She wrote 2 more autobiographical books–one about working in a aircraft factory during WWII and one about being a reporter for a country newspaper. Not as good as One pair of hands, but still fun.
Cold Comfort Farm–the movie got me to read the book–both are really funny. I’ve been looking for ages for Cold Comfort Christmas–no luck yet.
Testament of Youth by Vitoria Brittain. Brittain was a famous pacifist. This is her autobiography of her experiences as a nurse in WWI and of the way England was devestated by the deaths of 25% of their young men during this horrible war. Truly a moving book.
The Man Who Was Magic by Paul Gallico. Also, Thomasina and his other cat books. I loved his Alexander Hero Books, too. Too bad he only wrote 2 of them.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole–only obscure in America. Sue Townsend is the author. Every time I read this one I end up howling with laughter. I can’t wait to get the latest diary.
I capture the castle by Dodi Smith who wrote the 101 Dalmations. Very nice romance–a little dated but just wonderful.
Anyone ever read “Phantom”, by Susan Kay? It’s one of my favorite obscure novels…
Love,
Pippy
And now, for something completely different.