# What's your favorite book that nobody else ever reads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621 "2007-01-11T23:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/101 "2007-02-02T16:26:30Z")
[QUOTE=RiverRunner] My nominees for favorite books that nobody else reads would probably include **Silverlock** by John Myers Myers and Gene Wolfe’s **Book of the New Sun** tetralogy. [/QUOTE] I’ve read the Wolfe books and will probably re-read them someday. I bought Silverlock on a Doper rec (probably you, **DungBeetle** ) and have started it a couple of times, but something else always pushes its way in and I put it down. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/102 "2007-02-04T00:08:59Z")
[QUOTE=Osip] **The Devil in Love** by Jaques Cazotte A very old book, but an enjoyable read. [/QUOTE] Oo, I’m glad to see this recommended. I just finished Arturo Perez-Reverte’s _The Club Dumas_ (the inspiration for the film _The Ninth Gate_, and better than that!), and that book was given to the main character by one of the other characters. It intrigued me when I read that reference, as I hadn’t heard of the book before. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/103 "2007-02-04T00:33:37Z")
Tough, if not impossible, to find at a store, is my favorite book of all time : [Dream World](http://reviews.blether.com/blether.php?id=10905) by Kent Winslow. Two books by [B. Traven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Traven) : [The Treasure of the Sierra Madre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treasure_of_the_Sierra_Madre) and [The Death Ship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Ship) Joe ---
**Author:** ![MizTina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MizTina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizTina)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/104 "2007-02-04T03:25:33Z")
An old one, **The Joyous Season** by Patrick Dennis, dated but hysterical. I just ordered The Beaver Papers, even with shipping, it’s cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/105 "2007-02-04T07:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=wheresgeorge04] Tough, if not impossible, to find at a store, is my favorite book of all time : [Dream World](http://reviews.blether.com/blether.php?id=10905) by Kent Winslow. Two books by [B. Traven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Traven) : [The Treasure of the Sierra Madre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treasure_of_the_Sierra_Madre) and [The Death Ship](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Ship) Joe [/QUOTE] Yes. Yes. Yes! **The Death Ship**. What a magnificent book! I swear I was in the fireroom shoveling coal with him. Very few books can bring you into the story like this one. Thanks for reminding me of it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/106 "2007-02-19T13:46:04Z")
I just bought an autographed copy of Alan Zweibel’s “Bunny Bunny.” This has long been one of my absolutely most favorite books: A story of Zweibel’s deep friendship with “Gilbert” (as he called Gilda Radner). ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/107 "2007-02-21T17:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=MizTina] I just ordered The Beaver Papers, even with shipping, it’s cheap. [/QUOTE] Oh, wow! I hope you enjoy it (since I mentioned it). As someone who watched a lot of LitB in reruns, it was just hilarious. The running jokes are a good part of it: all of the ways that the brothers end the episodes with the lights being turned off but the radiance persisting is good, as is the ever-increasing transparency of fellow character Stanley Farfara (who played Whitey Whitney) was also a source of joy. Be ready for more cultural references than you can shake a stick at. Another one that I have suggested on this board (but is, alas, no longer in print…the book, not the board) is a book entitled “Moses May Have Been an Apache” and Other Actual Facts by Cully Abrell and John Thompson. It’s a spoof on the “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” books, and is endlessly amusing. I’ve recently [waxed enthusiastic about it in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=405190). ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/108 "2007-02-21T17:49:02Z")
[QUOTE=MizTina] An old one, **The Joyous Season** by Patrick Dennis, dated but hysterical. [/QUOTE] I love that book, **MizTina** , and spent years trying to remember the title. [Thank Og for the SDMB.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=297741) …and welcome! ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/109 "2007-02-22T02:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Oo, I’m glad to see this recommended. I just finished Arturo Perez-Reverte’s _The Club Dumas_ (the inspiration for the film _The Ninth Gate_, and better than that!), and that book was given to the main character by one of the other characters. It intrigued me when I read that reference, as I hadn’t heard of the book before. [/QUOTE] I had heard of it, Heck, my family has owned a copy of it for many years (a dutch edition published in the 1800’s) But, I had never read it until I saw it mentioned again in “The Club Dumas” Which I think was a damn fine book. I really liked his book “the fencing master” as well. Now if I can ever find a copy of “the Weapon and the Mourning board” by a man with the last name of Verspek. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Bow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jim\_Bow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Bow)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/110 "2014-12-01T18:07:29Z")
“Hiroshima Joe” by Martin Booth. I read it 4 years ago and am still haunted. > **[Hiroshima Joe](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168765.Hiroshima_Joe)** > > Captured by Hirohito's soldiers at the fall of Hong Kon… ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/111 "2014-12-04T00:06:26Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I used to give Michael Chabon’s first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, to everyone I knew on any gift-giving occasion. This was back when it was his only novel. Now that he is very popular, I feel that my work is done. > > Another campaign I was on was for Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. Then JK Rowling mentioned it as one of her favorite books, and it came back into print, and they made it into a movie, and heck, it didn’t need me any more. > > Another one I still like to push is Lawrence Block’s Hitman. It’s a great quirky book of interconnected short stories about a killer for hire. It’s a wonderful example of a book that rises above its subject matter. So serendipitous, Delphica…I was about to mention those two, and include MFK Fisher’s collection of writing, “The Art of Eating” ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/112 "2014-12-04T00:09:40Z")
> [@UntouchedTakeaway](#): > > (waving to Eve) I have JC’s “My Way of Life!” > > My two obscure faves are Liz Renay’s “My Face For the World to See” (John Waters thought the sequel should be titled “My Ass For the World To Kiss”) and “A Guide To Elegance” - by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux. Miss Dariaux was a former directrice at Nina Ricci and as I learned a few weeks ago from an email inquiry I directed to Nina Ricci - still alive! Her book “Entertaining With Elegance” is great, too. > > VCNJ~ I think the Renay book was a book of the month selection, because my mom had it and I must have read it dozens of times as a young child. Why, I have no idea, but I found it fabulously melodramatic ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/113 "2014-12-04T00:31:04Z")
My favorite to give is “All Over But The Shoutin’” by Rick Bragg. He has a real gift. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/114 "2014-12-04T00:49:35Z")
Any of Sharon Shinn’s novels about Samaria. I love the language and the stories but my friends find them dull. I’ve also recently gotten into steam punk and live both the adult Parasol Protectorate and YA Finishing School series by Gail Carriger. I have those in both physical and audio forms. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/115 "2014-12-04T01:02:09Z")
> [@Abracadebra](#): > > My favorite to give is “All Over But The Shoutin’” by Rick Bragg. He has a real gift. All of Rick Bragg’s writing is excellent. he has a new biography of Jerry Lee Lewis which is by all accounts excellent. I haven’t read it yet because I’m expecting it as a Christmas present. if I don’t get it, I’ll be pissed! ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/116 "2014-12-04T01:21:00Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > All of Rick Bragg’s writing is excellent. he has a new biography of Jerry Lee Lewis which is by all accounts excellent. I haven’t read it yet because I’m expecting it as a Christmas present. if I don’t get it, I’ll be pissed! I have almost all of his books. My copy of “All Over” was signed by him at reading he gave in Atlanta. Good luck with your Christmas list! ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/117 "2014-12-04T03:39:23Z")
People mentioned Cryptonomicon a few times in this thread, but my favorite underread book by Neal Stephenson has to be _Anathem_. It starts as a sort of alternate Earth / inverted world novel where math and science are only known / discussed inside cloistered monastaries and the rest of the world exists in officially-imposed ignorance. It has a very odd structure in which it starts out pretty dense and cryptic and imposing and slowly twists and turns into being a much accessible sci-fi novel. A fun book with some cool ideas rolled up in there. Not something I’d recommend to EVERYBODY, but I think the reputation of the dense language of the beginning steered away a lot of readers who might otherwise enjoy it. I don’t think it’s super obscure, but I haven’t met anybody else who’s actual read it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/118 "2014-12-04T05:09:34Z")
> [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](#): > > Amen! One of the most underrated books out there - you never, ever hear people talk about it. Actually, Little, Big won the 1982 World Fantasy Award and also was named as part of the Western Canon by critic Harold Bloom. It IS an incredible book and probably SHOULD be as well known as “Lord of the Rings” but it’s not unknown.[Link.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little,_Big#Literary_significance) ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/119 "2014-12-04T05:32:54Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > The only people I know who have read either of these books are people I’ve made read them… > > [Jennifer Government](http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Government-Max-Barry/dp/1400030927/sr=8-1/qid=1170224862/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9203903-9619851?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Max Barry > This book toes the line between over the top and disturbingly plausable. It’s a world that you tell yourself couldn’t exist, could it? Not to mention it contains probably the funniest scene I’ve ever read. I read Jennifer Government years ago and thought just days ago that I should reread it. I even had an account on the online game. Dork!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621/120 "2014-12-04T05:50:26Z")
I thought I’d take a look on Goodreads at books I gave five stars to see what is the book with the fewest number of ratings. The answer is: _Mystery in the Night Woods_, by John Peterson, at 26. It’s a children’s book, though, so the first grown up contender is: _The Devil in the Dust_, by Chaz Brenchley, at 53. Really outstanding epic fantasy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-book-that-nobody-else-ever-reads/387621.md?page=7)