While She Knits--Neglected Nooks of Bookdom

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

We all have books we love to rave about.
[That's why all the crazies congregate here, am I not right?]
I know I get even more vocal about books that people are likely not to come in contact with on their own.

So let's air our pet publicity projects.

What obscure books do you absolutely love and want everyone to know about?

Is there a neglected book by a favorite author you think more people should look into?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Sherryl Jordan--particularly THE HUNTING OF THE LAST DRAGON and THE RAGING QUIET. They are very different from each other, but both are well written and quite interesting.
~Feir Dearig

[hikari-cyhan.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm reading Sorcery & Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. I LOVE it!

Incantation by Alice Hoffman.

It makes me cry, how few people have read these amazing books.

Troy by Adele Geras.

The Bloody Jack Adventures by L.A. Meyer.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. (I know it's won a ton of awards, but I don't know a SINGLE PERSON who's read it!)

The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones. Yes, I know a lot of people read her stuff. But hardly anyone I know has read all four of these books, and that's an absolute travesty.

...And that's all I got!

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I read the Sorcery and Cecilia books. They were fun. :)

I'm pretty sure I read 'Troy' by Adele Geras as well, but it was so long ago that I can barely remember it.

Aaand, I read 'A Great and Terrible Beauty' probably a couple of months ago. Not one of my favourite books or anything, but the author really has a way with words, and her characters were very tangible.

[kilerkki.livejournal.com]

I love the first three books of the Dalemark series, but when I finally found the fourth book a couple of years ago I wasn't very impressed. In fact I felt pretty let-down. Perhaps I should reread it now and see if that impression still holds (and if so, why!)

[hikari-cyhan.livejournal.com]

Really? I LOVE the fourth book. The ending nearly made me cry until it, uh, ended.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

We have all of the above books except Incantation, including the entire series of Stravaganza, Bloody Jack, and Ember books.

I picked up all of those books, and the mwt ones, because of call out cards on them at our local Borders store. Wonderful recommendations (thank you, Borders!), wonderful books. Oh, except City of Ember, which my daughter discovered at school after a teacher recommended it.

Somewhat along the lines of Bloody Jack, the Boston Jane books are fun too, by Jennifer L. Holm

[hikari-cyhan.livejournal.com]

Did you know that a new Stravaganza book comes out in the spring? I am so excited~~~!!!

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Really? I did not! Do you know anything about it?

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

I quite liked The Hunting of the Last Dragon. I keep meaning to read Secret Sacrament because the copy at my library has a really cool cover.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Sorcery and Cecilia -- I would read for the covers and for PCW, but the only book of CS's books that I've read is A College of Magics, which left me totally ambivalent. So I've had a hard time getting into S & C

...I also put down Stravaganza, Troy and L.A. Meyer, now that I think of it.

I like Libba Bray, but she's also quite popular-she gets standees in Borders. I've read all the Dalemark books--it's been a very long time, but I liked them very much.

I've also read The City of Ember, but...sorry to be disappointing...I hated it. The only thing I liked about it was that it let me write a bibliography of OTHER BOOKS YOU CAN READ IF YOU LIKED THIS! for my local library. :\

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Amy's Eyes (http://www.amazon.com/Amys-Eyes-Richard-Kennedy/dp/0064402207/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196513253&sr=8-1) by Richard Kennedy

Little Sister (http://www.amazon.com/Little-Sister-Kara-Dalkey/dp/0140386319/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514136&sr=1-1) and The Heavenward Path (http://www.amazon.com/Heavenward-Path-Kara-Dalkey/dp/015201652X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514167&sr=1-1) by Kara Dalkey

Warchild (http://www.amazon.com/Heavenward-Path-Kara-Dalkey/dp/015201652X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514167&sr=1-1) and Burndive (http://www.amazon.com/Burndive-Karin-Lowachee/dp/0446613185/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514242&sr=1-2) by Karin Lowachee (Cagebird (http://www.amazon.com/Cagebird-Karin-Lowachee/dp/0446615080/ref=pd_sim_b_img_1) was kind of a bust in my opinion.)

1066 and All That (http://www.amazon.com/Cagebird-Karin-Lowachee/dp/0446615080/ref=pd_sim_b_img_1) by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman. All the British history you will ever need. Brilliantly funny. (Actually I have this edition (http://www.amazon.com/1066-All-That-W-Sellar/dp/B000RAGPHU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514369&sr=8-4), which I think is very cute.

Dust (http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Arthur-Slade/dp/0440229766/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514093&sr=8-2) by Arthur Slade - If you can get ahold of this, and you read one book on this list, make it Dust. I love this book. (In fact I convinced myself so much just now that I stopped in the middle of my comment to buy myself a copy. 9.9)

Connie Willis--I know she is full of awards and has an actual readership, but does that readership extend here? If not, she is a very funny, intelligent SF writer who often manages to get the same sort of exhilarated awe out of me that mwt does. I don't really recommend against any of her books, but my favorites are To Say Nothing of the Dog (http://www.amazon.com/Say-Nothing-Dog-Connie-Willis/dp/0613152425/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514758&sr=1-1) (best read with Three Men and a Boat (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Men-Boat-Nothing-Editions/dp/0486451100/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514628&sr=1-2) behind you), Bellweather (http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Christmas-Stories-Connie-Willis/dp/0553580485/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514840&sr=1-5), and her Christmas short story collection Miracle (http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Christmas-Stories-Connie-Willis/dp/0553580485/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514840&sr=1-5).

And my favorite YA book that, though read, still isn't as read as it should be, is The Year of Secret Assignments (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Assignments-Booklist-Editors-Choice/dp/B000FDFW2S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196514958&sr=1-1) by Jaclyn Moriarty. Funny, smart, and devastatingly teenaged.

I think that's enough for now, maybe. *innocent*

P.S. The preview shows my markup as not computing, and if it doesn't in my posted comment, I may cry. :\

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

*sigh* So I failed a little...sometimes when it is SUPPOSED to copy things, my computer doesn't actually copy them. Actual links for Warchild (http://www.amazon.com/Warchild-Karin-Lowachee/dp/0446610771/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196515539&sr=1-1) and 1066 And All That (http://www.amazon.com/1066-All-That-Memorable-Comprising/dp/0413775275/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196515567&sr=1-1). Rawr.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

*Has not heard of of these books*

*Goes off to order 1066 and All That so she knows what Ro and Leslie are talking about*

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

EXCELLENT. It is one of my favorite books ever.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

My pet publicity project, forever and always, is Leon Garfield. Practically anything you can get your hands on by Leon Garfield, though the strongest ones (off the top of my head) are Jack Holborn, Smith, The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, The Sound of Coaches, Black Jack, The Confidence Man, and The Apprentices. These are almost entirely out of print, which is a CRIME. The man was an absolute genius. The writing is ooh-worthy, the plotting is spot-on, the characters are memorable, and the humor is ever-present.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I read City of Ember!

It was a good book, I liked the concepts but The Giver was so much more deep that I think it didn't quite get me the same way.

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables) is one I'll proclaim anywhere. Her short story collections are worth it, too; these are all stories published in magazines like Anne tries to publish...some of them I didn't think were that great, but some are just awesome.
And Jane of Lantern Hill was excellent, in many ways.
[I recommend AGAINST the novella Kilmeny of the Orchard. I need to find the original short story to see if that was better.]

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen gets neglected because it's a different sort of book than Emma and Pride and Prejudice, but it is hilarious...and still has that Austen sparkle.

King of Shadows by Susan Cooper (of the Dark is Rising series) is probably the book I think would fit most of the people in this community: historic/semifantasy with fascinating set-up.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I know The Giver as a book by Lois Lowry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver). Has Jeanne DuPrau also written one by that title? Or what's the connection here?

[traboule.livejournal.com]

But hardly anyone I know has read all four of these books, and that's an absolute travesty.


Oooooh, me! I have! *bounces up and down* And I'm prepared to argue indefinitely that they're among her best - at least Drowned Ammet and The Crown of Dalemark are.

Oh, man, I haven't read Troy in years. I remember being a little disappointed that it was so fluffy, but I guess it's better than the Marion Zimmer Bradley Troy book, whatever it's called.

What is The City of Ember? I've never heard of it, but I'm prepared to be convinced.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Same genre--apt comparison. :)

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

That's it--my mum has a bunch of his books and I've never, ever read any, but in my brief days at home between semesters, I am reading one.

Thanks for that, Philia. :)

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like King of Shadows, and it does get surprisingly neglected for a book by Susan Cooper.

[traboule.livejournal.com]

*snerk* 1066 is fabulous. I remember getting a lot of my British history from that when I was wee and then having trouble explaining to everybody why I thought WilliamandMary were so funny.

I believe the authors did a similar thing with four Shakespeare plays ("Twisted Tales from Shakespeare"...the reason I sound so dubious is because I can't remembert the author, not because I doubt the book exists) but that may now be out of print. It is wonderful, though, so if you're a person who goes used bookstore hunting, it's definitely worth tracking down. The essay questions alone make it worthwhile. My favourite is, "Was Macbeth thane? How does he compare in this respect to Hamlet?"

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thanks.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I found King of Shadows to be a good complement for Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, as well as a good book in its own right.