While She Knits
Oct. 5th, 2012 09:26 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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queensthiefGosh, it's been quiet around here!
What great things have you read recently that are totally obscure? Something other people are unlikely to ever find on their own?
I'll go first:
Boris by Cynthia Rylant - if you've ever loved a pet, you'll like this one. So sweet! And, it's told in verse.
A teen sci-fi series that you'll like if you're a Star Trek nerd * - the Galahad series by Dom Testa. A comet has infected the earth with a disease that is killing off all the adults. As a last-ditch effort to save the human race, scientists build a spaceship to travel to another planet, and choose 251 disease-free teens who must learn how to get the ship there, and colonize the planet. Lots of fun. The first book is The Comet's Curse.
* No, not me. Not a bit.
What great things have you read recently that are totally obscure? Something other people are unlikely to ever find on their own?
I'll go first:
Boris by Cynthia Rylant - if you've ever loved a pet, you'll like this one. So sweet! And, it's told in verse.
A teen sci-fi series that you'll like if you're a Star Trek nerd * - the Galahad series by Dom Testa. A comet has infected the earth with a disease that is killing off all the adults. As a last-ditch effort to save the human race, scientists build a spaceship to travel to another planet, and choose 251 disease-free teens who must learn how to get the ship there, and colonize the planet. Lots of fun. The first book is The Comet's Curse.
* No, not me. Not a bit.
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Date: 10/6/12 07:30 am (UTC)The Man Who Lost His Head, by Claire Huchet Bishop, illustrated by Robert McCloskey--children's picture book. He lost it. Literally. So he tries to find a replacement.
Are Women Human? by Dorothy L. Sayers--she didn't just write mysteries. A short little book on the role of women in public life.
The Complete Stories, by Flannery O'Connor (short stories)--Ok, probably not obscure enough. But how many have read anything of hers apart from the one or two stories they may have encountered in a high school or college class? Well, the others are worth reading too.
Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs--Also not actually obscure...but if you've only seen a movie version, read the book, as they say. Definitely requires some suspension of disbelief (he teaches himself to read without any help, or even knowing English), and there's some racism to wade through. But it's a very rollicking adventure and coming of age story (the last page or two is very surprising in a good way), and one can certainly see why it has survived for the past 100 years (this year is its centenary).
The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov--I've mentioned this on here before, but I'll do it again. Kind of weird, definitely unorthodox, but four years after I read it, it still stands out in my mind.
~~~~~and...
Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset--I haven't actually read it yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about it, got it for my birthday, and it is patiently awaiting me. The author became a Nobel Laureate.
--Handmaiden
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Date: 10/6/12 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 10/8/12 06:07 am (UTC)--Handmaiden
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Date: 10/7/12 05:29 am (UTC)I read Kristin Lavransdatter a few years back -- I understand there's a newish translation out now that's supposed to be good. I think people either love that book or hate it -- I thought it was fascinating. :-D
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Date: 10/8/12 06:00 am (UTC)Did you mean White Guard by Bulgakov? (I couldn't find anything called White Knights by him.) It sounded interesting so I made a note of it. I do like me some Russians.
In the past couple years or so, Kristin Lavransdatter has popped up on my radar several times from different sources, so there must be something there. I too have heard that the new translation is supposed to be good. It's the one that is awaiting me.
--Handmaiden
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Date: 10/10/12 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 10/9/12 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 10/10/12 03:51 am (UTC)The old woman and her daughter were sitting on the porch when Mr. Shiftlet came up their road for the first time. The old woman slid to the edge of her chair and leaned forward, shading her eyes from the piercing sunset with her hand. The daughter could not see far in front of her and continued to play with her fingers. Although the old woman lived in this desolate spot with only her daughter and she had never seen Mr. Shiftlet before, she could tell, even from a distance, that he was a tramp and no one to be afraid of.
I think her language is beautiful....The stories tend toward the sad and/or macabre, but they give you something to think about, too.
~Deirdre
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Date: 10/11/12 04:11 pm (UTC)I just moved to a new area with a really (really really) small library (like, no selection. at all) from a neighborhood with one of the best libraries in the nation, so I've been feeling a bit book-less and depressed. I bet they'll have FO, though!
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Date: 10/15/12 07:18 am (UTC)--Handmaiden
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Date: 10/16/12 04:36 am (UTC)~D.