For me that would be Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill - never met anyone who has read who objected to it. However think it is under rated Also in 2011 I think Enid Blyton is seriously underrated she hasn't always been but her ability to worldbuild and tell a fantasy story is amazing.
To Kill A Mockingbird. A lot of people I know say they didn't like it, which I don't understand. I think it has to do with the fact that the artistry of the book is in its subtlety, which a lot of people don't get.
Gormenghast. Well, it is pretty well lauded in some circles, but in terms of general popular knowledge of the work, it is well under-rated.
Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. This title is rarely mentioned when people list King's best work, but I think it is his best, hands-down. The vampire novel was long dead before King brought Kurt Barlow to his little town in Maine. Every vampire novel sold in the last 35 years (including my own) is built on the foundation of the Marsten House.
There was a BBC Adaptation here. Was pretty well watched at the time - as much as any other period type drama anyway.
I saw it. I found it disappointing, even though it was well-produced and all that. Hard to live up to the written text, though.
John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday. The sequel to Cannery Row, set in the years after the end of the second world war. According to the author, "Sweet Thursday" is the day after Lousy Wednesday and the day before Waiting Friday.
I didn't like it but a lot of people started reading Mervyn Peake off the back of it. For me he is in the same sort of category as Thomas Hardy kind of appreciate his abilities but don't like him either. He did better than Enid Blyton who has been experiencing BBC embargos since the 50s. Which is why nearly all adaptations of everything except Noddy have been awful.
Peake certainly isn't liked by everyone. I get either a love or hate reaction when I recommend him. Me, I was entranced the first time I picked up the book. In terms of sheer use of the English language, it goes on a list of maybe 5 or 6 books, another being Nabokov's Lolita (although Nabokov's style is nothing like Peake's, his sheer skill and sense of fun with the English language makes that book brilliant. But it doesn't count as underrated, because I 've seen it on too many lists of the best novels ever).
I'm odd in that I don't love or hate either you are right most people seem to be one or the other - its what some of us Brits would call a bit Marmite (beef extract advertised as some people who love or hate - maybe a bit Twilight might be a more international version lol)
I would have to say To Kill A Mocking Bird is over-rated, but the movie is alright though. I myself don't like the book, because it isn't my taste. But I'm sure that many people have different reasons as to why they feel the book is overrated.
Johnny got his Gun, and anything by George Orwell that isn't 1984 or Animal Farm. Not that these are bad books, not at all; but Burmese Days and The Road to Wigan Pear are amazing.
Incidentally, I wrote a list about the Top 10 Underrated Fantasy Stories (after 1937), and Gormenghast was my number one pick. I've been wondering pretty much since I joined this forum if you were a Gormenghast fan - given the name, and all - but I didn't know a non-awkward way to ask, so...
Skulduggery Pleasant. I guess all my friends like it, who I've introduced it too, but imo these books are better than Harry Potter!
Earth Abides was pretty good, and it took a thorough search of the internet for post apocalypse books to find. Many people hate the book because the main character is something of a prejudice ass...but they don't seem to realize that was the writer's intent, which makes the book that much more interesting from a social standpoint.
Firestarter, by Stephen King. I loved that book, an I think it's under-rated. I also read the Dead Zone and found that I did not care for it, because the end didn't make much sense to me, at least. Yes, I've only read two Stephen King books, but Firestarter is a really good book, and I never hear it mentioned.
Percy Jackson gets dismissed as a Harry Potter ripoff too much. And plus it actually does a good job portraying Greek myth accurately. Don't let the stupid adaption fool you.
Anyone ever read the original Boxcar Children series of novels? Harry Potter might have had magic, and the Twilight kids are vampires, but these human kids had to survive all on their own. And they succeeded at it, at least until one of them fell seriously ill.
I think Anna Karenina is much better than War and Peace -- it doesn't drag on and over-analyze like W&P does.
