Please post your favorite obscure book. I have read this book 10 or 11 times now it's fasinating but no one i know as heard of it.
The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato. No one I've ever come across has ever heard of him, which is a shame since he's really good. By the way, shouldn't this be in Book Discussion?
Moved, this really should be in 'book discussion'. As for me, I have a few books I rarely hear talked about, Johnny Got His Gun, one of my favorite novels ever written, and a book called The Terror and the Guillotine which is an amazingly researched non-fiction book about the tools used in Revolutionary France.
"The Great Scot" by Duncan A. Bruce. Not terribly well written, but a fun read if you're in to European history (or a Braveheart fan). It's written in first person from the point of view of a soldier in the employ of Robert the Bruce of Scotland (hence the clever title).
Not sure if this counts as obscure, but Hunger by Knut Hamsun is my favorite novel of all time. Hemmingway said that he learned to write from Hamsun, but it seems he is widely known in America these days.
Not sure if this counts as obscure, but Hunger by Knut Hamsun is my favorite novel of all time. Hemmingway said that he learned to write from Hamsun, but it seems he is widely known in America these days.
I loved Hunger back when I read it a few years ago. It's probably in my top 10 favorite novels. I still haven't gotten around to his other stuff.
It's cheap and simple writing, but I loved the Force Five series. Hard to find though. I could only ever get my hands on two of them. Destination: Stalingrad and Destination: Norway. Now that I've been reminded of them, maybe it's time to try Amazon.
I have two, and they're both non-fiction. But they're great reads. The Education of a Poker Player by Herbert O. Yardley. Yardley was a codebreaker in World War One, and founded and headed the American Black Chamber, the group that broke Japanese diplomatic codes in the early 1920s. He was a lifelong poker player, and this book, half autobiography and half poker manual, explains how to win at various poker games, and provides many entertaining anecdotes about how Yardley learned the information he's passing on. The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag by Jim Corbett. Col. Jim Corbett was a British army officer in India during the early part of the 20th century, and he proved to be a skilled hunter of man-eating tigers and leopards in the region. He was often called upon to kill a man-eater that was terrorizing villagers in a couple of Indian provinces, and was so successful that the villagers held him in very high esteem, and some considered him practically a saint. When he retired, he started writing about his adventures in hunting man-eaters, and some of his books were very popular in the middle of the century. This one is perhaps his best, and remains a great true-life adventure thriller set in an exotic land. Corbett turned out to be an excellent writer, and this book is beautifully written. It's a small masterpiece of its genre, and well worth reading.
The Twelve Kingdoms by Fuyumi Ono. A Japanese fantasy series translated by the now defunct manga company TokyoPop, so the rest will probably never see the light of day here. It was one of the major inspirations behind my own writing, alongside Tolkien, and a great contrast to the world-building I typically see. Knowing I'll never be able to read the rest of it makes me want to cry.
The only other one I read (since they are so hard to get a hold of) is Pan. If you liked Hunger, I highly recommend it.
Venus in Furs by Sacher-Masoch. It is probably more popular than I would imagine, but still I consider it obscure, since rarely does someone know the origin of the word "masochism".
Nobody in India has heard of Lawrence Sanders, it seems. I love the McNally series. Really clever writing.
The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Stupendous Kids by Stanley Kiesel. A young adult book from the 70s that managed to get a sequel in the 80s. Sadly it wasn't too popular. The author has a manuscript for the third book in the series but can't find a publisher. If I had to pick a book that influenced me the most, this would win. I make a point of buying copies pretty often. I work with kids quite a bit and it's a good book to have on hand.
Not really obscure but not many people seem to read Pearl S. Buck, at least those that I know. I've heard of other people reading "The Good Earth" but no one seems to read "The Living Reed" or her other works.
Lol Johnny Got His Gun is the only 'obscure' book I've read, I suppose. I had to read it for a class, and while I was reading it, I hated it. After revisiting the book, my opinion's changed. I appreciate it for what Trumbo did with the language and the plot's presentation was interesting. I still don't agree with the book's major theme (that no ideal is ever worth dying for), but I appreciate it as an act of free speech.
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold If you are going to write about time travel, this is probably a must read; And if you're not into sci-fi, it is still a compelling read, or it was 30 years ago when I read it.
I read Johnny Got His Gun while learning morse code as a Marine at the end of Vietnam. The anti-war slant didn't have any effect, but the appreciation of sensations, like his being able to know the time of day by which side of his body felt the sun, made a difference to me. One I have come back to several times is The Salem Frigate, John Jennings, a historic, nautical, tragical love story and adventure beginning in 1799.
