Books you've read that you're sure no one here has heard of

[Atria35]

I've read Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.

I.... saw the movie after attempting to read the book. It was okay, in both forms (though I think the movie was a bit better because, as W4J said, he tended to get caught up in the details).

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I’]Course in General Linguistics[/I] and Barthes’ Elements of Semiology, in that order. The structuralist distinction between signifier and signified (which led to Derrida’s deconstructionism) has its roots in Saussure, so you need to read him in order to really understand where Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, Bakhtin, Levi-Strauss, etc. are coming from.

But I’m sure that if you take that Lit Theory class, you will probably read all of those people. I hope you are able to enjoy it; I wouldn’t say that Lit Theory was a “fun” class for me, but some of the authors were interesting (particularly Saussure, Barthes, Derrida, and Bakhtin). Others, like Spivak, I would rather forget.

Off-topic, but if you don’t mind my asking, what are you studying, and what got you interested in Lit Theory?

I haven't read anything by them yet, unfortunately. Rather I'm more (broadly speaking) aware of deconstruction of semiotics and Derrida's overall anti-logocentrism and etc. XD Thank you for your input. I will make sure to read Saussure.

I'm formally studying psychology and sociology, but I find myself most interested in philosophy. Namely, The "continental" side of things. i.e. Existentialism, phenomenology, feminism, and of course post-structuralism. I enjoy people like Kierkegaard, Camus, Nietzsche, Kristeva, and Derrida. I'm not as well-read on the poststructuralists, but I believe I'm familiar with the basic principles. After all, they all kind of intertwine.

I'm certainly no lit major, but I've had my old paradigms deconstructed enough, lol. After some time studying, I became friends with people who were familiar with the subject. I eventually enroll in a lit class (Intro to lit, sadly. I regret not taking a more advanced class such as Major British Authors, which was my original intention) with a professor who was extremely well-versed in lit theory (His Ph.D Dissertation was on friggen James Joyce as Metafiction, lol) A great and amiable scholar who noticed that intro to lit was too easy of a class for me. XD But we've had many discussions on structuralism and poststructuralism. This eventually got me into researching some things by myself.

[bigsleepj]

I.... saw the movie after attempting to read the book. It was okay, in both forms (though I think the movie was a bit better because, as W4J said, he tended to get caught up in the details).

Eco's encyclopaedic knowledge of everything is what makes these books unique and fascinating. He uses these minuscule and seemingly irrelevant details to get to a broader point he wishes to make. In this sense his work is carefully crafted pieces of literature rather than just mysteries or thrillers.

[GeneD]

Well, I've never heard anyone here mention the Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix. It's a fantasy series set in a really unique world where the Dead come back to the land of the living and there are these people called Abhorsen who are tasked with sending them back to Death with magical bells. It might sound too necromantic, but it's really not. The necromancers are bad guys, and the magic is no more offensive or occult than any other fantasy magic, really (runs under Eastern-type assumptions, but that's almost a given in secular fantasy these days). Very exciting, too, and Nix nails the personalities of dogs and cats.

...And I can't remember if anyone else has mentioned this before, but a really good book that not many people talk about is The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It's written from the perspective of a boy with Asberger's Syndrome (a form of autism), and is a truly unique look at normal life. The producer and script writer of the Harry Potter movies have this slated to be made into a movie after the eighth HP movie's done, and I'm really curious to see how they adapt it.

I've read both the Abhorsen books and Mysterious Incident, although a while back. Actually I think I never got hold of the last Nix book and don't really remember what happened in the others if I do manage to find it.

I'll be back later with other books I've read.

[rocklobster]

Actually, I read those books too. Garth Nix has quickly become one of my fave writers. I highly recommend his Keys to the Kingdom and Seventh Tower series.

[Atria35]

I forgot that paragraph- I read the Garth Nix trilogy, and loved it. It was one of my favorites.

[Kaori]

I eventually enroll in a lit class (Intro to lit, sadly. I regret not taking a more advanced class such as Major British Authors, which was my original intention) with a professor who was extremely well-versed in lit theory (His Ph.D Dissertation was on friggen James Joyce as Metafiction, lol) A great and amiable scholar who noticed that intro to lit was too easy of a class for me. XD But we've had many discussions on structuralism and poststructuralism. This eventually got me into researching some things by myself.

Very cool! It's great that you were able to connect with your professor that way.

On-topic, may as well throw out a few more titles, fiction this time: The King of Elfland's Daughter and Wonder Tales by Lord Dunsany, Adrift on the Haunted Seas by William Hope Hodgson, Den of the White Fox by Lensey Namioka. I wouldn't exactly say I'm sure that no one has heard of them, but they are a little bit on the obscure side.

[the_wolfs_howl]

^_^ Yay, people reading Garth Nix! I need to read the final installment of the Keys to the Kingdom series one of these days....

Okay, non-fiction this time. Has anyone read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks? It's a really interesting book about the effect of music on the brain, written by a neurologist. Fascinating.

I'm also probably the only one here who's read The Reason for God by Timothy Keller, possibly my favorite preacher ever. It's basically an apologetic work about problems people have with the church and arguments to refute them, which might sound stuffy...but I find quite interesting and exciting, as you might guess by looking at my sig

[Atria35]

Okay, non-fiction this time. Has anyone read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks? It's a really interesting book about the effect of music on the brain, written by a neurologist. Fascinating.

OHMYGOSH! I loved that book! It was simply an amazing collection of conditions and anecdotes about music and the brain, and I want to own it so bad!

Hrm.... For me, I'd have to say I don't know of many people who read The Merchant Prince series. It's a series of sci-fi novels about a woman who discovers that she has the ability to transport between dimentions. I love it because it's not "POOF We're in ANOTHER WORLD!", there are rules and physical laws about the transportation- like not only is it a genetic ability, but you can only transport what you can carry (literally), if you're in a twenty-story building and you transport- and there isn't a twenty-story builing in the other world- then splatter will happen. And the politics and intrigue are very well done.

[GeneD]

I've read and own almost all the Edge Chronicles books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. I have grown out of them a little, but I'll still give them a peak now and then and I love all the interesting races and the detailed pictures.

Anyone else?

[rocklobster]

Does Pippi Longstocking still have her fanbase despite her awful adaptations?

[Makachop^^128]

Cats in Pajamas by Ray bradbury

The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To

both really good books XD

[Tamachan319]

I'm lucky, my town is set into a library system where we can also order books from other libraries in the system, anywhere from the south suburbs to the north suburbs.

I want my library to be like that!

I've also never heard anyone here mention Avi, who's one of my favorite authors. He writes historical fiction, mostly, and does it very well. My favorites of his are The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (a murder adventure on a ship in the 1700s) and Crispin: The Cross of Lead (a mix of political intrigue and medieval adventuring, with a young boy as the hero).

...And I can't remember if anyone else has mentioned this before, but a really good book that not many people talk about is The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It's written from the perspective of a boy with Asberger's Syndrome (a form of autism), and is a truly unique look at normal life. The producer and script writer of the Harry Potter movies have this slated to be made into a movie after the eighth HP movie's done, and I'm really curious to see how they adapt it.

...There's probably more, but I'll leave it here for now

I've read a couple books by Avi- all the ones you mentioned, plus a few others. Way back when, my teacher read us his book Poppy, a cute story about a little country mouse. (I've read the prequel and sequels as well.) It's one of the best animal stories I've read. Also, Avi wrote a story about a dog (the title escapes my memory, I'm afraid) that also was fairly good.

I tried reading The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I just couldn't get into it. From the way you talk about it, it's worth another try.

As for my own "books I'm sure no one else here has read" (nonfiction!):
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Cats+books=pure amazingness. This is an "aww..." type book.
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. A very sad biography. It's told very simply, but it fits as this is the story of the author's childhoood. A very good read overall.

[Atria35]

Okay, today I came across a blast from my literary past...

The Stravaganza series. It's a YA book series about some kids (it tends to focus on one child per book) that get different presents- when they fall asleep with them, they wind up in an alternate dimention, in a place very similar to Italy. There's adventure, political intrigue, and a metaplot running through the books. Though... I will admit that I've only read the first three. I didn't realize there were another two, since when I read them I wasn't internet-savvy enough to know how to find that out.

[Edward]

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, the first Gothic Novel

Caverns of Socrates by Dennis McKiernan

Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker

[abbyjenna]

i've read eragon, books 1,2, and 3... i also like fell, AND Garth Nix's keys, to the kingdom, and the Myst reader by ( in no particular order!) Rand miller, robyn miller, and david wingrove!

[rocklobster]

Has anyone here read the Alex Rider series? They're awesome! It's like James Bond with a little kid as the hero!

[Atria35]

Man, I hope it's okay to revive this thread. Just read

Bread Givers- if you want to read a book on the American experience, and immigrants in early 20th Century America, this is one of the books you should read. It's so very.... Well, I have very mixed reactions to this book. Love it in some ways, am so very depressed in others.

[ABlipinTime]

It'skay. It's good thread.

Not recently, but I've read:
Flatland - A two-dimensional creature explains his world and how he met the third. If you want to be picky, it's not scientifically-accurate, but it's very amusing nonetheless.

[mysngoeshere56]

Hmmm... Let me think (and also check my Shelfari XD)...

1. How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found - Sara Nickerson
2. Magic by the Lake - Edward Eager (somebody read this out loud to me, but still)
3. Violet Dawn - Brandilyn Collins (very underrated)
4. The Forbidden Doors series - Bill Myers

I'm fairly certain there are more but they aren't coming to me right now.

[Maledicte]

I have a thing for obscure/semi-obscure vampire novels...

I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod
The Cowboy and the Vampire by Clark Hays and Katherine McCall
They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon
Vampire Winter and Darkness on Ice by Lois Tilton
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy Mckee Charnas
Those Who Hunt the Night, Traveling with Vampires and Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly
Varney the Vampire by James Malcolm Ryder
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
The Saint-Germain series by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen
Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde...

*looks up at list* I think I have some sort of problem...

[Maokun]

Bakhtin's The Dialogic Imagination, Jacques Derrida's Dissemination, Foucault, Elements of Semiology by Barthes, Saussure's Course in General Linguistics.

No C.S. Peirce? I'm disappoint, son. Reading Saussure and not Peirce is like reading the A.T and not the N.T.

Anyway, I offer the The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson to this thread. A very competent fantasy book set in a detailed and believable world with particular mechanics that didn't need a trilogy to tell a good story while fleshing out the world and developing the characters satisfactorily. Perhaps my favourite non-mainstream fantasy book.

[Vii]

*Looks on bookshelf for any books that have never won an award or have any recommendation quotes on them*

The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu - I got this at my library's book sale. It's kind of a Percy Jackson knockoff (It was published a year after The Lightning Thief), about what would happen if Greek myths were real, but it's decent.

Summerhill Secrets by Beverly Lewis - I picked this one up at some Christian bookstore while on vacation somewhere (I'm not sure where...o.0). They're nice stories that sort of tie together in the end (There's two books, by the way.). The main character is a bit Mary-Sue-ish, though (Heck, her name is a variation of Mary)

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, the first Gothic Novel

I had to read that for school. I remember that someone dies, but not much else.

[A_Yellow_Dress]

XD You think I should read the others, then? My Mom thought the second was boring, and I don't know how I'll get my hands on the others, if they're good.

Also, I read the Avalon: Web of Magic series, along with my sister. The quality of the 12 books varied from boring to awesome (more of the latter towards the end of the series, thankfully), and I love Alison Strom's illustrations.

Oh wow, I totally read that series. I had kind of forgotten it.

The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu - I got this at my library's book sale. It's kind of a Percy Jackson knockoff (It was published a year after The Lightning Thief), about what would happen if Greek myths were real, but it's decent.

I liked how the protagonists were cousins and broke off from the "boy and girl main characters" = "love interests" thing going on right now.


Isabel of the Whales
The Last Siege
I, Coriander

.....Can't think of really any more off the top of my head.

And a book that used to be a part of the English curriculum, so it should be more well known but: In Search of April Raintree. My aunt's an English teacher and gave me it and until then I hadn't heard of it myself. I read it, like the others mentioned, a couple years ago. And it is so good.

[Lynna]

I, Coriander

I've never read it, but my classmate was once reading this

Let's see...perhaps no one has heard of Emily Windsnap? I read the second book and I liked it. Although the characters were a little generic, I felt the story was played out in an overall unique way.

also, apart from Ella Enchanted, I'm not sure how many have heard of Gail Carson Levine's other books, such as Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bammare, The Wish, Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Egg, Ever, and The Tale of Two Castles

[A_Yellow_Dress]

I've never read it, but my classmate was once reading this

Let's see...perhaps no one has heard of Emily Windsnap? I read the second book and I liked it. Although the characters were a little generic, I felt the story was played out in an overall unique way.

Oh, I've read the third book in that series. You're right about the characters, but I did enjoy the book when I read it.

[FllMtl Novelist]

also, apart from Ella Enchanted, I'm not sure how many have heard of Gail Carson Levine's other books, such as Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bammare, The Wish, Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Egg, Ever, and The Tale of Two Castles

A while back I think I read most of her other books, including The Two Princesses of Bammare and the Fairy Haven books.

Most recently I read Fairest, and that's definitely my favorite of hers. By far.

[Maokun]

Shardik, a (deservingly) less known book by Watership Down's author, Richard Adams. Extremely depressing and with such an tiresome super-ornate prose that it was a pain to plow through each page.

[Iconodule]

The way of the Pilgrim and the Pilgrim continues his way, a russian novel by an unknown Orthodox Christian author. Don't know if its literal or metaphorical but it describes the path of a pilgrim and his search to pray unceasingly and the answer lying in the Jesus Prayer.

[Zeldafan2]

The lost regiment series by William R Fortcshen. It was exciting, but very hard to follow.