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Great Books of the 19th, 20th, & 21st Century...

S

sttngfan1701d

Commodore
Commodore
....That aren't on the usual "lists."

What I mean is, in general: no Dickens, Henry James, James Joyce, or other "obvious" entries. Nothing that would be on a school summer reading list (1984, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, Old Man & The Sea, Great Gatsby, or similar) and nothing in Oprah's Book Club.

I know that's pretty nebulous criteria, but what I'm looking for are the "hidden gems" that aren't as high-profile as the "big titles" but have nonetheless stood the test of time or are compelling modern reads that are overlooked in favor of whatever is on the NYT Bestseller list.

I know people's tastes differ, but all I'm looking for here are recommendations that aren't "the usual."

Thoughts?
 
I'm probably not qualified to say what exactly qualifies as a 'hidden gem', but I can do my best with two detective series that I don't often hear mentioned...

The first (and more recent) is Laurie R. King's books featuring a woman named Mary Russell and...Sherlock Holmes. They're set in the years after Holmes has retired, and Mary Russell is a young teenaged girl when they first meet who impresses Holmes with her intelligence and capacity for analysis. The first book is called The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

The second is the series of novels with Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L. Sayers. They're probably a little too well-known among mystery fans to really be true hidden gems; all I know is that the only way I ever heard about them was the fact that they were sitting on my Mom's bookshelf. I don't know if I would have ever come across them otherwise. The first book is Whose Body?.

The mysteries and adventures in both series are fun, but like all truly great detective fiction it's the characters that really make them succeed.
 
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and while you're at it Bram Stoker's Dracula

Both classics that mostly got distorted by the movie and media industry so people don't even know the originals ("They were books originally?" :rolleyes:)

Jules Verne books.. 20.000 leagues under the sea etc.. awesome adventure stories

The 3 Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.. 'nuff said
 
Jack Finney

"Time and Again"

"Forever" by Peter Hamill

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

"The Little Prince"(can't remember author's name spelling)

"The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein

"Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" by Spider Robinson

"Santiago-A Myth Of the Far Future" by Mike Resnick

"Replay" by Kenneth Grimwood

"I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson
 
Most (but not all) of the books by Robert Goddard, which I call 'Agatha Christie for grownups' (and not that I have anything against the Dame). There's a touch of Hitchcock about them too. An ordinary person gradually sucked into an extraordianry situation. The three that feature Harry Barnett (and how much more oridinary could a name be? :)) are Into the Blue, Out of the Sun and Never Go Back. They're a good starting point.

Oh! And another vote for Replay, as mentioned above. Great, great book.
 
These might not all be exactly what the OP had in mind, since some of these are probably fairly well-known and one is a joke...

The Things They Carried - O'Brien

Things Fall Apart - Achebe

I Am America (And So Can You!) - Colbert

Team of Rivals - Goodwin

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Smith

A Long Day's Journey Into Night - O'Neill

In Cold Blood - Capote
 
I add my vote to the Peter Wimsey books by Sayers. Wonderful reads

The Horatio Hornblower series was actually more enjoyable than I really expected. Read the first one just to see what it was all about and whipped right through them many years ago.

(FYI: both the abover series really need to be read in order as do...)

J Robb (aka Nora Roberts) Eve Dallas "...in Death" series...several of us teachers hand these around like gold...future detective work in NYC.

'Bout it for now.

enjoy
 
19th-century lit:

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde


20th-century crime:

Fast One by Paul Cain (the hardest of the hard-boiled)

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy


20th-century history:

The Strange Death of Liberal England by George Dangerfield

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins

Citizens by Simon Schama

A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes


Pseudo-history/conspiracy theory:

The Hunt for Zero Point by Nick Cook
 
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Confederacy of Dunces by Toole
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
The Life of Pi(can't remember author)
Sophie's World(see previous entry comment)
Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
 
Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain. Yes, he's hardly an unknown author, but not many people know about or have read this book. His family kept it hidden from the public for YEARS. But, someday, when people are not so afraid to criticize religion, people will read this wonderful book the way they read Huck Finn today.

A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller. First published in 1960, it has NEVER been out of print. I think this book will be read, and studied, for a very long time to come.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. It is probably one of the finest pieces of first-person narration I have ever read. It reminds me far more of Faulkner's works than anything I've read in ages. I think this will replace "Flowers for Algernon" on future school reading-lists.
 
Gad. How wonderful to see so many of my favorite books here. Good to see another Goddard fan - amazing storyteller. I still can't believe John Kennedy Toole killed himself - imagine the sequels to "A Confederacy of Dunces" and what would have happened to Ignatius J. Reilly and Myrna The Minx.

The Southern writer James Wilcox doesn't sell so well but has devoted readers. Like me. His novels are gently satirical and full of unforgettable characters, especially in "Modern Baptists" and "North Gladiola."

James Wilcox

Michael Malone is an interesting writer. He has a detective series and also wrote for "As the World Turns" years ago. He also wrote one of the best life affirming novels I've ever read: "Handling Sin." It's about an upright/uptight man who learns that life is a feast. It's also hilarious.

Michael Malone

Does anybody still read the late 19th/early 20th century writer Saki aka H.H. Munro? I hope so. He was a bridge from Oscar Wilde to Noel Coward and P.G. Wodehouse and both men were influenced by him. Saki's stories send up Edwardian society and are chock full of outrageous, witty people - and animals for that matter. When he was 43 years old Munro enlisted in the British Army to fight in WW I. He was killed by a sniper as he was warning a soldier to put out a match. Here are some of his online short stories:

Saki
 
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Some great books here that I'd put on my list such as The Things They Carried, I Am Legend and A Canticle for Leibowitz. I'll add A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Duma Key by Stephen King (his most recent and, I think, his best) and Priest by Ken Bruen.
 
I doubt this is really a hidden gem since I first encountered it on a table display at the local big book chain, but there's a wonderful recent novel called The Thirteenth Tale, a Gothic/suspense/mystery story by Diane Setterfield. Not only a great story, but some of the passages just about perfectly sum up why it is I read so much.

In the same vein, Wilkie Collins' work is high on my list of favourites: The Woman In White and The Moonstone are the two I've finished so far. I'm reading Armadale right now and I can already tell it's going to carry my strong recommendation.
 
^ I loved "The Thirteenth Tale" too. I also love most of Collins and was looking forward to a really Wicked Woman in "Armadale" but I keep getting bogged down. Have tried to get through it at least three times now. Well, maybe fourth time is the charm.

That reminds me of two terrific Victorian bestseller "sensation" novels - "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and the old warhorse "East Lynne" by Mrs. Henry Wood. "East Lynne" was adapted for the stage and was also an instant hit. The stage version has the fabulous line: "Dead! Dead! And never called me mother!"
 
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I know I listed a lot of scifi in my first post but-these are exceptional books, scifi or not.
 
I truly discovered what American literature was when I read Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, especially 'The Song of Myself'.
 
I, Robot, Robot Dreams, The Caves of Steel, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, and Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov are all excellent.

Outstanding too is Andrew J. Robinson's Star Trek novel A Stitch in Time, which should not be discounted for being published as a media tie-in; with the logo removed from the cover, the book could be offered to anyone.

Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead by Orson Scott Card should not be overlooked (and the former should certainly not be missed, despite its silly-sounding plot).

Any of Agatha Christie's stories not starring Miss Marple (excepting her later Poirot entries) is worth reading, especially And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express and The Big Four.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams (which we read in AP English, but were told wasn't a usual selection) is brilliant by the end.

At the risk of drawing discredit by naming too many Star Trek novels, the recent and continuing Vanguard series is worth the time of anyone who like science fiction stories, the moral side of political intrigue, or simply good fiction. The most recent volume, Summon the Thunder is particularly excellent. Like some of Christie's novels, though very good, these don't fully rise to greatness.

Graham Greene's The Quiet American, while somewhat well-known, is not widely read. It's quite excellent, nonetheless.

I enthusiastically recommend anything by Damon Runyan.
 
The Lady Eve said:
That reminds me of two terrific Victorian bestseller "sensation" novels - "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and the old warhorse "East Lynne" by Mrs. Henry Wood. "East Lynne" was adapted for the stage and was also an instant hit. The stage version has the fabulous line: "Dead! Dead! And never called me mother!"
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Just what I needed, thank you. Victorian sensationalism is awesome!
 
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