How did we miss these? 50 brilliant but underrated novels
guardian.co.uk/books/2007/sep/02/fiction.feat...Posted Jun 18, 2011, 3:33 PM UTC
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guardian.co.uk
makes a change from the usual complaining about shit and overrated books around here..
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I could not agree more, there is too much of:
"blah blah American Psycho blah blah Ender's Game blah blah Slaughterhouse 5"
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I know, right? David Foster Wallace and Pynchon are not getting enough respect!
/s
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I haven't read any of these. Attempting to console myself with the fact that they are 'underrated' and thus bit more obscure. I hope I'm not just a cretin.
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I haven't read, or heard of, any of them either. I guess I have another 50 books to read after I read the 50 currently on my list…
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same here; haven't even heard of most of them.
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I've read Strange Fits of Passion - although I don't remember it that clearly, I don't think the synopsis is that fair, or helps you understand the book. It's also not my favourite Anita Shreve, although it is one of her better ones. My fav is Eden Close, which I re-read fairly regularly.
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No I think you're fine. Start with Season of Migration to the North, it really is a great read. Way ahead of its time.
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Nice to see Victor Serge on the list. Didn't realize Flannery O'Conner was underrated, though.
And The Long Ships really is awesome.
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The Guardian is British; maybe people know O'Connor much better stateside.
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Excellent point, you may be right.
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We had to read A Good Man is Hard to find in school, so I was also surprised by it making the obscure list. There's even a movie of it.
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I had to read it twice in college, once in high school.
I thought it was super popular.
That said, she was awesome, so I didn't mind it at all.
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Great, spooky stories. Love her.
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I'm always proselytizing about the brilliance of 'Lanark' to anyone who will listen. Anyone wanting a good, deep and weird book: read it!
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I'll put this one on my list to read.
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I don't think I've ever read a better book. Although I found it took a very long time to get through.
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I can vouch for the few books on this list that I have read: The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Riddley Walker, and The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake are all fantastic, and among my favorites.
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They made The Friends of Eddie Coyle into a movie. It's good. If you live in Boston, you'll spend half your time trying to figure out where the characters are.
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Yeah I have seen that! Really great, underrated movie.
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Pah. "Lanark" has been in my top 5 novels of all time since it came out decades ago. Gray's "1982 Janine" is also bloody awesome.
"Amanda and The Million Mile High Dancer" is on my bookshelf. It's utter shite.
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No, guardian, I didn't miss this one! look at username
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Of these, I've only read The Cottagers, which really was good -- but I think the Guardian would have been better served by picking maybe three from the list and actually talking about them.
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I would submit Marianne Wiggins' "Evidence Of Things Unseen. One of the most moving and beautiful books I've read in a long time.
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I have no idea how to read that site.
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Didn't see Confederacy of Dunces in there. An amazing book but I never see it mentioned
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I don't think you're paying enough attention; A Confederacy of Dunces is very well-known, having snagged Toole a posthumous Pulitzer and all.
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Yep, I'd consider that book "well known"
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Ah I see. Well I'm not to much of a bookie and I was suggested it rather offhandedly..
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I was expecting Any Human Heart to be on the list. And was glad it was there; hopefully more people will read it. I got it on sale at Waterstone's and it's one of the best novels I've read. It has helped me to understand the british soul more than my two years in London. Read it, people, it is definitely worth it. Specially if you're not british.
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I'm so glad to find all these new recommendations! I have read but one of these. Flannery O'Connor is the author of what I generally consider my favorite novel Wise Blood. Seriously, I recommend it to everyone. (A Good Man is Hard to Find is not a novel, it's a story collection. Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away are her only two novels. But everything she wrote was brilliant.)
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Bah, I just don't really like A Good Man is Hard to Find. Something about it is obnoxious to me and I don't know what exactly
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Season of Migration to the North is a fantastic, brilliant read. So glad to see it getting some attention.
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books that you guys have missed that i think are worth the wile, hum,road to ruin has a pretty good sexy sean in it whityh the girl on a washing machine,just replace krestins name with yours for literaray pleasure,lol,damaged a book told in the first person about a boy called austin reed ,may make grown men cry, but man that fapping seen in it is so discriptive ( -; winkity*winkity
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Only one that I have read, and it really was excellent:
As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
I keep wondering why no one else seems to have read it. Its "historical fiction" set during the English Civil War, but that term doesn't really do it justice.
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Did they deliberately make the paragraphing/boldfacing scheme confusing? Even after I figured out which author wrote the book and which author chose the book to be featured, I kept getting thrown off and having to pause to think about it for a minute.
Otherwise, interesting list. All I have read on there is part of Obscene Bird of Night in my Spanish lit. class. It was definitely interesting and I've recommended it to people. I can't remember if I finished it or not though!
Was recommended Jose Donoso by a friend, I read Obscene Bird of Night and am actually just finishing El Lugar Sin Limites (Hell Has No Limits). I Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Donoso.
I really loved Obscene Bird of Night, I went looking on Amazon for Hell Has No Limits (english), and only found this:
1 new from $195.11 7 used from $45.00
Any tips on where one might find it for less?