Wheelers by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen is pretty good. More or less hard science fiction about first contact with Starfish Aliens. Takes place sorta 20 Minutes into the Future, but after a world war...or robot war. I can't remember at the moment.
edited 18th Aug '09 6:59:28 AM by Lucky Revenant
"I can't imagine what Hell will have in store, but I know when I'm there, I won't wander anymore."I read a non-fiction book by the same pair, and it was amazing. They cited Wheelers a lot.
edited 18th Aug '09 12:07:38 PM by Tzetze
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.I mostly know the names Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen from the Science of Discworld books. I assume they wrote or at least heavily outlined the non-fiction parts: the first book's was fascinating, the second's was thought-provoking, the third's read like an extended rant against creationists.
The Tunnel By Ernesto Sabato, even Albert Camus admited he was inspired to write The Stranger after he read it.
@Dookie2: I've read The End of Eternity as well; didn't realise it had a wiki page.
Ukrainian Red CrossWhile somewhat iconic for baby boomers, sadly Erica Jong's Fear Of Flying has been forgotten about and I don't know of anyone my age who has read it or ever heard of it. It's more of a female Portnoy's Complaint than comparable to any sort of "chick lit"
Emperor Wu liked cake, but not exploding cake!All of mine are kids' and young adult books: Michael Dahl's Finnegan Zwake mysteries, Robin Jarvis's Wyrd Museum trilogy, and the Castle Cant books by K.P. Bath. The closest I've gotten is findiing people who know about Jarvis's other books.
It's hard for me to determine what would count as books that "nobody but me has heard of" on the basis that I had the misfortune of growing up in an area where the only thing anybody has read is Harry Potter, their high school reading list and Twilight. Pretty much everything else is something they haven't heard of (I have never felt like head-desking more than when I heard the words "H.P. Lovecraft? Who's that?" from an English teacher). I'll try, though (my college buddies are more well-read, so the list will pretty much be "stuff they haven't heard of").
- Drugs & the Dominoes
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
- Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
- World War Z
- Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story and it's sequel You Suck: A Love Story
edited 30th Aug '09 1:44:51 PM by Sparkysharps
Hearing you say that makes me want to say that I frequently get my English/Creative Writing teacher started on rants about how awesome Lovecraft is while the rest of the class sits in confusion.
"I can't imagine what Hell will have in store, but I know when I'm there, I won't wander anymore."At least you've presumably never had a writing teacher who though The Eye Of Argon was well-written.
Well, my freshman English teacher believed in ghosts and thought that Romeo And Juliet was the most romantic thing EVAR, so not nearly as bad, but still.
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.Don't know anyone else who's read Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. Great book, although it's a total Mind Screw.
The SPQR mystery series. I read the third and fifth books in my high school library and I've been looking for them again ever since. No one I've met is even aware of their existence, despite what awesome fangirl-fodder they are.
Phule's Company was also pretty fun, if hilariously over-the-top in its Stu-ish aspects.
A True Lady's Quest - A Jojo is You!A Mist of Prophecies. Follows a detective named Gordianus in Rome investigating the death of an acclaimed prophet/prostitute named Cassandra.
I wrote about a fish turning into the moon.Wait, is this the same Lost Regiment as the Civil War regiment that got stranded in that strange, brutal world? I've never read them, but I'm pretty sure I have them. Well, my dad has them. Or had them. He didn't like them much and may have returned them or given them to Half-Price books.
"I can't imagine what Hell will have in store, but I know when I'm there, I won't wander anymore."

I've read both Jennifer Government and Syrup.
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.