Top 100 Books You Never Heard Of

[River]

As Noosa rightfully pointed out, top 100 book lists always seem to contain the same books in a different order. And as stlukesguild pointed out, the lists are limited to novels, all originally in English.

So here we can make our own infinite list of books of any sort which people may not be familiar with. They don't have to be completely unheard of, just not the ones you would typically find on a Top 100 list.

And I NEVER want to hear any mention of The Catcher in The Rye.

My favorite book that you've never heard of is Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve. It's beautifully written and completely gut-wrenching right from page one.

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Fits-Passion-Anita-Shreve/dp/0156031396/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7941361-3059639?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191965326&sr=1-1

Definitely worth checking reading twenty-five times.

[Niamh]

Hellfire-Mia Gallagher http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1927319,00.html
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/09/10/story17028.asp

[Petrarch's Love]

My favorite book that you've never heard of is Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve. It's beautifully written and completely gut-wrenching right from page one.

I love Anita Shreve's work. My favorite by her is The Last Time they Met. It's an incredible work of literature.

[River]

I love Anita Shreve's work. My favorite by her is The Last Time they Met. It's an incredible work of literature.

That book was amazing! How completely original! I have all her work, I'm a huge Shreve fan.

[Old Crow]

Just today I started a book that I don't think many people (or many Americans, at least) have heard of, and thats "The Woman in the Dunes" by Kobo Abe. Very interesting, thus far.

[drunkenKOALA]

One that I thought was good but never hear mentioned is Butterfield 8, or BUtterfield 8, or something like that. I think it was written by O'Hara, author of Appointment in Samarra/Sahara?

Shreve, did she write The Pilot's Wife? If yes then I must respectfully disagree that her writing is very good.

[stlukesguild]

Thomas Traherne- Selected Poems and Prose
http://www.amazon.com/Traherne-Selected-Poems-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140445439/ref=sr_1_6/103-5325302-8108636?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191977700&sr=1-6

Traherne is one of the great religious poetic visionaries... a marvelous precursor to William Blake, but unfortunately far too little known. He lived 1637-1674... but his writings were not first discovered until the very end of the 19th century and the author was not identified and the works published until the early 20th century. As recently as 1967 another volume of his work was dramatically rescued from a burning garbage dump in London. This work, the Commentaries of Heaven was not identified as being by Traherne until 1982 and had not yet been edited or published at the time of the publication of this Penguin volume. To this sad history one must also add the fact that Traherne was poorly served by his literary executor... his brother... who made a shambles (mutilation?) of his attempts at editing Traherne's work in order to make them more fit for the staid religious audience he imagined. Luckily, a good body of these works also exist in Traherne's own original autograph.

Trahernes writings include poems and poetic prose that recalls nothing so much as Blake or Novalis. His poetic structures are incredibly varied and avoid traditional form. Whether this was intentional or simply due to the fact that he was little aware of poetic traditions is unknown. In a manner also similar to Blake his poems often appear upon first reading to convey a child-like innocence or naïvety which grows in depth upon subsequent readings:

[B]Wonder[/]

HOW like an Angel came I down!
How bright are all things here!
When first among His works I did appear
O how their glory me did crown!
The world resembled His Eternity, 5
In which my soul did walk;
And every thing that I did see
Did with me talk.

The skies in their magnificence,
The lively, lovely air, 10
Oh how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!
The stars did entertain my sense,
And all the works of God, so bright and pure,
So rich and great did seem,
As if they ever must endure 15
In my esteem.

A native health and innocence
Within my bones did grow,
And while my God did all his Glories show,
I felt a vigour in my sense 20
That was all Spirit. I within did flow
With seas of life, like wine;
I nothing in the world did know
But ’twas divine.

Harsh ragged objects were concealed, 25
Oppressions, tears and cries,
Sins, griefs, complaints, dissensions, weeping eyes
Were hid, and only things revealed
Which heavenly Spirits and the Angels prize.
The state of Innocence 30
And bliss, not trades and poverties,
Did fill my sense.

The streets were paved with golden stones,
The boys and girls were mine,
Oh how did all their lovely faces shine! 35
The sons of men were holy ones,
In joy and beauty they appeared to me,
And every thing which here I found,
While like an Angel I did see,
Adorned the ground. 40

Rich diamond and pearl and gold
In every place was seen;
Rare splendours, yellow, blue, red, white and green,
Mine eyes did everywhere behold.
Great wonders clothed with glory did appear, 45
Amazement was my bliss,
That and my wealth was everywhere;
No joy to this!

Cursed and devised proprieties,
With envy, avarice 50
And fraud, those fiends that spoil even Paradise,
Flew from the splendour of mine eyes,
And so did hedges, ditches, limits, bounds,
I dreamed not aught of those,
But wandered over all men’s grounds, 55
And found repose.

Proprieties themselves were mine,
And hedges ornaments;
Walls, boxes, coffers, and their rich contents
Did not divide my joys, but all combine. 60
Clothes, ribbons, jewels, laces, I esteemed
My joys by others worn:
For me they all to wear them seemed
When I was born.

In spite of the beauty of his poetry, his prose work, Centuries of Meditations is commonly thought of as his masterwork. This visionary and poetic bit of prose reminds me not only of William Blake and the great German Romantic, Novalis, but also of the ecstatic and declaratory manner of Walt Whitman:

1. An empty book is like an infant's soul, in which anything may be written. It is capable of all things... I have a mind to fill this with profitable wonders...

2. Do not wonder that I promise to fill it with those truths you love but know not: for tho it be a maxim in the schools, that there is no love of a thing unknown: yet I have found, that the things unknown have a secret influence on the soul...

3. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter things that have been kept secret from the foundations of the world. Things strange, yet common; incredible, yet known; most high, yet plain; infinitely profitable, but not esteemed. Is it not a great thing that you should be heir of the world?...

4. I will not by the noise of bloody wars and the dethroning of kings advance you to glory; but by the gentle ways of peace and love... Yet shall the end be so glorious that angels durst not hope for so great a one til they had seen it.

15. ...Souls are God's jewels. Every one of which is worth many worlds... So that I alone am the end of the world. Angels and men being all mine... God gave me alone to all the world, and all the world to me alone.

I love Anita Shreve's work. My favorite by her is The Last Time they Met. It's an incredible work of literature.

I haven't read anything by Shreve (I'm usually wary of almost anything making Oprah's list:p... but Petrarch"s Love's recommendation is certainly enough to make me reconsider.:)

[Petrarch's Love]

Hey, a Traherne fan! He's on my list to read for my exams soon. I've only read a few poems by him before, so I'm looking forward to getting to know the poetic oevre. Now I know who I can have Traherne discussions with. ;)


I haven't read anything by Shreve (I'm usually wary of almost anything making Oprah's list... but Petrarch"s Love's recommendation is certainly enough to make me reconsider.

Didn't know Shreve had made Oprah's list. Well Ms. O has good taste sometimes. I've enjoyed reading several of Shreve's books, but I found The Last Time They Met especially well written.

[River]

Didn't know Shreve had made Oprah's list. Well Ms. O has good taste sometimes. I've enjoyed reading several of Shreve's books, but I found The Last Time They Met especially well written.

I've always liked everything on Oprah's Book list! I think she has out-standing taste. But then again, I read anything. Yes, The Pilots Wife made her list.



Shreve, did she write The Pilot's Wife? If yes then I must respectfully disagree that her writing is very good.

Her writting sytle differs greatly between each book. Perhaps if you tried Strange Fits of Passion, or The Last Time They Met, or Resistance you might think differently.


Thomas Traherne- Selected Poems and Prose
http://www.amazon.com/Traherne-Selected-Poems-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140445439/ref=sr_1_6/103-5325302-8108636?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191977700&sr=1-6


Does that compilation contain the lines which you quoted? They were beautiful.

[Noisms]

One of my all time favourites is Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, by the Danish writer Peter Hoeg. It's reasonably famous, so I'm not sure if it qualifies, but it never seems to make those "best ever" lists despite being completely brilliant.

I can't recommend the Viriconium series by M. John Harrison highly enough. Beautifully written, extremely odd, and nothing if not memorable. Even if you don't like fantasy books, then you can still read and enjoy - they're about as far as you can get from Tolkien.

[stlukesguild]

Does that compilation contain the lines which you quoted? They were beautiful.

Yes... but unfortunately it appears as if it is out of print. Wonder is from one of his collections known commonly as the "Dobell Poems" while the prose was taken from the Centuries of Meditations... these SHOULD be included in any collection worth anything.

[stlukesguild]

Now I know who I can have Traherne discussions with.

Gladly... and I'll be sure to call on you if i ever get back to Petrarch or The Faerie Queene.;)

[jlb4tlb]

"Blue Belle" by Andrew Vachss, great story telling my a modern master of the hard boiled Detective genre.