geekyBecause every group is essentially a sociological tide pool, shifting slightly whenever the tide comes in but still cross-contaminating itself at a remarkable rate, we also tend to have a somewhat distorted view of "everybody." I bet if you polled a sample size of, say, the readership of this journal, you'd discover that Rosemary and Rue was one of the best-known books of 2009. Why? Because I wrote it, and talk about it constantly, and you read this journal, hence exposing you to it on a constant basis. I'm a literary pathogen!
On a more localized scale, we loan books to our friends, talk books up to our friends, and constantly infect each other with our literary passions. In the last year, I have caused my friends to read I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Shivers, A Madness of Angels, the complete works of Kelley Armstrong, The Mermaid's Madness, The Enchantment Emporium, and Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. These aren't the only good books I've read in the last year; they're just the ones new enough to still be available, and to have excited me with their sudden existence.
So here is today's challenge: Infect us with books we may not have heard of, but which are so damn AWESOME that it verges on a crime that more people don't know about them. Go for out-of-print things (that's why libraries and used bookstores exist), or the first books in series that started eight years ago. Bring enlightenment to the heathen, in the form of literary smallpox.
I'll start with five of my favorites, books I honestly think everyone should read (whether you enjoy them is up to you):
Hellspark, by Janet Kagen.
Mermaid's Song, by Alida Van Gorres.
Emergence, by David Palmer.
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, by Tim Pratt.
Paper Moon, by Joe David Brown.
Authors, feel free to pimp your own work here; just get the word out, and let's see what we're not reading!
May 22 2010, 16:54:08 UTC 7 years ago Edited: May 22 2010, 16:59:19 UTC
(Edit: It's either a prequel to or succeeds, I'm not sure which, a book in the same universe called Shardik, but Maia stands alone just fine and I found Shardik to be really, really disappointing.)
And for the mystery lovers:
The Red House Mystery, by A. A. Milne. (Yes, that A. A. Milne.) Someone gave me this as a gift when I was 8 or 9; I'm pretty sure they didn't look at what the book actually *was*, and assumed that since Milne wrote it, it must be for kids. It's not; it's a classic country-house mystery, and was my gateway drug to Christie and Marsh and Sayers. With, actually, one of the more unique endings I've seen in many years of reading country-house mysteries.
To tie in with your icon...
May 22 2010, 17:13:06 UTC 7 years ago
Re: To tie in with your icon...
May 22 2010, 18:06:40 UTC 7 years ago
Did you know she has a Twitter feed, too? :)
Re: To tie in with your icon...
May 22 2010, 19:13:31 UTC 7 years ago
I just hooked a friend on the books after he heard about them from me and then picked up _Oh, Jerusalem_. He war-games with my husband and he and I swap history, mystery, and other books. If the worst he could say as someone who is deep into military history is that she didn't get Allenby quite right, I take that as an endorsement. I'm awaiting his assessment of a few of the other characters he'll meet in the stories...especially when he reads _The Game_.
I'm just disappointed so far in the latest (_The God in the Hive_). I'm partially through it and getting stalled each chapter through sheerly not having endurance for it. (So we don't hijack Seanan's post, if you'd like to talk more about the books, my e-mail address is faithwallis-at-gmail-dot-com)