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, 16:10:34 UTC 7 years ago
These are fantasy or science fiction books by "non-genre" writers that genre fans have often missed and I adore:
Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Children of Men, by P.D. James
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
These are SF books that I adore that none of my friends seem to have heard of:
A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey
The Engine's Child by Holly Phillips
This may not be Great Literature, but it is one of my comfort books and a lot of folks seem to have missed it:
Stealing the Elf King's Roses by Diane Duane
May 22 2010, 17:14:17 UTC 7 years ago
And if you want to hear a rock opera based on The Sparrow (recorded with the author's permission) check out "Sparrow" by John Mabry's band Metaphor.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00197
May 23 2010, 07:51:42 UTC 7 years ago