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, 17:50:55 UTC 7 years ago
The ones I've raved about the most since I started keeping bookposts, and that some of you might not know, include:
Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff and Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
Peter Ackroyd, London, the Biography
Alfred Bester, The Demolished Man
Michael Dibdin, Ratking
John Green, Paper Towns
Max Blumenthal, Republican Gomorrah
James Branch Cabell, Jurgen, a Comedy of Justice
re: Demolished Man
May 23 2010, 00:31:21 UTC 7 years ago
This was the first SF novel I ever read, thrown at me by my mother when it was rainy and I was bored when I was young. Excellent recommendation.
In it, there is a society of telepaths who prevent crime by detecting it in the minds of the criminals before crimes can be enacted. Until -
Our protagonist gets a song to run through his head, blocking anyone from reading his thoughts as he plots a murder.
Al Bester, the psi corp villian from the TV series Babylon 5 is named in honor of this book's author.
Re: Demolished Man
May 23 2010, 04:49:46 UTC 7 years ago
That's the one. And the telepaths have a code of conduct similar to Asimov's laws of robotics, such that they're not allowed to read minds without permission. Wouldn't be much of a detective story if they could just instant scan all the suspects. And one of their most lucrative and respected jobs is that of therapist.
I'm surprised Bester wasn't ranked up there with Asimov himself.