Books you've read and loved that we probably haven't heard of

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Semi-inspired by the best/worst book threads that are going at the moment - I've seen the names of several bestsellers mentioned a lot, but I was wondering whether anyone has any books that they've really enjoyed that aren't as (or at all) well-known. I'd be interested in recommendations for anything I wouldn't otherwise have heard of, and plus it's always nice to see good authors getting a bit more recognition.

One I can think of off the top of my head is The Flight of Lucy Spoon, by Maggie Gibson - I picked up a second-hand copy for free somewhere expecting generic chick lit, and was surprised to find it was genuinely hilarious in a very British-feeling, tongue-in-cheek-silly way (even though it's Irish). It was just a very likeable book, full of oddities that were actually original and heartwarming rather than self-consciously 'look at me I'm so quirky' in that way that all those Ladies' Blah Blah Society books are.

I also loved Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede - I must have read it when I was about ten, but a glance through the Amazon preview suggests that I'd probably still love it now. I've forgotten the exact story but the basic premise is a tomboyish princess who escapes an arranged marriage by running away to live with dragons - it's another very funny and well-written book that's not centred around romance, with a clever and independent heroine who has to spend half her time convincing knights in shining armour to leave her alone and stop trying to 'rescue' her I really want to read it again now actually, I might have to buy it!

If anyone has any recommendations of their own to contribute then I'd love to hear them...

Touched by Carolyn Haines. It's about a girl who gets struck by lightning and begins to have visions. But that's only a tiny part of it. It's a great book and I try to force it on loan it to anyone I can.

The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. Sophie's World is very well known, but I think this book is way better.

South Riding by Winifred Holtby, published posthumously in the mid 30s. Possibly my favourite book ever. It's been adapted for TV at least twice and also serialised on the radio, probably several times. However, it's probably not much read, and it really is a fantastic read - long, involving, pacy, very well written, not heavy going at all.

What I particularly love about it is that she has a huge cast of characters and they're all beautifully realised - all flawed to a greater or lesser extent, but no one is without any redeeming features. As we move through the story, we see what's going on from lots of different points of view, and that's handled really well too. You see character X from Y's point of view and it adds a lot to what we already know about Y from his/her own POV chapters. It's not a romance but there is a love affair of a kind at the heart of the story.

It would probably be my Desert Island book.

I'm definitely going to buy the Dunsanay book. I've only read The King Of Elfland's Daughter by him and I really liked it.

Would add another by Patricia C Wrede - Snow White and Rose Red.

A little list if that's okay:

Tanith Lee - Louisa The Poisoner
Jane Yolen - Briar Rose and Dove Isabeau
Patrcia McKillip - Winter Rose and The Changeling Sea
Ellen Kushner - Thomas The Rhymer
Marion Bradley - The Gratitude Of Kings
Saron Shinn - The Shape-Changer's Wife
Sheri Tepper - Gibbon's Decline And Fall
Mercedes Lackey - The Black Swan
Natalie Angier - Woman
Kij Johnson - The Fox Wife
Pamela Ball - Lava
Louise Erdrich - The Antelope Wife
Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow - Year's Best Fantast And Horror anthologies

I almost wish I hadn't read these books so I could have the delight of reading them again for the first time.

Creature Comforts by Sylvia Fenton (autobiographical and very funny)

The Ill Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton

The Bone Pedlar by Sylvian Hamilton

Dreadful Skin by Cherie Priest

The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill

Anything by Barbara Pym is v good

The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly

Man and Boy by Tony Parsons

Totally different genres published devades apart, not sure on general popularity but most of the avid readers I know hadn't heard of either of them.

twos company threes a crowd by Sue Haasler. I'm going to become a stepmother myself soon so it really struck a chord and I loved it.

The pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck. It's one of his lesser known books and I'm not sure why as it's beautifully written. It's a set of interconnecting stories about the inhabitants of a valley in California, I love the way the stories weave together, and as always with Steinbeck, the descriptions of the characters and landscape are peerless.

Uttermost Part of the Earth by Lucas E Bridges. Picked this up in a charity shop and it's an extraordinary memoir of the authors childhood growing up with the lost tribes of Tierra del Fuego. At the end of the book, he goes to fight in WW1, and on his return finds that all the tribes have been wiped out (by persecution and disease). Truly a glimpse into a lost world.

No Talking After Lights by Angela Lambert. It's a girls' boarding school story, but written for adults. More about loneliness, anger, frustration - emotions, in other words - than events. And she captures those emotions incredibly well.

Hens Dancing, Summertime, and one other whose title I can't remember, by Rafaella Barker. Definitely chick-lit, but so lovely. Light and funny, and, quite frankly, I want to be her (the narrator).

Mistress of the art of death by Ariana Franklin. Its about a medieval female "doctor of the dead" sort of early pathologist. Really good.. there are 4 books in the series.

The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin is a wonderful story well told. It tells the story of a girl born in 1900, growing up in Berlin and living through the wars and beyond. It's a rich book that you just get lost in.

I sought out another book by the same author, The Songwriter which was also very enjoyable. This was set in New York.

She is brilliant at capturing the essence of the era and the location.

He died with a falafel in his hand - I second this. So funny.

Also Man and Boy by Tony Parsons

I enjoyed reading the Falconcrest or was it Falconhurst chronicles when I was a young teen. It was set on a plantation in the deep south during the slave trade era.

Fair stood the wind for France by H.E. Bates. A school text but the only reading book I remember from school days.

To Serve them All my Days by, um, can't remember it was the book that the t.v. show was based on.

I love Walter Moers' books, except his most recent book which even he says is crap - because he ran out of time to write it! The 13 and a half lives of Captain Blue bear is fab. It's probably classed as a YA book.

Two wings of a Nightingale - Jill Worrall - captures her journey through Iran and is absolutely fascinating.

Persian Girls - Nahid Rachlin which is also set in Iran which is a complete coincidence (both bought used from different NT book shops so very random).

I read a book once called 'The sex life of my aunt'. Can't remember the author but it's one of those books where nothing really happens but you can't put it down. A holiday read, but a good one.

Can I recommend The Island by Victoria Hislop about the Spinalonga island in Crete, I've read it a few times I love it so much and I've been on a tour around Spinglonga which was incredible

All of the Patricia Wrede books! I've set them aside for DD when she's old enough. In a similar vein, no one seems to have heard of Tamora Pierce.

I don't tend to like adult best sellers, especially prize winning ones. I was in a book group and we all agreed most of the prize winners were too busy being clever to remember their readers wanted entertaining too.

Though it was interesting looking for the dodgy sex scene in all of them. There always seems to be one.

Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner. Am excellent antidote for an overdose of Tolkien.

Encounter with Tiber. Co-written by Buzz Aldrin.

BauerTime it was Mavis Cheek. I have that in my bookcase and remember not being able to put it down but can't remember what happened other than that I don't think there was ever an aunt around

Am keeping this thread and will definitely follow up some of these suggestions!

My own contributions
Last Days of Dogtown and The Red Tent, both by Anita Diamont
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker. It's a fantasy book, which is not usually my cup of tea, but I came across it by accident and really enjoyed it. Would be a great holiday read.

When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant. I've lived in Tel Aviv and her writing about the city is so evocative.

The Bread of Those Early Years by Heinrich Boll. What life was like in post war Germany for ordinary people.

The Call of the Toad by Gunter Grass. Shorter and less gruelling than most of his other books, set in modern day Gdansk.

Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved, an amazing book, beautifully told.