Books you thought no one else has read

[tweetysylvester]

It's so fun to find rare books to read, or just look up or hear about less known books, so thought I'd start a thread about this. Nostalgic novels, YA books, current titles you discovered very randomly...

I read, and loved Girl of the Limberlost, didn't know there was a second one though. Lovely story.

@MoreGuineaHyggaeI loved Mistress Masham’s Repose! Wasn’t her guardian called Mr Hater? Fabulous book. Lilliputians.

Jessica on her Own - I think this was about three sisters, Sophie was younger and Rosalind was older; their cousin Isobel’s parents were killed and she came to stay with them all. Jessica was on her own until then.

@Pianoaholiclove all Monica Dickens but my favourite is No More Meadows.

also loved Lone Pine Five, Sue Barton, Rebecca’s World (especially the bad habits).

I read that - and loved it!

I also loved Monica Dickens and still love John Wyndham books. I also used to re-read A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge, it was part of a trilogy but I think I only had that book. I must see if I can get the others.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius
Thank you.

Yes - "Sour Sweet" - I forgot to quote the post that referred to it!

Because they’re unreadable!

I’ve read all of these. I love ‘Mariana’ but feel the others haven’t aged that well.

Oh, I’ve read it, and a couple of her other novels (Abigail and Something Street?) — I thought it was astonishing! I must look for more work of hers…

Read loads of Somerset Maugham as a teenager! The RSC have got a Maugham coming up this season.

Loved Limberlost!

I adore LMB. My favourites are the Sharing Knife series, but I also love Penric and Desdemona.

I've got all her fiction books on Kindle. You can download them for free from fadedpage.com

I loved Iza’s Ballad!

Yes, Maria’s evil guardian in Mistress Masham’s Repose was called Mr Hater. He was the Vicar. The house Maria lived in , Malplaquet ( obviously based on Blenheim) was so enormous she used to ride a bicycle to get about inside.

Another forgotten book by TH White is The Master, about a criminal mastermind who has built a lair inside Rockall. He kidnaps two children who inadvertently stumble across his hideout after a sailing accident. It’s very exciting.

I have. Also the Melendy series.

@pleasedonotfeedme , @pollyhemlock and I have bumped into each other on book threads and recognised our excellent taste in appreciating the one and only Diana Wynne Jones before!

For anyone who doesn’t know and is curious, my MN name is a nod to Charmed Life and pollyhemlock’s is one to Fire and Hemlock, and they are both wonderful stories and could only have been written by DWJ.

@pollyhemlock As well as Penny’s Way by Mary K Harris, I also have Jessica On Her Own, and Emily and the Headmistress. I did have The Bus Girls but, unfortunately, it seems to have vanished in a house move. I enjoyed all of them but Penny’s Way is something special. The terrifying form mistress, the spiteful best friend, the panicky muddle of a page of incomprehensible maths homework are all so real, and Penny, well-intentioned and the family’s academic disappointment, is very a likeable character.

For Swish of the Curtain fans some kind person has uploaded a super BBC radio adaptation of it and the sequel Golden Pavements to YouTube. I thoroughly recommend them.

Anyone remember and love Cynthia Harnett? The Wool Pack, Ring Out Bow Bells, The Load of Unicorn, The Great House, The Writing on the Hearth, Stars of Fortune. They were a fascinating introduction to periods of English history I never knew existed as a child when the school curriculum seemed firmly wedded to the Tudors. They are so well researched reading them felt like stepping into other and very different worlds.

Second one is House of Stairs. Invitation To the Game was by Monica Hughes.

Ohh yes - I remember the Cynthia Harnett books!

I am reading this thread and adding more and more to the list of books I want to get for my granddaughters - one nearly three and newborn twins (not so stealth) boast.

@CatChant Indeed DWJ is incomparable. Such an original writer. I always find it difficult to name a favourite of hers but probably Fire and Hemlock just edges it. I do love Chrestomanci though.

William Sleator definitely deserves to be better known. My favourite of his is Interstellar Pig, which was still genuinely terrifying when I reread it as an adult. The Green Futures of Tycho is also excellent.

A Candle in her Room? 😀

@bookworm14 I have just this moment discovered that there is a sequel to Interstellar Pig called Parasite Pig, published about 20 years after the original. Can’t believe it’s as good.

@helibirdcomp I love Stig of the Dump and buy it for all the children in my family.
Lovely book.

Ohh yes - I remember the Cynthia Harnett books!

She illustrated them herself too, didn't she?

A book I loved as a child and had repeatedly from the library, was A Child's Day Through the Ages. As the title suggests, each chapter was a day in the life of a child at different periods in history, up to the Edwardian period.

I found a copy in a charity shop some years ago and was quite disappointed on re-readinng - it was obviously intended to instruct, rather than entertain. I kept it, though.

I also loved The House of Arden, one of E Nesbit's lesser known works. It was originally a magazine serial, and on reading as an adult it shows. Do still love it, though.