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 it. I found it in a load of old Penguin books in the loft when my parents moved house. I remember choosing it because of the odd title, and sitting on the stairs to read it. I also remember enjoying it, but can't recall the story at all. I think it was about a young woman who didn't think much of herself spreading her wings. Is that right? ( It's almost 40 years since I read it)

One of my favourite books

I hated that book. My mum loved it and kept trying to read it with me but I found it so depressing.

I remember the domestic mysteries one, I think. Was it a mixture of boys and girls, with the leader called McGurk and one of the girls called Wanda?

Night World Series written by Lisa Smith (author of Vampire Diaries that the tv show was based on). YA adult series that I LOVED. Was a 10 book series, all culminating in the tenth book as the finale…but it was announced but never written. You could order it in bookshops (Amazon not around at the time) and I would get so excited… but it would never come. Eventually announced that it was never published, but I tried for years lol

Sort of yes, it’s about a young American woman living in Paris.

Yes, thank you. McGurk definitely, I think there was a token girl, I don't remember her name but I'm willing to bet she was a tomboy, and a lad with a long nose 🤥 with one or two others.

How lovely to read this post. Jessica, Rosalind, Sophie and cousin Isobel - totally agree regarding her characterisation of not fitting in. I want to find it now - long since vanished.

Jane’s adventures in and out of the book? So odd in retrospect.

I'm not sure how I missed this thread. I've read some (but by no means all) of the books listed. I'll have a read back over the next few days and reference the ones I've read. And of course, I'm mentally adding lots of books to my 'To re-read' list. Although, sadly, I'm sure some are out of print now.

I've read some of Monica Dickens' books (maybe two or three?) but it was well over 30 years ago and I'm a bit hazy on the storylines. The only one that stands out was 'The Listeners' which was based around some people volunteering with The Samaritans and the phone calls they received. I've just googled the author and I see that she wrote quite a number of books between the 1930s and 1970s.

Malcolm Saville's books were around when I was at peak reading age (8 - 13 or so), but for some reason I wasn't drawn to them. However, I read one of them which was set in London. Google tells me it was probably 'Lone Pine London'. IIrc, one of the characters went to a football match in London and got lost in the fog. I can't remember much about it, but I did quite like it, and it struck me as more contemporary than the Famous Five or Secret Seven. I could picture my older brother going to a football match and making his way home afterwards. I've discovered that there's a Malcolm Saville Society, if you'd like to check it out.

Counting in Danish by Celia Berggreen.
Celia was a very dear friend of mine and died before her first book was published. I know I’m biased but I really loved it.

Great thread - read a few (including The Dud Avocado) and noted a few to read.

Apart from my father, who recommended them, I've never met anyone in real life who has read Gavin Lyall (thrillers/spy) or Ross Thomas (hilarious crime/thrillers) novels.

@Pianoaholic , yes i enjoyed Monica Dickens semi autobiographical books such as the one about her student nursing days (One Pair of Feet?) and one about being a junior reporter i think (My Turn to make the Tea?). Funny and relatable. I liked them better than her novels.

I've read 'The Secret River'. It was an interesting book, but obviously a difficult read because of the subject matter.

So many books have been mentioned that I've loved! A few more of my childhood favourites that don't seem to have been widely read:

Lots of Margaret Mahy, particularly the Pirate Uncle and the Great Piratical Rumbustification.

A Book of Princesses - I think edited by Sally Patrick Johnson, its a collection of 12 or so fairy stories from around the world, all containing at least one princess. It had some great writers, Oscar Wilde, Walter de La Mere & I read it over and over. I was particularly fond of A Light Princess and The Long Nosed Princess.

Snowfall by KM Peyton. Victorian mountaineering, avalanches, forbidden loves and heartbreak... perfect for dreamy 12 year olds to get lost in.

I don't remember Snowfall, and I thought I'd read almost everything by KM Peyton. I might have to look online after payday...

I had a book of Princesses, and also a Book of Princes, I think.

My favourite Margaret Mahy is the Changeover.

The Sparks series of books at junior school. No one else remembers these at all.

Also Wide Range Readers, but have seen these and the choose your own adventure books, which I saw a crime solving one in Waterstones this week.

@SilverShadowNight Wide Range rings a bell with me. I had them in junior school in the mid 70's.

Did anyone read Eleanor Farjeon as a child? We had 'The Tale of Tom Tiddler at home and I had several books of her short stories from the library.

Yes I loved The Little Bookroom.
Such beautiful little stories. I particularly remember one called San Fairy Ann

Was she a poet too? I'm thinking Cats Sleep Anywhere but might be getting confused.

No, you're right. Cats Sleep Anywhere is hers.

Yes, she was. There were a few of her poems in my Children’s Treasury of Verse.