After reading the "overrated books", I just had to start this topic (even if it's been done a million times, I haven't shared MY favorites).
The Beautiful and the Damned: Great Gatsby for Grownups.
David Copperfield: No, not the magician (is that why this is probably the least read Dickens?)
Three Musketeers Series: Fantastic adventure. Truly the birth of the modern novel.
Les Miserables: One of the greatest books about redemption ever inked.
Count of Monte Cristo: Don't see the movie. Like the Musketeers books it's NOTHING alike.
For Us the Living: One of Heinlein's best.
Sherlock Holmes: Seriously. Nearly all of it.
The Sun Also Rises: MUCH better than For Whom the Bell Tolls. Bullfighting rules.
His Dark Materials Series: If you haven't read it. . . .
The Abhorsen Trilogy: Again, if you haven't read it. . . .
The Fountainhead: The proper version of Atlas Shrugged . . . without all the nonsense.
Harry Potter: Had to throw in a joke somewhere, didn't I? Harry Dresden is a FAR greater wizard.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
Those are underrated? Clearly something is wrong with your rating system.
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
Many of them are. A few are just personal favorites. I mean, Beautiful and the Damned is only four stars on Amazon . . . but look at Twilight and Harry Potter's scores.
It's the same reason that "Everybody Loves Raymond". I sir, certainly do not love him. I don't even like him.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
If you use the Amazon average user rating as your rating system, then yes, there is something wrong with your rating system.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
The thing I think Herblay is trying to say is that these aren't talked about all the time. That said The Sun Also Rises shouldn't be on that list, I don't know many who do not praise that book but it is very good.
I agree about Sherlock Holmes though, more people need to read those books.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
The Fountainhead? Sorry, you lost me right there. lol
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
Perhaps a better way to look a this thread would be as a place to talk about those books you discovered on your own and happen to love, even though you have never heard of anybody else who has read them.
Go and Come Back by Joan Abelove; a really charming little book about a girl living in a Peruvian village that is visited by two American scientists. It's all about how your culture shapes how you view the world and how you act. It's about looking at yourself objectively and seeing how others see you. I adore it and have read it several times, although I never would have heard of it if I had not randomly picked it up at the library. Highly recommended!
Also: Four stars on Amazon is not that bad of a score...
Also also: Harry Potter is one of the greatest works of literature of our time, and you know it.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
My choices would be these four by Nevil Shute: Round the Bend Pied Piper Trustee from the Toolroom No Highway
Also one by Mark Salzman: The Laughing Sutra
Posted by beleaguered (Member # 11983) on :
I would like to make a suggestion to all you book lovers out there (I'm assuming everyone in this forum, since without a love of at least some books you wouldn't know anything about Hatrack).
This site is an incredibly easy way for book lovers to organize the books they've read. They have just about every book published- go ahead and test them. I'm on there, with most of my friends and family. They list books I can remember that I've read (an enormous database to choose from), books I have on my shelf and plan to read, and books I'm reading. I also use the site to write my own book reviews, or read other's reviews. I can post my writings, poetry, essays, novels if I'd like- and allow others to read them and give their critique. As for book ratings- well I trust the ratings found on Good Reads Way more than any found on Amazon- for one thing they have greater numbers who have voted, and for another, those involved in the site are book lovers who typically understand literature. Please give it a chance and let me know what you think.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Three Musketeers Series: Fantastic adventure. Truly the birth of the modern novel.
The Three Musketeers was more than twice as long as it should have been.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I like a lot of those books, but I'm not sure if they are really underrated or not. I think Les Miserables could have been 200-300 pages shorter and would have been just as good if not better. But it's still pretty decent.
Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books, but I think it's already fairly highly rated.
Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :
quote:Originally posted by Herblay: The Beautiful and the Damned: Great Gatsby for Grownups. .... Three Musketeers Series: Fantastic adventure. Truly the birth of the modern novel.
You know, it says something that I read Brideshead Revisited (before knowing the movie was coming out, mind) and thought, 'This is akin to The Beautiful and the Damned, only it takes place in Europe (mostly Britain).' The Beautiful and the Damned definitely made an impact.
I agree, it's fantastic adventure. It also made me laugh at times due to the impetuous nature of many of the characters' actions.
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
Why are Amazon ratings "wrong"? The common man elected Barack after all, so his views on books should be worth something...
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
"As for book ratings- well I trust the ratings found on Good Reads Way more than any found on Amazon- for one thing they have greater numbers who have voted, and for another, those involved in the site are book lovers who typically understand literature. Please give it a chance and let me know what you think."
I kind of found it funny that the "best books ever" list on goodreads has this top ten: 1. To Kill a Mockingbird 2. The Book of Mormon 3. Pride and Predudice 4. Twilight 5. The Lord of the Rings 6. The Bible 7. Jane Eyre 8. 1984 9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 10. The Catcher in the Rye
I like all of them!
Posted by lobo (Member # 1761) on :
Oh, and Ender's Game is #19
Posted by beleaguered (Member # 11983) on :
www.Goodreads.com is great! They are right on about all their ratings, from what I've noticed.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
Twilight ahead of Harry Potter? Never.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tara: Twilight ahead of Harry Potter? Never.
Twilight before the other 6 on the list? Never.
Also I think TailChasers's song shouldd be on the grossly underrated books list, as the only person other than myself I know who has read it is my brother.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Animorphs. Okay, they're cheesy and written for kids. Some of the ghost-written volumes are truly dreadful. That said, amid all the silly jokes and garish covers, there's a surprisingly mature story about painful consequences, hard decisions, having to grow up too fast, loneliness, and slavery.
They remain a guilty pleasure, but usually a private one because it's even harder to make them sound cool than it is for Ender's Game. Especially when they see the covers.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
Heh. My son loved those books ... last year, when he was 10.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
IMO, For Whom the Bell Tolls > The Sun Also Rises. Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Eaquae Legit: Animorphs. Okay, they're cheesy and written for kids. Some of the ghost-written volumes are truly dreadful. That said, amid all the silly jokes and garish covers, there's a surprisingly mature story about painful consequences, hard decisions, having to grow up too fast, loneliness, and slavery.
They remain a guilty pleasure, but usually a private one because it's even harder to make them sound cool than it is for Ender's Game. Especially when they see the covers.
I enjoyed those books as a kid, but they were more of my brother's forte. I preferred Remnants, though I barely remember the plot these days.
ETA: I do remember the freaky baby though.
Posted by daventor (Member # 11981) on :
Ah, Animorphs. I used to devour those books month by month by month. The funny thing is I read like the first fifty, and then stopped reading them, just as the series was finally winding down, so I never really got to the conclusion.
Anyhoot, I would nominate "Till We Have Faces," by CS Lewis. I discovered it on the library bookshelf while looking at Lewis's other stuff, but I don't think I actually picked it up to read till I read Orson Scott Card calling it the best work of fiction Lewis ever wrote. It's definitely my favorite out of what I've read of him (not really a whole lot: the first two Narnia books, The Screwtape Letters, a bit of Mere Christianity). It's a retelling of a Greek Myth that really doesn't have any obvious Christian overtones or symbolism like his other stuff. To me it was a very powerful, semi-tragic look at how we can mistake our selfishness, jealousy, and possessiveness for love and hurt those we care about and how very wrong our narrow perspective of people and life can be.
"The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux. I actually do love the Weber musical and like the movie of it, but even while those are more faithful to the original story than some of the old horror-movie adaptations of it I've seen, they still divert a lot from the original material (the Phantom is not a drop-dead gorgeous guy with just one half of his face deformed; he's supposed to look like a walking corpse) and don't have a lot of the most brilliant, creepy moments of the book.
Really, a lot of fantasy and scifi could be considered underrated as far as the academic circles are concerned. Would that we read a lot more books in high school that were actually fun, inspiring, and imaginative instead of slow-paced, depressing stories about immoral, psychologically unstable, or just plain shallow people (actually I did like a good bit of my assigned reading in high school and am grateful that I did have to read books outside of my regular field of interest and be exposed to different styles, but still I really don't think a lot of the books I read would qualify as the kind of stuff that makes kids actually want to read or influences them to become better citizens).
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Told you they were underrated. Even silly kid's books can be underrated. They're not Serious Literature, but they deserve better than they normally get.
daventor, if you can find a copy, try and listen to the Canadian Cast Recording of the Phantom. I swear, Colm Wilkinson may have actually read the book. Gasp! The other voices are passable, but Wilkinson astonishes me every time.
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Even silly kid's books can be underrated. They're not Serious Literature, but they deserve better than they normally get.