What is the most under rated book youve read?

[Travis haselton]

I have read books and seen movies that totaly surpassed my expectations. What is it for you guys?

[NogDog]

Insofar as I seem to be the lone (vocal) Roger Zelazny fanatic here, I'll say anything by Zelazny outside of Lord of Light, which is generally the one book of his that does get much mention anywhere.

*sigh*...Now if I could just get his estate or whoever owns his copyrights to get his stuff on Kindle. 

[sal]

Insofar as I seem to be the lone (vocal) Roger Zelazny fanatic here, I'll say anything by Zelazny outside of Lord of Light, which is generally the one book of his that does get much mention anywhere.

*sigh*...Now if I could just get his estate or whoever owns his copyrights to get his stuff on Kindle. 

Oh, I'm a HUGE Zelazny fan. So you are not alone. To name one of those "anythings" I would say: To Die In Italbar.
I think most people have heard of his Amber series as well.

Sal

[M.R. Mathias]

Insofar as I seem to be the lone (vocal) Roger Zelazny fanatic here, I'll say anything by Zelazny outside of Lord of Light, which is generally the one book of his that does get much mention anywhere.

*sigh*...Now if I could just get his estate or whoever owns his copyrights to get his stuff on Kindle. 

The Deeds of Paksinarian   I dont remeber by who, but its a weird fantasy read that turned out pretty good!

[NogDog]

Oh, I'm a HUGE Zelazny fan. So you are not alone. To name one of those "anythings" I would say: To Die In Italbar.
I think most people have heard of his Amber series as well.

Sal

All right: a band of two (and growing, hopefully).

I'd even say that his Amber books are under-rated to some degree, as many throw them off as "light" or "fluff" compared to Lord of Light or his more "serious" works, but I think the first Amber series is an amazing piece of work, even if it does have a somewhat light or familiar feel due to Corwin's first-person voice -- a great part of their appeal, for me.

[Daniel Arenson]

Insofar as I seem to be the lone (vocal) Roger Zelazny fanatic here, I'll say anything by Zelazny outside of Lord of Light, which is generally the one book of his that does get much mention anywhere.

*sigh*...Now if I could just get his estate or whoever owns his copyrights to get his stuff on Kindle. 

Roger Zelazny is possibly my favourite author.

[foreverjuly]

Is this thread about books that deserve more recognition or ones that surprised us with how much we liked the? The OP confused me.

Jane Austen's book. I never thought I would get into them, but they were great.

A Room of One's Own.

King Henry IV -- I love Falstaff.

Harry Potter -- I was basically forced to read it, and I'm so glad I did!

[Neo]

The Deeds of Paksinarian   I dont remeber by who, but its a weird fantasy read that turned out pretty good!

The Deed of Paksenarrion is by Elizabeth Moon, and it's actually becoming a fantasy classic (almost)  . It is also a big favorite of mine  .

For those interested, it's actually available for Kindle on the webscription website of baen.

[NogDog]

Roger Zelazny is possibly my favourite author.

Three! Maybe then it's just his lack of enKindling that has left him "underrated" here.

[T.L. Haddix]

If it is about books we think should be read more - I nominate anything by Sarah Addison Allen.  She has three books out, and oh, man alive, they are good. 

If this is about books that surprised us?  Probably The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I didn't expect it to be as good as it was.  That book rocked. 

[tbrookside]

For popular fiction:

I was surprised by how good Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead was.  It's pretty much ignored among his books and it's the best one.

For literary fiction:

I think John Gardner's Grendel is one of the great achievements of 20th century literature and I wish it was better known and more widely appreciated.

[TWErvin2]

Insofar as I seem to be the lone (vocal) Roger Zelazny fanatic here, I'll say anything by Zelazny outside of Lord of Light, which is generally the one book of his that does get much mention anywhere.

*sigh*...Now if I could just get his estate or whoever owns his copyrights to get his stuff on Kindle. 

I'm another Zelazny fan. I guess I don't tout him all the time here, but in just about every interview I do and occasionally on my blog.

I think the best works would be those of his Amber Series (the audio version), especially the first five where he read them. The Night of the Lonesome October as well.  I've very much enjoyed reading and rereading both Creatures of Light and Darkness and Lord of Light as well.

[NogDog]

I'm another Zelazny fan. I guess I don't tout him all the time here, but in just about every interview I do and occasionally on my blog.

I think the best works would be those of his Amber Series (the audio version), especially the first five where he read them. The Night of the Lonesome October as well.  I've very much enjoyed reading and rereading both Creatures of Light and Darkness and Lord of Light as well.

w00t! It's now an official groundswell of fandom. (I'm just glad to see it's not another case of me marching to the beat of a different drummer.) Maybe I'll have to start another thread to mobilize the enKindling of Zelazny.

[Neo]

w00t! It's now an official groundswell of fandom. (I'm just glad to see it's not another case of me marching to the beat of a different drummer.) Maybe I'll have to start another thread to mobilize the enKindling of Zelazny.

Please do!!!! I would love to discover him, but have sadly become a Kindle snob 

[TWErvin2]

w00t! It's now an official groundswell of fandom. (I'm just glad to see it's not another case of me marching to the beat of a different drummer.) Maybe I'll have to start another thread to mobilize the enKindling of Zelazny.

Yep, you called us out of the woodwork.

[JL Bryan]

I haven't read any Zelazny.  Now I'll have to.  From this thread, he sounds very underrated!

I had the same thing with Harry Potter.  Read it because it was available in a boring situation.  Now I've read several of them!  Just didn't expect to like it so much.

Jeff

[purplepen79]

I vote for Zelazny--great, great series.  I've never read fantasy quite like it--the main character Corwin is far from innocent, cunning, at times ruthless, and I love him.  And the blending of our world and Amber is brilliant, a fictional study in the physics of parallel universes.  I know someone who named her son Corwin after the Zelazny character, she enjoyed the books so much. 

[NogDog]

I vote for Zelazny--great, great series.  I've never read fantasy quite like it--the main character Corwin is far from innocent, cunning, at times ruthless, and I love him.  And the blending of our world and Amber is brilliant, a fictional study in the physics of parallel universes.  I know someone who named her son Corwin after the Zelazny character, she enjoyed the books so much. 

Not that I want to hijack this into a Zelazny thread, but . . .

One of the many things I love about his writing is the way his stories often balance on the fence between fantasy and science fiction. Even with the Amber series, which are among his more fantasy-oriented works, there is a sci-fi element and a sort of scientific logic to the fantastic elements. I sometimes wonder if this cross-genre aspect ever prevented some readers who prefer one or the other genre from really embracing his books. (It's not as if he were a starving artist, mind you, just not quite as popular as I think he deserved, in my totally unbiased opinion. )

[Travis haselton]

Don't worry about hijacking the thread. It is all about fun right?

[caseyf6]

   I'd still like a clarification on whether this is about books you didn't want to read, but loved; or books you loved/read that no one else seems to know exists.

Thanks. 

[Ann in Arlington]

casey:  Yes 

[purplepen79]

One of the many things I love about his writing is the way his stories often balance on the fence between fantasy and science fiction. Even with the Amber series, which are among his more fantasy-oriented works, there is a sci-fi element and a sort of scientific logic to the fantastic elements. I sometimes wonder if this cross-genre aspect ever prevented some readers who prefer one or the other genre from really embracing his books.

Never thought about his books quite like that before, but you're right--they do blend sci-fi and fantasy extremely well.  Just to keep with the underrated theme, your comment reminds me of another author Joan Vinge, who wrote The Snow Queen, The Summer Queen, and several other titles that combine sci fi and fantasy well (they probably weigh more on the sci fi side but The Snow Queen is based on Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale by the same name, so there's definitely a fantasy element to that story in particular, imo).  I think her works are underrated for perhaps the same reason you mention for Zelazny--they don't fit neatly into one genre box or the other.

[sibelhodge]

I think Thomas H Cook is a fantastic mystery writer, but when I tried to get hold of his books, I had such a hard time. I presumed because he was underrated and not many people stocked them.