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This is an alternative to the popular "Best Books Ever" list, focusing on the most obscure books. Here's the rule: add any book--in any genre--so long as it has fewer than 1,000 ratings on Goodreads.

Before you add a book, please take a moment to look it up to ensure it meets the parameters for this list.

You can find the number of every book's Goodreads ratings under "book data" in the first line of the box containing the book's editorial data.

There is another list for Moderately Underrated Books (1,000 - 10,000 GRs ratings).

And for those who are feeling crowded even on this list, here are a few lists designed to give a home to even more undeservedly obscure books:
REALLY Seriously Underrated Books (100 to 500 GR ratings).
REALLY Really Underrated Books (fewer than 100 GR ratings)
Super Underrated Books (fewer than 50 GR ratings)
Ridiculously Underrated Books (fewer than 20 GR ratings)
Really Underrated Children's Books (children's books with fewer than 100 GR ratings).
Just One Rating

Alternatively, see lists of books with the most ratings.
You might also want to check out obscure books worth considering: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
1

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3.35 avg rating — 482 ratings
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 25 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 800 ratings
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3.98 avg rating — 587 ratings
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3.79 avg rating — 85 ratings
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3.68 avg rating — 624 ratings
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3.75 avg rating — 444 ratings
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4.06 avg rating — 813 ratings
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22

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4.03 avg rating — 592 ratings
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4.27 avg rating — 546 ratings
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3.65 avg rating — 587 ratings
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25

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3.97 avg rating — 927 ratings
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25

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4.27 avg rating — 11 ratings
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27

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3.88 avg rating — 687 ratings
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28

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4.22 avg rating — 225 ratings
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28

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3.87 avg rating — 899 ratings
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30

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3.54 avg rating — 865 ratings
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31

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4.25 avg rating — 155 ratings
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32

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4.02 avg rating — 478 ratings
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33

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3.89 avg rating — 935 ratings
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34

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4.09 avg rating — 409 ratings
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35

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3.83 avg rating — 277 ratings
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36

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4.04 avg rating — 568 ratings
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36

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3.91 avg rating — 35 ratings
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38

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4.18 avg rating — 181 ratings
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39

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4.58 avg rating — 568 ratings
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39

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3.64 avg rating — 949 ratings
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41

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4.31 avg rating — 798 ratings
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42

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3.76 avg rating — 938 ratings
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43

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3.87 avg rating — 561 ratings
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44

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3.96 avg rating — 880 ratings
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45

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3.98 avg rating — 395 ratings
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46

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4.16 avg rating — 976 ratings
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47

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4.16 avg rating — 419 ratings
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48

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3.52 avg rating — 219 ratings
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49

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3.74 avg rating — 47 ratings
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49

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3.88 avg rating — 968 ratings
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49

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4.23 avg rating — 340 ratings
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52

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3.89 avg rating — 38 ratings
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53

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4.01 avg rating — 911 ratings
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54

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3.85 avg rating — 247 ratings
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55

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4.11 avg rating — 561 ratings
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55

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4.28 avg rating — 611 ratings
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57

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3.95 avg rating — 400 ratings
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57

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4.04 avg rating — 26 ratings
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57

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4.36 avg rating — 28 ratings
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57

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3.95 avg rating — 842 ratings
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57

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4.25 avg rating — 20 ratings
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57

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4.28 avg rating — 228 ratings
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63

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3.17 avg rating — 489 ratings
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63

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4.11 avg rating — 88 ratings
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63

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 11 ratings
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63

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4.16 avg rating — 44 ratings
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67

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3.32 avg rating — 125 ratings
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67

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3.90 avg rating — 926 ratings
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67

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4.69 avg rating — 13 ratings
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70

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3.88 avg rating — 139 ratings
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71

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3.79 avg rating — 749 ratings
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72

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3.85 avg rating — 531 ratings
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72

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4.18 avg rating — 17 ratings
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72

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4.07 avg rating — 931 ratings
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75

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3.49 avg rating — 608 ratings
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76

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3.61 avg rating — 57 ratings
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76

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3.65 avg rating — 270 ratings
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76

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 6 ratings
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4.87 avg rating — 38 ratings
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80

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3.63 avg rating — 249 ratings
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80

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3.92 avg rating — 63 ratings
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82

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4.23 avg rating — 100 ratings
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83

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3.91 avg rating — 234 ratings
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83

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 77 ratings
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83

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4.28 avg rating — 430 ratings
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86

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4.01 avg rating — 794 ratings
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86

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4.26 avg rating — 27 ratings
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88

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3.76 avg rating — 446 ratings
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88

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3.73 avg rating — 278 ratings
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90

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4.20 avg rating — 127 ratings
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90

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3.78 avg rating — 342 ratings
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92

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3.85 avg rating — 640 ratings
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92

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3.46 avg rating — 795 ratings
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92

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3.92 avg rating — 777 ratings
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95

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4.39 avg rating — 411 ratings
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96

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3.72 avg rating — 825 ratings
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96

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3.89 avg rating — 444 ratings
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96

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4.07 avg rating — 681 ratings
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99

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4.08 avg rating — 284 ratings
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99

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4.36 avg rating — 176 ratings
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3,226 books · 804 voters · list created July 8th, 2009 by John Burns (votes) .
298 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


John 873 books
52 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
848 friends
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Bettie 15686 books
19 friends
Ronan Noane 1600 books
94 friends
Phillip 5382 books
138 friends
Beth 1338 books
613 friends
Eva 53 books
16 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 474 (474 new)


message 2: by John (new)

John Burns Stuart wrote: "Added The Road to Wigan Pier, I, Claudius From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered & Deified A.D. 54, A Fortunate Life and [book..."

I claudius has too many ratings. It belongs (and already is) in the other list. http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/24...
All quiet on the western front has WAAAAY too many ratings. Its too popular for either list. Sorry if this method seems a bit strict and uptight but its the only way to determine which are the genuinely obscure books out there and a book like AQOTWF has way too much of an advantage over all these obscure books.


message 3: by Stuart (new)

Stuart Sorry, I was looking at the reviews value rather than the ratings value.


message 4: by John (last edited Jul 10, 2009 05:26AM) (new)

John Burns Thanks you guys who voted for shadow of the wind. Way to completely ignore the one premise of this list.

DELETED!


message 6: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 ratings" not less than.


message 7: by Stuart (new)

Stuart Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 ratings" not less than."


Did you add any books, or did you just drop by to complain?


message 8: by John (last edited Aug 03, 2009 04:01AM) (new)

John Burns Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 ratings" not less than."


Apostrophe & "less than" duly deleted.

Happy now?


message 9: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Stuart wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 ratings" not less tha..."


I did add books, although if I wanted drop by just to complain I'd feel free to. Punctuation is that important!


message 10: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Killthepopular wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 ratings" not less tha..."


Very happy.


message 11: by Stuart (last edited Aug 04, 2009 04:22AM) (new)

Stuart Lobstergirl wrote: I did add books, although if I wanted drop by just to complain I'd feel free to. Punctuation is that important!

I'm all for correct use of grammar, but isn't clarity the whole point of the endeavour? There is no doubt what someone means by 'Less than 1000 ratings'.



message 12: by John (new)

John Burns True. Surely being THAT bothered by things like the incorrect usage of apostrophes is just another form of OCD?


message 13: by Jimmy (new)

Jimmy wow. bitchy comments section here. oh, the drama


message 14: by Rachel (new)

Rachel Brand "The Girls" by Lori Lansens is on this list and has waaay more than 1,000 ratings. Just thought I'd mention this! Otherwise, really interesting list to read through.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed for too many ratings:

The Girls, by Lori Lansens


message 16: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for too many ratings: "A Distant Mirror" by Tuchman.


message 17: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Killthepopular wrote: "True. Surely being THAT bothered by things like the incorrect usage of apostrophes is just another form of OCD?"

In the eye of the beholder, etc.


message 18: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White.


message 19: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard.


message 20: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Moon and Sixpence.


message 21: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: A Bear Called Paddington.


message 22: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax.


message 23: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde.


message 24: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.


message 25: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Homicide by David Simon.


message 26: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Her Fearful Symmetry.


message 27: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Keep the Aspidistra Flying.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Hmmm. Could it be that this list is achieving its goal and IS actually creating more of a readership for some of these books? If so, all the better!

Then again, given the criteria stated -- "fewer than 1,000 ratings -- I'm afraid there are a few more candidates for deletion ... which is not to say that they DON'T still rightly deserve a place on the "(moderately) underrated books" list ( http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/24... ) ... or indeed, on any of this site's "must read" lists.

In that spirit, could someone with librarian status please delete (from this PRESENT list only, and ONLY on the grounds of exceeding the 1,000-ratings-threshold):

Stephen Greenblatt, "Will in the World"
Jerome Lawrence, "Inherit the Wind"
Colleen McCullough, "The First Man in Rome"
Evelyn Waugh, "Scoop"

Thanks in advance!


message 29: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Lobstergirl wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer than 1,000 rating..."


Well, the English-speaking world needs more people like you, but I object to your assertion that "It should be 'fewer than' not 'less than'." What you say is simply not the case---I mean the "should" part. Language is not logic, not carved in stone--except when it is, of course--and not owned by anyone. I find "different THAN" utterly galling, but (PACE, William Safire) we have no "academy" to oversee language change and growth. YOU MIGHT COULD SAY DIFFERENT THAN. I hate it, you hate it, but we simply cannot say it is "wrong" with any authority, IMO (Yes, I hate abbreviations, too). Peace/Love, Thom


message 30: by M (new)

M Themis-Athena wrote: "Hmmm. Could it be that this list is achieving its goal and IS actually creating more of a readership for some of these books? If so, all the better!

Then again, given the criteria stated -- "few..."


Deleted !




message 31: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Thom wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it should be "fewer t..."


I agree that language is mutable and ever changing and not owned by anyone. Yet we must have some standards, or at least we ought to. At the very least, I personally demand that we do. Perhaps that makes me batshit crazy, but there you have it. The 'fewer than/less than' thing doesn't bother me much, but apostrophes in the wrong place make me homicidal. And I will never give up the struggle. FIGHT ON, proper apostrophization.


message 32: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Lobstergirl wrote: "Thom wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Sorry but this is bugging me: "Before you add a book, look up it's profile...."

Can you take out the apostrophe?

Also it s..."


Well, I suspect if we had time we would find ourselves in substantial agreement. Certainly my students were held to strict standards, such as those regarding dangling modifiers, faulty parallelism, subject-verb agreement, and such like.
One way to settle the standards questions is by appeal to a particular style sheet, The New York Times will do.


message 33: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Rdbot (Reese) wrote: "Oh, dear -- why did I allow myself to read the comments attached to this list? The O-C part of me refused to click a back or forward arrow. Having read messages 1-30, I now feel compelled to compo..."

Rdbot (Reese) wrote: "Oh, dear -- why did I allow myself to read the comments attached to this list? The O-C part of me refused to click a back or forward arrow. Having read messages 1-30, I now feel compelled to compo..."

The Dirty Little Secret (And you musn't let this get out) we men have been keeping all these years is that tuxedos are comfortable. The tremendous power of Yiddish and Ebonics and such-like non-standard lingos lies in the glosses, extensions and send-ups they provide of the standard languages they spring from. Eventually we lexicon prigs just can't stand the appeal anymore and start chanting, "Schlemiel, schlemazel, Hassenpfeffer Incorporataed" or muttering in tune, "Ain' got no home,....ain' got no woman....caint
spell no words...." and so on. Gets ME through the night. Keeps my O C from becoming OCD....That's my plan, anyway. Love you people. --T.


message 34: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for excessive ratings: Lady Susan by Austen.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Thanks for keeping tabs on these!

(I added "Lady Susan" to the other list instead -- books with between 1,000 and 10,000 ratings.)


message 36: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: Little, Big. Adding to other list.


message 37: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for excessive ratings: The Gormenghast Novels.


message 38: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for excessive ratings: The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.


message 39: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for excessive ratings: Gateway.


message 40: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed for excessive ratings: Three Bags Full.


message 41: by Jan C (new)

Jan C Rdbot (Reese) wrote: "Thom wrote: "Rdbot (Reese) wrote: "Oh, dear -- why did I allow myself to read the comments attached to this list? The O-C part of me refused to click a back or forward arrow. Having read messages ..."

Not to be picky but Tom Terrific was not about a cat. It was about a kid with a thinking cap and a lazy dog named Manfred. It started on Captain Kangaroo.

I admit I had to look it up on Wikipedia - I remembered the bit about the kid with the hat but not the dog.


message 42: by Jan C (new)

Jan C Ahhhhhhhh, but TC was a classy trash-can kitty. He was one cool cat.


message 43: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Removed: 101 Dalmatians.


message 45: by Esperanza (new)

Esperanza Vargas ive never heard of ANY of these books...


message 46: by Amy L. (new)

Amy L. Campbell This one needs to be removed from the Fewer than 1000 list: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89...


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Antiauk wrote: "This one needs to be removed from the Fewer than 1000 list: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89..."

Done.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Removed, but added to the list for moderately underrated books: The American.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Removed for having more than 1,000 ratings: The Amaranth Enchantment.


message 50: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Mar 29, 2010 08:47AM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Removed on the same grounds: A Living Nightmare and further books from the "Cirque du Freak" cycle, all of which have considerably in excess of 1,000 ratings: Tunnels of Blood, Vampire Mountain, Trials of Death, The Vampire Prince, Hunters of the Dusk, Allies of the Night, Killers of the Dawn, Lord of the Shadows, The Lake of Souls, and Sons of Destiny.


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