25 - A book that was published anonymously

[L Y N N]

I own a copy of Go Ask Alice which has Anonymous listed as the author but have not yet read it. I guess it’s time has come! 😊

Which book will you read?

Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Ellie]

So glad I didn't read Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies this year. I would recommend The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken as a very eye-opening look at how broken the British legal system is, I used it for my book about something I know little about this year. Although maybe not so interesting if you're not in the UK!

[Tania]

I am thinking about this one:
Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics

[Mary]

Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously.

[Ellie]

Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I was wondering that too. It would be super useful if people can add notes to this listopia if it's not obvious.

[Chantique]

I'm doing Sense & Sensibility it was published anonymously originally

[[deleted user]]

Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I found this article: https://www.betterreading.com.au/news...

“ So, we were interested to see who this debut author, Alex North was.

Well… we don’t know. Alex North is a pseudonym, and the author remains anonymous.”

So, the question is are we just talking about books that have been published under anonymous or things such as A Lady (Jane Austen) or The Secret Barrister or are we also including authors who have published under a pseudonym such as the Bronte sisters and Lemony Snicket?

[[deleted user]]

Chantique Wilson wrote: "I'm doing Sense & Sensibility it was published anonymously originally"

I’ll probably go with this too.

All of her novels were originally published anonymously it was only after her death that she was publicly identified as the author. I particularly recommend Persuasion.

[Nadine in NY]

Lori wrote: "Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I found this arti..."


I've been wondering that, too: how anonymous are we talking here?? Are Elena Ferrante's books published anonymously? (Since no one knows who's behind that pseudonym.) Or does the book have to be literally "by anonymous"?

This is a rather limiting category!! Last time I read Go Ask Alice was back in the 70s so I guess I could pick that up. It should be fast, anyway, and maybe fun in a retro way.

[Sarah]

If the Alex North books count I would think any of the Richard Bachman books count as well... right?

[Kristine]

Ellie wrote: "Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I was wondering t..."

i don't think his name is Alex North - it's a pen name and we don't know who it is vs some pen names, where you know the author. I wasn't thinking of this as anonymously but guess that would fit!

[Kristine]

Nadine wrote: "Lori wrote: "Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I fo..."

Interesting - I've wanted to read My Brilliant Friend but didn't know she's not known either! =)

[Mary]

Thanks everyone for the clarification. I clicked on the author's name on goodreads and found a picture of him and everything, so for my interpretation of the prompt, I'm not going to use him. I will keep searching.

[Heather]

I have the same question a lot of you have about how to interpret the prompt. I think if they'd meant a pseudonym, they would have said so like they have in past challenges. At the same time, authors use pseudonyms to publish anonymously. There's one prompt every year that keeps me thinking in circles. This is the prompt for 2021!

I've wanted to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for years. Anne Bronte used a pseudonym to remain anonymous. We'll see if that logic holds or if I talk myself out of using it for this prompt.

[Jennifer]

Based on this I’m going to say Alex North is an anonymous pen name as we don’t know who he really is. So I’m using The Shadows for this prompt.

“The pseudonym identifies one or more persons who have true names (that is, legal identities) but do not publicly disclose them. Most pseudonym holders use pseudonyms because they wish to remain anonymous, but anonymity is difficult to achieve and often fraught with legal issues.

Pseudonym - Wikipedia”

Kristine wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Mary wrote: "Does anyone know why there are several Alex North books on this list? I wanted to read the Whisper Man, but I guess I'm missing how they were published anonymously."

I w..."

[Amber]

I finally going to read Beowulf for this!

[Theresa]

This one is tough. I think 'anonymous' means where you truly have no idea who wrote the book, including who is behind the pseudonym. If after it was published, the identity is revealed and assigned either to the book or the pseudonym, it still counts as 'anonymous' as that was true of the publication date.

It doesn't count if it is known who is behind the pseudonym from day published.

There are likely more to pick from than it first appears. Just going to require some research maybe. For example:

JK Rowling initially was 'anonymous' behind the The Casual Vacancy and the Robert Galbraith series, until speculation and leaks were so persistant she 'fessed up.

Political tell alls - usually quite a number of these floating around - think the equivalent of a literary 'Deep Throat'

Non-fiction and true crime written by former spies, CIA, MI5, etc. Because if they were identified, they would be assassination targets.

Erotica - Victorian like the Story of O were originally published anonymously. Anaïs Nin published Delta of Venus anonymously originally so as not to jeopardize her literary fiction reputation although it wasn't paying the bills (erotica pays better). Ann Rice remained anonymous initially in her Sleeping Beauty trilogy written under a pseudonym.

Until late 20th Century, tenured and tenure track academics remained anonymous behind non-academic genre publications in order not to jeopardize their jobs and academic. Examples: Amanda Cross Kate Fansler academic cozy mysteries were really written by a tenured track professor at Barnard College, Emily Heilbrun, but she had to remain hidden to protect her job. Eloisa James, who is really tenured professor Mary Bly, is also from academia and was originally completely hidden. Some time in late 20th Century, the need to remain hidden as a genre writer if you were an academic stopped being necessary.

But, writers of middle grade and YA often have completely anonymous pseudonyms for genre writing, especially if they are steamy salacious romance writers as well because that barrier remains, even if the ones in academia and literary fiction have fallen.

And of course older works published by women were done so originally in as anonymous a manner as feasible.

This is a prompt likely to take some research to fulfill.

[Nadine in NY]

Theresa wrote: "But, writers of middle grade and YA often have completely anonymous pseudonyms for genre writing ..."


I like how you think!!! I am soooo stumped on this one, so please keep coming back with suggestions as you research it. Your comment about middle grade made me wonder: is/was Lemony Snicket anonymous??? And how about Pseudonymous Bosch?? I've never read those books and that would be a great choice for me if it fits.

[Drakeryn]

Theresa wrote: "This one is tough. I think 'anonymous' means where you truly have no idea who wrote the book, including who is behind the pseudonym."

That's how I'd interpret it too. So, for instance, I wouldn't count Mira Grant (well-known pseudonym for Seanan McGuire). But I'd count Alex North since nobody knows their real identity.

A good source for this might be online fiction, since it's often posted under a username and the author's real name is not known.

[Ellie]

Do you think Alex North is using a fake author photo then? Or he's just hoping no one who knows him will tell the press who he is?

[Nadine in NY]

Nadine wrote: "Theresa wrote: "But, writers of middle grade and YA often have completely anonymous pseudonyms for genre writing ..."


I like how you think!!! I am soooo stumped on this one, so please keep coming..."


In reply to my own question, it looks like the Lemony Snicket books were first published starting in 1998, and in 2006 it was revealed that the author was Daniel Handler. So I think this counts as "anonymous"? (I mean, I didn't know who Lemony Snicket was until today when I started looking!)

Pseudonymous Bosch books were first published in 2007, and the author was revealed to be Raphael Simon in 2016, so I think that counts too?

[Nadine in NY]

Ellie wrote: "Do you think Alex North is using a fake author photo then? Or he's just hoping no one who knows him will tell the press who he is?"


I think it's a fake photo, because otherwise someone would have "outed" him by now. And I vaguely remember hearing about this controversy a while back ... "who is Alex North??"

[Theresa]

I would absolutely count Lemony Snicket etc. Just because now we know who they are doesn't mean they were not truly 'anonymous'.

I think this is this year's prompt that is going to pull from a very finite selection of books and require a lot of research. Similar to last year's 'book with a made up language'. Actually I think this is easier than that. I have a copy of Delta of Venus around here somewhere...time for a re-read?

I also think it will be easier to identify with books originally published before 2000 simply because the internet has made it far too easy to 'out' those trying to be anonymous. And it has become acceptable for many professions to be known for serious as well as genre.

You might also just look at professions where it have been at some point disadvantageous to be known for writing a certain type of book - besides academics and politicians, look at lawyers, accountants, childrens book authors.

And erotica is always a good bet - or those raunchy soft porn romance novels - that the authors are actually 'anonymous' as in not real and not linked to their real name.

[Theresa]

Remember: it needed to have been published anonymously...does not mean still needs to be anonymous.

[Johanne]

Well, I have that really beautiful 6-book edition of 1001/Arabian Nights that I got for Christmas 5 or 6 years ago. I started the first one, and didn't finish it. So that's my DNF book (not actively reading it for 5 years will have to count for something), and then #2 bam! anonymous.

[Megan]

I have Primary Colors on my shelf so I guess I’ll be reading that.

[Nancy]

I'm going with My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante because her identity is still unknown. If I like it I'll read the second in the series for a place you want to go in 2021, I'm supposed to go to Italy in March (fingers crossed) so that works.

[Jennifer W]

Johanne wrote: "Well, I have that really beautiful 6-book edition of 1001/Arabian Nights that I got for Christmas 5 or 6 years ago. I started the first one, and didn't finish it. So that's my DNF book (not activel..."

That was my first thought for this one, but I didn't like it enough for a reread.

I'm going with the theory of initially published anonymously, even if we later found out the truth.

[Nikki]

I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet (maybe, if that’s so - sorry) but the Nancy Drew novels should also work if you go with pen names. Carolyn Keene isn’t an actual author, but an “author syndicate” (sounds 100% criminal but i saw it being called that somewhere) where all the authors included have the right to publish Nancy Drew books under that name, so they’re anonymous since we don’t know who the author actually is. I might read a Nancy Drew, but most likely will go with Lemony Snicket because I have A Series of Unfortunate Events on my TBR next year :)

[Rachel]

I personally would count someone like Alex North since we don't know his real name. I really want to read The Shadows next anyway, so this seems like the perfect place to fit it in.

[K.L.]

Amber wrote: "I finally going to read Beowulf for this!"

It's a great read! I really like the translation by Seamus Heaney, and I'm hoping to read J.R.R. Tolkien's translation this year.

[Theresa]

K.L. wrote: "Amber wrote: "I finally going to read Beowulf for this!"

It's a great read! I really like the translation by Seamus Heaney, and I'm hoping to read J.R.R. Tolkien's translation this year.

[bookcov..."

Both excellent! Lots of old classic wonderful reads...Canterbury Tales, Chanson de Roland, Epic of Gilgamesh.

[Nicole]

Here are some options published "anonymously"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

published under pseudonym to hide true identity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Author "Anonymous"
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[L Y N N]

Nadine wrote: "I've been wondering that, too: how anonymous are we talking here?? Are Elena Ferrante's books published anonymously? (Since no one knows who's behind that pseudonym.) Or does the book have to be literally "by anonymous"?

This is a rather limiting category!! Last time I read Go Ask Alice was back in the 70s so I guess I could pick that up. It should be fast, anyway, and maybe fun in a retro way.."

I think this is definitely another prompt that is open to each individual's interpretation. It would be interesting to see what your reaction to Go Ask Alice is now after almost 50 years! "

[L Y N N]

Nikki wrote: "I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet (maybe, if that’s so - sorry) but the Nancy Drew novels should also work if you go with pen names. Carolyn Keene isn’t an actual author, but an “author syndicat..."

I had forgotten about those!

[L Y N N]

Nancy wrote: "I'm going with My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante because her identity is still unknown. If I like it I'll read the second in the series for a place you want to go in 2021, I'm supposed to go to..."

I just got a copy of this not too long ago.

[L Y N N]

You-all are so smart and willing to help each other. It makes my heart proud! :) And grateful!

I have been going through the Goodreads Anonymous listing Nicole posted and discovered some truly obscure translated works written by Anonymous. They are all very old and are folklore/mythology.

1. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter which sounds fascinating! What a history! I think I'm much more aware of Japanese-translated-into-English books now due to the Japan-related prompts in challenges this year. That's probably a good thing! :)

2. Here's another set in Denmark, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Not as old as the one above, but old!

3. The Book of Dede Korkut is translated and is Turkish folklore/mythology.

Rather fascinating!

For those of you who are of Christian faiths, I had forgotten that the Bible is Anonymous, plus there are many publications of just individual books within the Bible that can be read. ('Cause reading the WHOLE Bible would be LOTS of pages!)

Okay, I'm going to read now... :)

[SadieReadsAgain]

I think this prompt calls for a Bronte. I'm going with Agnes Grey

[Jeanne]

SadieReadsAgain wrote: "I think this prompt calls for a Bronte. I'm going with Agnes Grey"

Great minds. I am going with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

[Brandon]

The Bible can be considered to be authored by the Holy Spirit, working through the people on Earth who wrote or dictated the words to put onto the scrolls (such as Moses for the first five books). For a book where the Earthly writer is unknown, I would recommend the Letter to the Hebrews.

[Rosina]

Another one that would fit is John Twelve Hawks

I read The Traveler: The First Novel of "The Fourth Realm" Trilogy when it was first published....i enjoyed it..

i will probably read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall...

[Rachel]

RE: Alex North, there are a number of articles that ID him as Steve Mosby.

That said, you could still use him if you chose to interpret the prompt as something that was published anonymously originally!

[Theresa]

Those lists are fantastic! I had of course forgotten about Barbara Mertz a/k/a Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels who hid behind a pseudonym to protect her scholarly career as a renowned Egyptologist (you will see her as an expert in old documentaries on the History Channel).

And Edith Pargeter as Ellis Peters, especially the publication of her Inspector Felse series, which predates Cadfael.

[Nadine in NY]

Theresa wrote: "Those lists are fantastic! I had of course forgotten about Barbara Mertz a/k/a Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels who hid behind a pseudonym to prote..."


I had no idea that Elizabeth Peters was once anonymous!!! That's awesome and maybe I'll read one of her books next year for this.

[Kelly]

I am trying to fill all the prompts with BIPOC authors; this one is difficult for obvious reasons so I will probably go with a book that was originally published anonymously and later the author was revealed - so far I have found The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man (published in 1912 and the author revealed himself in 1927 according to Wikipedia) The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

[Drakeryn]

I'm thinking of reading The Story of Hong Gildong, a Korean folktale about a Robin Hood-esque character. The Goodreads blurb says it's "arguably the single most important work of classic Korean fiction." It's also a good pick for people looking for diverse authors.

[Lilith]

The Kalevala is a Finnish epic poem/ saga. Like all true folklore, there is no one author, as the story is passed down orally for generations.

There are many translators, but Kirby or Magoun are recommended.

[Mary]

I'm going to go for "I'm a hitman"

[Teri]

Anyone who was a fan of the TV show "Castle" might enjoy the series of books published by Richard Castle, the fictional protagonist of the show. Heat Wave is the first one. As far as I know, the true author(s) has not been identified.

[Melissa]

I was planning on Pride and Prejudice or Wuthering Heights in 2021, so sounds like either would work for this prompt. The other can be the book everyone already seems to have read. :)