favorite obscure book

The Illuminati Papers by Robert Anton Wilson

I read that book for a class on European Romanticism. Not exactly one of those "and they all lived happily ever after" books, is it?

Picking a favorite is so hard, but I guess I could list a few that I really like:

Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi by John Dittmer - a well-written and often harrowing account of the civil rights movement in Mississippi during the 1960's. Reading this book gives you a new perspective on some of the tactics used by the Republicans in order to suppress the African-American vote in places like Florida and Ohio.

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson - incredible book, written in almost poetic prose. A series of short stories told from the perspective of a drug addict, and beyond that I don't even know how to describe the book and do it justice.

The Plague by Albert Camus - on its surface a book about a fictional outbreak of bubonic plague in an Algerian town, this book is also an existentialist masterpiece, a reaction to the evils of Naziism during WWII.

[Edited on Nov 14, 2004 by Attack_Macaque]

[Edited on Nov 14, 2004 by Attack_Macaque]

COWS by Matthew Stokoe

If by obscure you mean "classic of German literature and part of every modern library collection."

John Steed -- An Authorized Biography, Volume One: Jealous in Honour by Tim Heald.

xoxox

Copyright law in the Soviet Union • Michael A Newcity • Publisher:
New York : Praeger, 1978.

Replay by Ken Grimwood

[Edited on Nov 14, 2004 by Kayla]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

I am sure it is still popular in Germany (it was one of Germany's first best-sellers). It seems to be quite obscure in America. I expect that even most well-read Americans are only aware of Goethe's "Faust." I don't know anyone else other than me that has the book in their private collection. When I first tried purchasing the book in Southern CA, I had to put it on special order for about a year (this was pre-Amazon/Ebay).

It might be in every public library, but that has no relation to how many people in America have read or even heard of it.

Its Amazon book rank is 121,789.

By just looking at the first half-page of other obscure books listed, I can see quite a few that have lower sales ranks on Amazon (meaning more copies have been purchased). Some examples, Musashi by Yoshikawa, the Monkey Wrench Game, one of the Brautigan books, the Frissell book, and the Heinlein book.

Adam Cadre's book is 496,72.
The William Cuppy book is 54,351.
Douglas Glover is 2,094,900.
The Monkey Wrench game is 19,335.
Eiji Yoshikawa book 6,842.
Richard Brautigan books 116,750 or 169,523 or 165,977.
Abbie Hoffman book 44,628.
Bob Frissell book 104,797.
Balyoz book 380,480.
Heinlein book is 15,831.
Greg Bear book is 172,525.
Blish book 823,540.