Never heard of it...read it...loved it

Slushie · Nov 25, 2009

You walk into a bookstore with a crisp thritydollarbill in your pocket. You wander around for a while until you come across a unique spine. The cover is pretty cool too; but, you've never heard of the author before. It's the only copy there and you don't see any other books by this person. Well, they might have had another book; you don't remember. Still, you're intrigued after reading the blurb and that thirtydollarbill starts to rustle. You flip to the middle of the book and become captivated. You forget where you are until an old man sniffs his nose-hairs on the other side of the shelf. This is the one, this is worth my money...

What was the title of this book? Who wrote it? What was it about?

I just finished Out Of Africa by Isak Dinenson. Never heard of her before. It's a memoir when she lived on a coffee plantation in Eastern Africa between the World Wars. After doing some research I found out it was made into a movie. So it doesn't have to be a completely obscure book, just a work unknown to you by a name unknown to you.

###

Also (if this goes anywhere), if someone mentions a book you thought was crap then just bite your ~~tongue~~ fingers. No need to devolve into writerbashing only for Mod (or mods if you're poly) to clamp the lock and swallow the key.

Also also, maybe this is just another recycled topic but I couldn't find anything similar using the search bar. Hey, at least I tried.

colealpaugh · Nov 25, 2009

EyeSeaAll said:
I just finished Out Of Africa by Isak Dinenson. Never heard of her before. It's a memoir when she lived on a coffee plantation in Eastern Africa between the World Wars. After doing some research I found out it was made into a movie.

Crap, am I that old? Didn't that movie win seven Oscars like just a few years ago?

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 25, 2009

Saw the movie. It was OK. Didn't inspire me to read the book.

But I'd never think of every going into a bookstore and plunking down $30 for a book I'd never heard of. Heck, I have a hard time justifying plunking down $8 on an unknown paperback.

Now back in the day when paperbacks were $1 and less, then I'd have no problem picking up unknown authors... several even. Same with albums. I could take a chance on "never heard ofs" when records were only a couple bucks.

But now? No. They priced out the pioneer spirit in me.

Maxinquaye · Nov 25, 2009

Yeah, I think Meryl Streep played in it.

Isak Dinesen is a pseudonym. The writer's real name is Karen Blixen.

Kathleen42 · Nov 25, 2009

I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales of a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing by Kyria Abrhams. Title is pretty self explanatory.

AlishaS · Nov 25, 2009

What you metioned above was how I came to read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I was in walmart looking for a new book and the covers on all three totally caught my eye and the blurbs. So I picked up the first one. I loved it so much I read it in a day, than had to go back and pick up the other two. City of Ashes and City of Glass.
I had never heard of her until that point but loved the trilogy all the same.

Saltier · Nov 25, 2009

AlishaS said:
What you metioned above was how I came to read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I was in walmart looking for a new book and the covers on all three totally caught my eye and the blurbs. So I picked up the first one. I loved it so much I read it in a day, than had to go back and pick up the other two. City of Ashes and City of Glass.
I had never heard of her until that point but loved the trilogy all the same.

I picked that one up because so many people here loved it, and I just can't get past the first chapter... another example of taste being subjective.

YAwriter72 · Nov 25, 2009

AlishaS said:
What you metioned above was how I came to read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I was in walmart looking for a new book and the covers on all three totally caught my eye and the blurbs. So I picked up the first one. I loved it so much I read it in a day, than had to go back and pick up the other two. City of Ashes and City of Glass.
I had never heard of her until that point but loved the trilogy all the same.

Yes! I bought all three in hardcover cause the covers were so good! Never heard of Cassie before either! (LOVED them btw)

I tend to go by cover design and blurb. I almost always go hardcover too, if they have it.

The Lonely One · Nov 25, 2009

It's interesting but I don't think I've ever gone without a recommendation or my own author-knowledge when actually purchasing a book. I've heard of the books I look for somewhere, you know?

I tend to really trust authors through their short fiction, then graduate to their novels. If that isn't possible I've either been raved at about something, it's an author I've read their other novels or, a few, are people I've learned of through the Sanibel Writers Conference.

Lady Ice · Nov 25, 2009

colealpaugh said:
Crap, am I that old? Didn't that movie win seven Oscars like just a few years ago?

I think it came out in 1984. And yes, Meryl Streep was in it and so was Robert Redford.

I don't tend to buy books on a whim but I might pick them up in a library.

eyeblink · Nov 25, 2009

Lady Ice said:
I think it came out in 1984. And yes, Meryl Streep was in it and so was Robert Redford.

I don't tend to buy books on a whim but I might pick them up in a library.

1985 actually - March 1986 in the UK, which is when I saw it in 70mm at the Empire, Leicester Square, in London.

Now I do feel old.

Slushie · Nov 25, 2009

Okay, library applies too.

Actually, it was at my local library that I came across A Separate Peace. The blurb was "meh", but man...those first few pages sucked me right in. I think I read like ten pages squatting like a baseball catcher.

kellion92 · Nov 25, 2009

I'm a browser, not a researcher. Just about every book I love is one I just happened to pick up. A lot of times the ones I research disappoint me a bit, just like the follow-ups or back catalog of the authors of books I love.

Linda Adams · Nov 25, 2009

I do that all the time. I usually go to the new release table to see what's out. Sometimes it's authors I recognize, sometimes it's someone knew. Done that at the library, too--ours has staff picks they put out. I read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan because of that.

Kitty Pryde · Nov 25, 2009

When I was 12, I was in some crazy mad overcrowded little bookstore (you know, the kind with boxes and heaps of books everywhere and narrow aisles). I pulled down from a high shelf a MG kid's book called "Finn Family Moomintroll" by Tove Jansson and cracked it open. It had been crying out for me to look at it or something.

I swear to god the gloomy Oregon sky cracked open and a sunbeam shot through the window to light up me and the book standing there. I had already been reading adult novels for years, and my parents kinda preferred to buy them over kid books (cause they take longer to read and you don't have to buy as many!) but I begged for it.

I love love love the whole series now, i reread it often, and her books are a big part of what inspired me to write. Love!

DeleyanLee · Nov 25, 2009

My boss handed me a book I'd never heard of by an author I'd never heard of and said "Read this. It's got murder and all the stuff you like." Seems it was the book her husband took on the plane for their trip overseas and he liked it so much, he gave it to her. She was lukewarm, but it reminded her of me. So I read it.

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Steig Larsson was the book. I read it and enjoyed it enough that I borrowed the sequel that just came out to read.

As far as being in the bookstore and nabbing a book just 'cause and loved it, that hasn't happened to me yet. I do pick up books that look interesting by writers I don't know on regular occasions, but I've yet to have one turn out positive.

Now I'm starting to wonder why I still do it....

sheadakota · Nov 25, 2009

eyeblink said:
1985 actually - March 1986 in the UK, which is when I saw it in 70mm at the Empire, Leicester Square, in London.

Now I do feel old.

Well, then I'm ancient- lOVED that movie!

"I had a farm in Africa..."

The first book I can remember buying on a whim and a blurb was The Power of One- i forget the author- powerful book!

Libbie · Nov 25, 2009

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. No idea how I failed to notice him before, but Tigana was great. I like a very particular type of fantasy, with very pretty prose and what I consider "serious" storylines (no elves wandering around being mystical, no chicks stressing out over who will be the best dragon trainer, no farmboys on quests discovering they're the chosen one, etc.) Kay delivered.

And it was 100% the cool cover that caught my eye and made me flip through the book. Cover art is SOOOOO important.

Maxinquaye · Nov 25, 2009

Oh! The moomin family! It was a staple for me when I was a kid. As was Astrid Lindgren. But since I'm Scandinavian, they weren't exactly unknown.

Kitty Pryde · Nov 25, 2009

sheadakota said:
The forst book I can remember buying on a whim and a blurb was The Power of One- i forget the author- powerful book!

Bryce Courtenay. I loooooooooove that book. There's a sequel which is great. He has another really good series, about the criminal Ikey Solomon being sent to Van Diemen's Land and adopting twin boys (random, yes, and awesome too) but it's really hard to find.

Maxinquaye said:
Oh! The moomin family! It was a staple for me when I was a kid. As was Astrid Lindgren. But since I'm Scandinavian, they weren't exactly unknown.

I love Pippi Longstocking! And Ronia! And Birk! Love!

Phaeal · Nov 25, 2009

AlishaS said:
What you metioned above was how I came to read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I was in walmart looking for a new book and the covers on all three totally caught my eye and the blurbs. So I picked up the first one. I loved it so much I read it in a day, than had to go back and pick up the other two. City of Ashes and City of Glass.
I had never heard of her until that point but loved the trilogy all the same.

Many people first knew Cassandra Clare as one of the biggest splashes in fan fic history, author of the Draco Dormiens, et al, series. As I recall, she was also in the middle of one of the biggest fan fic scandals due to accusations of plagiarism. Ah, the glory of the resulting flame wars -- you could read by them from miles away. Those were the days.

One day at the bookstore, I stumbled across The Bestseller, by Olivia Goldsmith. Bought it because it was about the publishing world. Just finished reading it the other day, for about the tenth time. That was my first Goldsmith. I've since read most of her books, because they're dishy candy with a heart.

Maxinquaye · Nov 25, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
Bryce Courtenay. I loooooooooove that book. There's a sequel which is great. He has another really good series, about the criminal Ikey Solomon being sent to Van Diemen's Land and adopting twin boys (random, yes, and awesome too) but it's really hard to find.

I love Pippi Longstocking! And Ronia! And Birk! Love!

There are 3 books that made me a bookworm:

Lord of the Flies,
The lionheart brothers,
and Mio, My son

Lindgren wrote two of them.

emilycross · Nov 25, 2009

*don't shoot me*

this happened to me for Twlight (the uk cover) - no one had heard of her over this side of the pond (and wouldn't till the movie was being promoted).

I always pick up books by their covers - canongate covers especially, rarely disappoint.

JoNightshade · Nov 25, 2009

It's out of print now, which probably explains why I found it in the used bookstore I used to work at, but this happened to me with Sad Strains of a Gay Waltz. One of the most unusual, strange, haunting, odd books I have ever read. Still have it on my shelf.

Jess Haines · Nov 25, 2009

RAPTOR RED by Robert Bakker. Excellent book. If I didn't already own the hardcover, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Never heard of it...read it...loved it

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