Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Topic

As per the regularly scheduled programming on this blog, this is Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. The topic this week is: Top Ten Underrated Books (books you can't believe aren't more popular, books that are more obscure, etc.)  I'm totally into this topic, and I think I've answered it a couple of times for the Literary Blog Hop, but I'm always happy to bring attention to my favorite literary underdogs.

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10.  I am not finished with this book, but I wanted some new blood on my top ten, so I think that more people should read this book. I will give the disclaimer that it is definitely not for everyone, so be sure to read some finished reviews before checking it out.  But, when I do get around to writing my review, I will likely be saying that this is one of the freshest voices I've read in quite a while.





9. DeLillo is my favorite author, or at least that is what I tell people.  I almost chose White Noise for the list because I don't see much of it around the blogosphere, but I think this is actually one of his most under-read and underrated.  It is about football like the more popular, and much longer, Underworld is about baseball: kind of, but not really at all.




8. I read a lot of classics blogs and don't see much of McTeague.  This novel is not very long, but is kind of epic in scope.  It verges on the ridiculous and the melodramatic, but it isn't like anything you've read before, I promise.







7. This one is for the dystopian fans.  I'm not sure why more people don't read this since it is such a popular genre.  Zamyatin's book has much in common with 1984 and Brave New World.  I read it in a class called Satire in Literature and Film and I remembered liking it as much as those other more popular dystopias.






6. Anne Carson got some attention for her book Nox, which was part of the 2010 Morning News Tournament of Books.  I reviewed this earlier book in May and I know that it is going to be on my top books of the year list.  It is experimental and wonderful and playful and more people should read it.







5. Defoe's Moll is more fun than Robinson Crusoe  in my humble opinion, although they are good read as a pair.

4. So, TS isn't good, like, "I really want to cuddle up with a blanket a read this book because it is so good."  It's more like, "Holy cows!  Are you sure this isn't some kind of brilliant postmodern masterpiece examining the nature of subjectivity and the role of reproduction? It was written in 1759? Say what?"


3. Maira Kalman is good like, I wish I could eat the book good, because I'm sure it would taste like cream puffs and rainbows and hugs.  All that, and she is really thoughtful.  And quirky.  Here is my gushy review of this one.





2.  I know, I know.  Moby Dick underrated?  Don't I mean overrated?  No, I do not.  Melville's crazy whaling book might be one of the most difficult and trying reading experiences a person can have (I said might).   However, I really believe that the pay off is worth.  I'm not sure I want to read it again (I kind of do), but I almost always want to talk about it.

1.  Just trust me.  So good.