Forgotten Classics and Other Lesser Known Books (or No One Has Read this but Me!) discussion

Do you find yourself enjoying unknown stories by famous authors? Or some obscure early works more than the ones which made them famous?

It happens to me quite often, Stevenson's short stories are really good, but for some reason Treasure Island is the one that made him actually popular. some of his stories are oddly misinterpreted as well, like Olalla..

Bulgakov's early novels are actually his best ones, however M&M is considered one of the most important works of early XX-th century, while the former ones tell about the same albeit more stylish and colorfully..

I can't agree with you on Bulgakov, but I am one of these who see M&M as a masterpiece, and I don't read Russian so the translations may affect my judgment.

Interesting question though - my favourite David Mitchell is still Ghostwritten but you probably have to have read it before Cloud Atlas to think so. Struggling to think of many more...

First entry: Stephen Hero is better than A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

(It's actually been a while since I've read either, so I could be remembering wrong)

Surely meant Bulgakov in Russian, that and probably in general being russian heavily affect the impressions I get from his books. (the word 'sadly' might be inserted somewhere here=p)

I definitely agree that readers who like a famous novel should also read other works by the same author. I can't think of any examples of adult works now, though.

There's an author of stories for children, William Pène du Bois. Famous for the award-winning The Twenty-One Balloons. His other works are even more brilliant. Many are literary fables that appeal to readers of all ages. But they're exceedingly difficult to find in libraries and not easy to buy use online, either.