Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Something I've been aiming for recently is to read more obscure/lesser-known/brand-new-to-me books. Not necessarily looking for diamonds in the rough, but just wanting to broaden my reading horizons in that way. Nothing wrong with widely-read books, but it's a special feeling to find and love a book that it seems hardly anyone knows about. (Obviously, Goodreads isn't the world, but...you know :P).

So let me know your favorite novels, short story collections, or poetry collections that have under 1,000 ratings here on GR. I'm open to most genres except horror or westerns, and am especially interested in books from outside the US. Thanks in advance!

A few of my own under-1K fave novels/story collections/poetry:

A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl
The Mystics of Mile End
The Beadworkers
The Hormone of Darkness: A Playlist
Conjure Island
The Daughters
Shout Her Lovely Name
Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems
Here, The World Entire
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere: Stories
From From: Poems

I love finding hidden gems! My library is good sized and it has lots of lesser-known books!

May Sky: There's Always Tomorrow
The Ghosts of Medgar Evers: A Tale of Race, Murder, Mississippi, and Hollywood
Chasing Sophea
Ticket to Ride - Lost and Found in America
The Tree-Sitter: A Novel
Sugar Land
We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication
On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice That Remade a Nation
The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller and the Battle over Abortion
Raising Holy Hell
The Air Loom Gang: The Strange and True Story of James Tilly Matthews and His Visionary Madness
Memoirs of a Bookbat
Daughter of War
When the Dancing Stopped: The Real Story of the Morro Castle Disaster and Its Deadly Wake
The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner
Think No Evil: Inside the Story of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting...and Beyond
67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence
Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring
The Diary of Pelly D

I have a ton of non-fiction books, but I am going to stick with the 4 and 5 star fiction books:
India's Story by Kathlyn S. Starbuck
The Loving and the Dead: Tales of the Supernatural by Catherine Lim
Black by Catherine Winters
Near Perfect by Sharon Mitchell
His Little Women by Judith Rossner
Dostoevsky's Last Night by Cristina Peri Rossi
Red Dust Running by Anita Heiss
The Locked Tomb Mystery: and Other Stories by Elizabeth Peters
Denver Noir ed. by Cynthia Swanson
Paris Dreaming by Anita Heiss
Jubilee by Jennifer Givhan
Anyone But Her by Cynthia Swanson
Manhattan Dreaming by Anita Heiss
Dirrayawadha by Anita Heiss
Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street by Heda Margolius Kovály
Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparanta
Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe
Pearl by Tabitha King
North From Rome by Helen MacInnes
Wicked as She Wants by Delilah S. Dawson
Sudden Death by Rita Mae Brown

I have 2 for you:
Our Dreams Might Align
I Make Envy on Your Disco

Hellspark (sci fi mystery) - 5 stars, great book, out of print and hard to find but worth it if you can track one down!
Failure to Communicate and Tone of Voice (science fiction)
A Three-Letter Name (fantasy)
One Degree of Freedom (historical)
The Chef's Secret (historical mystery)
The Wolf's Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves
Et al.: Because not all research deserves a Nobel Prize (fictional science, written in the form of academic journal articles)
Just over 1000 but I'm including it anyway: Or What You Will (fantasy)

* Flirting with a New Life: a novel by Jill Cullen
* Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria
* Keep Your Family Close by Annette Dashofy, 2 of 2 in a series
* So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo, Burkina Faso
* Something Evergreen Called Life by Rania Mamoun, Sudan
* Suraiya Jafari: An American President by Cindy Moy
* The Earthquake Doll by Candace Williams, Asian setting
* The House On Sun Street by Mojgan Ghazirad, Iran
* The Johnstown Girls by Kathleen George
* The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas, Namibia
* The Smallest Island in the World by Chris Arro
* What are the Blind Men Dreaming? by Noemi Jaffe, Yugoslavia, Sweden
* When the Only Light Is the Moon by Rita Wilson, American author, Greece setting
* Where the Guilty Hide by Annette Dashofy, first in series (1 of 2)
* Years and Years by Hwang Jungeun, South Korea
* Red Rooms by Cherie Dimaline, indigenous

Jennifer W wrote: "I love finding hidden gems! My library is good sized and it has lots of lesser-known books!

May Sky: There's Always Tomorrow
[book:The Ghosts of Medgar Evers: A Tale of Race, Murde..."

Amazing list, thanks!!

Misty wrote: "I have a ton of non-fiction books, but I am going to stick with the 4 and 5 star fiction books:
India's Story by Kathlyn S. Starbuck
[book:The Loving and the Dead: T..."

Thanks!! A few of these have been on my ultimate TBR for a while.

Chrissy wrote: "I have 2 for you:
Our Dreams Might Align
I Make Envy on Your Disco"

Okay, both of those titles are super intriguing :)

Kelly Sj wrote: "Hellspark (sci fi mystery) - 5 stars, great book, out of print and hard to find but worth it if you can track one down!
Failure to Communicate and [book:Tone of Voice..."

Thank you!!

GailW wrote: "* Flirting with a New Life: a novel by Jill Cullen
* Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by [author: Abigail Santamaria|..."

This is awesome, thanks!

Here are some with very diverse themes and settings:

Rift
Luna
We Shook the Family Tree
The Squire
Improbable Patriot: The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the French Playwright Who Saved the American Revolution
Buffalo Afternoon
Shake Down the Stars
The Testament of Yves Gundron
Red Earth White Earth
All the Tea in China
Absence of Mercy
The Hills at Home: A Novel
Diary of a Pint-Sized Farmer: A Year of Keeping Sheep, Raising Kids, and Staying Sane
A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America
Cleopatra's Sister
A Southern Family

A few favorites are
We, the House: a novel
The Girl From The Candle-Lit Bath
Masquerade in Venice
Mammoths of the Great Plains
The Dangerous Age
Leaving Tabasco
The Three Sisters
The Necessity of Stars
The Book of Loss
Three by Finney: The Woodrow Wilson Dime / The Night People / Marion's Wall
These are all under 500 ratings.

Oh, I like this as well, and just spotted this!

I'll have to come back, but am marking this notify me so if anyone answers I'll remember to post a list.

English (or translation available):
Redsight by Meredith Mooring - this one completely blew me away with its unique setting and characters.

The Short Life of Sophie Scholl - biography of Sophie Scholl, a german anti-Nazi activist who was executed along with her brother.

Annie by Leonore Fleischer - the novelisation of the musical Annie. One of my childhood favourites, so this may be coloured by nostalgia.

German/Deutsch:
Witwenküsse von Friederun Pleterski: Eines der besten Bücher die ich gelesen habe, sehr gut recherchiert und trotzdem unterhaltsam. Das Buch habe ich gleich drei verschiedenen Freunden zu Weihnachten geschenkt.
Matou von Köhlmeier, Michael - die 7 Leben eines Katers, beschrieben von besagtem Kater selbst. Von der französischen Revolution bis zu seinem ruhigen Lebensabend am Stadtrand von Wien.

Here are a few, all 4 or 5 stars, from my Under Read Gems shelf, but only the ones with 1000 or fewer ratings. They are all very different books; I didn't include all of them on my shelves.

Republic of Dirt: A Return to Woefield Farm award winning funny novel with heart (sequel to one that has more than 3000 ratings)
Telepath by Janet Edwards y/a scifi
Where Nests the Water Hen Canadian classic
Wishing You Were Here by Catherine Chant won chapter awards from the Romance Writer's of America, y/a time travel romance
Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate historical fiction re: jazz plus people
Fallen Angels Christian historical fiction
The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning child development, good for parents and educators
Many Tender Ties - academic, women's history in Canada re: First Nations and Métis women
Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently title says it all, written for general public
Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR history on a subject I'm not that interested in but gave this 4+ stars