SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Inspired by the Year in 2020 thread, I thought to take a look at some of the weird, oddball, least popular Wallflowers on my shelves. Plus covers, because I like to ✧Embrace the Awkward.✧ I'm using the Year in Books to organize them that way, but you can share your Top 10 Lonely Hearts Club books or whatever you prefer.

Who are your forgotten misfits? Would you recommend them to others? Or are they passed over for good reason? Who is the loneliest of them all?


2020: Windrose Volume 3 (3 ratings)
Last volume of an online f/f pirate comic. Lots of wet clothes.
2019: Rivals - Past, Present, and Future (1 rating)
Yuri on Ice fanfiction. Part on my headcanon AU now.
2018: The Slave's Secret (66 ratings)
I read the epic Captive Prince, and it was recommended on Amazon and free. Decidedly less epic. Hadn't read romance before and wasn't sure what I liked yet.
2017: Kiteman of Karanga (36 ratings)
<3 I still adore this overlooked children's book. Riding thermals on the wing, dangerous chases though volcano fumes, desert crossings, lizard-riders. Just fun.
2016: Lacero (304 ratings)
Don't remember this one. A Ready Player One fanfic by Andy Weir.
2015: 幽霊屋敷レストラン (16 ratings)
Read with my students.
2014: The Bell-Tower (112 ratings)
Infinitely better than tackling Moby Dick.
2013: 獣の奏者 2 王獣編 (77 ratings)
Japanese fantasy series.
2012: おとなりは魔女 (2 ratings)
Sadly, not about witches. School bullying story. The magic is love.
2011: 時をかける少女 (251 ratings)
Read because I loved the movie. Watch the movie, skip the book.
2010: Shape-Changers (3,791 ratings)
The premise and story stuck with me from reading it as a kid, but rather more problematic as an adult.
2009: Yakushima: A Yakumonkey Guide (5 ratings)
Accompanied my first trip to 屋久島。Still one of my favorite hiking spots.
2008: Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood (1,580 ratings)
Don't remember. Must've been curious about newer works by a childhood author.
2007: Classical Japanese: A Grammar (27 ratings)
I actually really love this textbook. It's fine and expensive-looking in its cloth cover, and definitely helping me in understanding older and archaic texts.
2006: 藪の中 Yabu no naka (14 ratings)
Classic Japanese short story, basis for the film Rashomon. (Which is the title of another unrelated short story. So confusing!) Taught in most schools, it's a murder mystery of conflicting stories.
2005: The Spell Sword (2,018 ratings)
Don't remember.
2004: The Count of Monte Cristo (756,319 ratings)
Hahaha! Literally the only, and thus least popular, book I shelved for that year.
2003: You Can't Go Home Again (326 ratings)
Read this for a class, and hated it. I groan at the whole genre of early 20th century disillusioned white men.
2002: Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce (2,987 ratings)
An Occurance at Owlcreek Brisge is a classic. :)
2001: Toy Soldiers (163 ratings)
"I read this because my boyfriend was reading it." *shrug* It was alright.
2000: Through the Tunnel (308 ratings)
Short story about a boy who holds his breath to swim through an underwater tunnel.
1999: Teaching English in Japan (6 ratings)
Why was I reading this back then? Probably given to me by an uncle.
1998: 2 Young 2 Go 4 Boys (87 ratings)
LOL! Like, I literally laughed aloud at how cheesy this cover is.
1997: A Cat Called Camouflage (2 ratings)
No memory.
1996: Megan and the Owl Tree (0 other people shelved this book)
No memory of this either, but looks like one I probably read it in the church library to get out of going to service.
1995: Ride the Wild Storm (0 other people shelved this book)
I almost wish I did remember this, so I could give this poor forgotten horse book a review.

I seem to have a weakness for unpopular books so a wallflower retrospective appeals to me. Thanks for your list. I've only recently started marking books read here so Year in Books doesn't reach back very far for me. Perhaps this will inspire me to go back and fill in earlier years. For now here's what I have:

2020: T'Ai-Chi for Geniuses: A Practice Companion for the Genius in Everyone (One other. It was also the highest rated book that I read this year. Both of us were fans.)

2019: Organisms - Selected Stories (Only seen as part of a book bundle.)

2018: Fire in the Ocean (I've always enjoyed books involving North American pantheons but this doesn't seem to be a widely held preference. This was the second book in a trilogy that the publisher didn't continue.)

2017: The Curious Case of Mary Ann (This was also the highest rated on Goodreads book that I shelved in 2017. I liked it a lot more than the most popular book that I read/shelved that year.)

2020:



Petroleum by Albert Lidgett aquired as a means of demonstrating on the Amazon help forums that yes, you can get books from gutenberg.org and use Send to Kindle to send them to your device

2019



Quarry's War #1 by Max Allan Collins aquired as part of a Humble Bundle

2018



Roger Zelazny's Alien Speedway Book 3: The Web by Thomas Wylde acquired
as part of a Humble Bundle

2017

How Ethel Hollister Became a Campfire Girl by Irene Elliott Benson see 2020 for reason why I had this one. My mother read these when she was a child and I wanted to check one out.

other low rated books(other people's ratings)



I-Alien by J. Michael Reeves - I don't even remember reading this one

These are the least popular books I've read in each of the last ten years. This is definitely a mixed bag.


2010: Young Will: The Confessions of William Shakespeare--a novel that makes Shakespeare very unsympathetic. Not my idea of a good time.

2011: Kittens in 3-D With 3-D Viewer
Now who could pass up these cute kittens?

2012: Lear and Cordelia; The Story of King Lear and His Youngest Daughter by Mark Hodges

Shakespeare made it a much better story.

2013: Black Mist: And Other Japanese Futures ed. Orson Scott Card

There's one really excellent story by an author I'd never encountered before.

2014: New Perspectives on Ancient Judaism, Vol 1: Religion, Literature and Society in Ancient Israel ed. Jacob Neusner

Not very interesting.

2015: Voltaire's Calligrapher by Pablo de Santis

Highly unusual alternate history that isn't about Voltaire at all.

2016: Judenstaat by Simone Zelitch

A very credible alternate Jewish state that was tough for me to read from an emotional perspective.

2017: The Dove's Necklace by Raja Alem

Some interesting content about Islam, but way too long.

2018: The Spying Moon by Sandra Ruttan

Unusual and well written Canadian mystery.

2019: Dreamer by Ja-Mel Vinson

Dark New Adult fantasy. For readers with very specific tastes.

2020: The Factory Witches of Lowell by C. S. Malerich

Hated it. Completely misconceived.

Shomeret wrote: "2011: Kittens in 3-D With 3-D Viewer
Now who could pass up these cute kittens?"

OMG ze KITTAHNZ!!1!
❤❤❤▒▒▓█▇▅▂∩( ✧Д✧)∩▂▅▇█▓▒▒❤❤❤

˓˓ก₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎ค˒˒miu♪

♡┉ˏ͛ (❛ 〰 ❛)ˊˎ┉♡　
＊trembles in cute＊

Raucous wrote: "I seem to have a weakness for unpopular books so a wallflower retrospective appeals to me. Thanks for your list.

2020: T'Ai-Chi for Geniuses: A Practice Companion for the Genius in Everyone (One other. It was also the highest rated book that I read this year. Both of us were fans.)"

Haha, with only 1 rating! Ah yes, I have several of those books with perfect 5-star ratings as well. The ones with few ratings also tend to skew high in general.

CBRetriever wrote: "
I-Alien by J. Michael Reeves - I don't even remember reading this one"

I totally get those as well. Blank spots. Like, wait... I read this? Are you sure?

I'm loving this hodge-podge, and also seeing how they ended up on your shelves. I may have to edit in a few explanations of my own.

My least popular books of the last two years I enjoyed a lot and feel bad at the low shelving numbers:

2020- The Green Man's Silence (210)
2019 - Outside the Gates (622)

The Green Man's Silence is book three in a series and I think only available in the US in ebook form so maybe that's why. Outside the Gates is a reprint of a novella from years ago written by Molly Gloss and is stand alone, gave that one 5 stars and would definitely recommend it, very quick read.

My books with the lowest rating numbers were

- Once Upon a Parsec: The Book of Alien Fairy Tales (9 ratings), a lovely anthology of short stories surrounding the topic of alien fairy tales. Highly recommended

- Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology (10 ratings), another recommendable short story anthology with oceanic topic.

- Dark River (16 ratings), more on the average side, but nonetheless an interesting structure of two parallel stories of near future and Stoneage with quite similar plots.

- The Stone Wētā (20 ratings) - I'm just shocked to see how little attention this one got. The absolutely best Novella of last year and worthy of every award out there. Highly recommended!

- The Little Animals (31 ratings), a wonderful story about the discovery of microorganisms through VanLeeuwenhoek's lenses. It was a Philip K. Dick award nominee.

- All Worlds are Real: Short Fictions (34 ratings) - ... and another completely overlooked, recommendable short fiction collection.

Well, aside the obscure, localized ones I've added to the database myself (most with 0 ratings) these stand out:

Discourses of Men's Suicide Notes: A Qualitative Analysis (1 rating)

Henry Scott Tuke Paintings From Cornwall (4 ratings)

Eighty Drawings: Including "The Weaker Sex: The Story of a Susceptible Bachelor"
(8 ratings)

(Curiously, each with notably long titles).

Ooh, fun, I love this! I'm using the Least Popular feature on the Year in Books. Most, especially recently, are short stories or short story magazines.

2020: Apex Magazine Issue 120 (20 ratings) - short story magazine. A great selection of stories, highly recommended


2019: Water Rights (5 ratings) - short story. Also very good. No GR cover image.

2018: Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached To the Hull of My Ship (4 ratings) - short story. I recall that this was excellent and very funny. No GR cover image.

2017: Keltair's Ride (3 ratings) - novella, and an indie publication I was given by the author to review. Not terrible for what it was, but not one I'd recommend.


2016: (view spoiler)[ Four Times Percy Garrett Didn't Kiss Louisa Ambrey, and One Time He Did (hide spoiler)]
(38 ratings) - a short story Rose Lerner published free on her website. Wonderful, if you happen to have read and enjoyed the book it goes with (In for a Penny). The title is a slight spoiler for that book.

2015: The Healers' Road (194 ratings, but I think it was much fewer at the time) - at last a novel! I love this book, and I'm glad it's gotten a few more eyes on it since I first read it.


2014: Like Twin Stars (27 ratings) - a short story collection; fun fact, one of the stories is by NK Jemisin! Fine, but not totally memorable except for Jemisin's story.


2013: The Last Best Tip (30 ratings) - novella and two short stories. I don't remember this AT ALL, but I only gave it 2 stars, so probably not great.