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UnderratedReads is devoted to discovering underrated books and under-represented authors. We highlight hidden gems from around the world–honest reviews only, never pay-to-play.
Category Archives: Lost and almost forgotten
The Last Best Friend – George Sims (Author), Martin Edwards (Introduction)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Had Sammy, on the towering ledge, been tempted by death, the last best friend? The endless embrace, offering oblivion and release from the remorse that Sammy felt for his parents and sisters left behind to be … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged British crime, fiction, London, WWII
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Death of a Busybody (British Library Crime Classics) – George Bellairs
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Fifty year old Miss Ethel Tither has made a lot of enemies in her years in the English village of Hilary Magna. She is a major financial donor to the Home Gospel Alliance for Bringing Sinners … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged book reviews, British crime, classic fiction, detective fiction, fiction
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Late Fame (NYRB Classics) – Arthur Schnitzler (Author), Alexander Starritt (Translator)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Around him was an atmosphere of hope, youth, self-confidence, and he breathed it in deeply. …some of the words they were using began to sound familiar to him…words he had thought of from time to … Continue reading
Posted in Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature
Tagged Austria, classics, fame, poetry, short books, Vienna
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Sex and Rage: A Novel – Eve Babitz
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Years and years and years were pocked with holes of things Jacaranda simple didn’t remember, with people Jacaranda didn’t remember meeting, conversations she didn’t remember having, promises and parties and great ideas and projects Jacaranda didn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged 1970, Los Angeles, New York, publishing, Santa Monica, self-destruction, sex
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The Hideout – Egon Hostovsky (Translated from the Czech by Fern Long)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I keep having the feeling that a good half of the human race got drunk in a kind of gigantic space where the air is all breathed out. The born fighters and brawlers started to … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Slavic Literature
Tagged adultery, Czech, France, introspection, loyalty, short books, WWII
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Motherland Hotel – Yusuf Atilgan, (Translated from the Turkish by Fred Stark)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “She was in the painting on the wall…It had gotten stiff again and he ran his fingers through the short hairs at the root. “Almost as big as the rest of you.” at tall woman, under … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Middle Eastern Literature, World Literature
Tagged book reviews. fiction, mental illness, Turkish literature
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The Bible in Spain: Or, The journeys, adventures, and imprisonments of an Englishman, in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the peninsula. – George Henry Borrow
(Reviewed by arwen1968) In 1842, a nobody called George Borrow wrote a detailed, 550-pages-long account of his day job. Sounds boring? Well, it isn’t: Borrow’s day job was to sell bibles in war-torn, Catholic Spain. Anybody familiar with Catholicism knows … Continue reading
Posted in History, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged classics, history, Religion
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Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A. – Eve Babitz (Author), Matthew Specktor (Introduction)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Los Angeles isn’t a city. It’s a gigantic, sprawling, ongoing studio. Everything is off the record. People don’t have time to apologize for its not being a city when their civilized friends suspect them of losing … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged baby-boomers, biography, drugs, Los Angeles, memoirs, San Francisco
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Outsider in Amsterdam (Amsterdam Cops) – Janwillem Van De Wetering
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “ “Papuans…He saw the wild men from the early ages who once populated the swamp that, now, today, was called Holland.” Today in 1970’s Amsterdam, most have learned about these people from the Dutch colony of … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Culture, Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature
Tagged crime fiction, Dutch literature
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