27-03-2025
People Are Sharing The Most Underrated Books They've Ever Read, And I'm Adding Each And Every One Of These To My Reading List
While it's fun to read the latest Booktok smash hit, there's something especially satisfying in reading and enjoying a book that isn't splashed all over social media.
So when I found this Reddit thread started by user My_Life_is_a_Farce asking for underrated book recommendations, I naturally took notes. Here are some that I've already added to my TBR list, which you might like as well...
Song: Journeys in Search of a Submerged Land by Julia Blackburn
"Time Song by Julia Blackburn is one of the most remarkable nonfiction books I've ever read... It is nominally a history of the now-submerged land between England and continental Europe, but it is also a memoir about loving and losing and loving again, and it is also a meditation on what it means to exist and be remembered, and it is also literal poetry and a masterclass in sentence to sentence writing. I love this book so much." —assholeinwonderland
Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton
"Cool storytelling by proxy. I was really into studies of material culture at the time but I think this holds up regardless." —koko_kachoo
Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears
"I read it in a college course, but beyond that I've never seen in mentioned anywhere. It's a really beautiful novel about what it means to be human and what civilization means. It takes place in one town in southern France over three distinct historical moments: the fall of Rome, the Black Death, and the Vichy period. It's one of my favorite novels." —katiejim
Rice Mother by Rani Manicka
"If you like intergenerational stories like Homegoing and Pachinko, I recommend The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka. It tells the story of Lakshmi, a Ceylonese girl born in 1916 who is married off to a man in Malaysia at 14, and follows multiple generations of her family up to the early 21st century.
The book gives an interesting insight into 20th century Malaysian history, including multiple immigrant cultures and the brutal Japanese occupation during WWII, and is a fascinating portrayal of complex characters and family relationships from multiple perspectives. The descriptions are beautiful and there is an underpinning of magical realism and themes of fate." —nashamagirl99
Women in Cages by Vilas Sarang
"It's a collection of some of the strangest, weirdest, most wonderful short stories I have ever read. I know nobody else who has ever read this one, and everyone really should." —lenny_ray
Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore
"It is a fascinating biography that shows us how far medicine has come from basically a profession based on wives' tales and superstition to one based on science." —_my_choice_
by Jean Webster
"It's my favorite book of all time, and has the most lovable heroine I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. A mysterious nameless man sends an orphan girl to school, and she discovers the secret of happiness through all of the little wonderful things in life. The musical is also fantastic. She calls the man Daddy-Long-Legs on account of him being so tall, long-legged, and fatherly." —BruisedSkidd
and the Cloneasaurus by Stephen Kozeniewski
"I got it cheap on the Kobo store purely because of its name, and didn't expect much. But it turned out to be a really fun definitely recommend for a somewhat weird but entertaining dystopian book." —TigerSardonic
for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto
"It's about how he saves a variety of organic peaches his immigrant grandparents planted. It follows a year at the farm and his process to make the farm organic. Beautiful tribute to farming, families and the work ethic of immigrant families. Saw so much of my family in the book. Warning, you will crave peaches for years after reading it." —Wanderingirl17
Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
"Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith. It's a magical-realism/mythological novel involving a kind of curse spanning over generations, taking place in Vietnam." —Cabbage_Pizza
—Mysterious_Fox_8616
in Case by Meg Rosoff
"I read it years ago, bought it from a charity shop as I like the dust cover. It's all about a boy trying to escape fate. Never met anyone who has read it and I find it an interesting read to come back to." —Stephen111110
Canning Season by Polly Horvath
"It's a little hard to find for some reason, but The Canning Season by Polly Horvath is a longtime favorite of mine. Equal parts hilarious and poignant. It's about a teenage girl whose overbearing/borderline abusive mother sends her to spend a summer with distant elderly relatives she's never met." —NeighborhoodMothGirl
Street by Ibi Zoboi
"A YA story about a Haitian girl who immigrates to Detroit. I found her perspective really interesting." —Icy-Vegetable-Pitchy
Body by Laurel Doud
"I picked this book up in a $2 bargain bin maybe 10± years ago and it blew me away. I don't know anyone else who has read this book... I always thought it could have been made into an amazing screenplay.
From Amazon's description:
'WHAT IF YOU HAD LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN?
WHAT IF YOU WERE RICH? WHAT IF YOU WERE SKINNY? WHAT IF YOU HAD A SECOND CHANCE TO FIND TRUE LOVE?
Katharine Ashley, in the prime of her life, is a dutiful mother of two whose heart suddenly stops beating. Thisby Bennet is a rich and skinny young woman whose dangerous taste for drugs and men leads to her equally untimely death. When Katharine's departing soul finds its way into Thisby's lifeless body, the story of This Body begins...'" —Creative-Tomatillo
The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall
"Wake by Dr. Rebecca Hall. It's about women-led revolts throughout the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It's a graphic novel, memoir, and super interesting dive into not well-known history. I finished it last night and haven't stopped thinking about it." —spanishpeanut
Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler
"It's a poem book that personifies human traits (greed, pleasure, compassion, and beauty). It is a very sweet book." —margirl100twirl
Fruit Bowl by Dominic Holland
"He's Tom Holland's dad (yes, that Tom Holland) and is mostly known as a comedian though he's a writer as well. I love all his books but The Fruit Bowl has so much heart and it'll make you cry at the beginning and again at the end. Really loved it." —Zoe_Croman
Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier
"Takes place in my home city where the author grew up, and is inspired by true events of her life. Changed my perspective on life. Story partly includes residential schools of Canada." —Due_Anteater9116
Hippo by Sarah Gailey
"It's hippo cowboys doing a heist. It rules." —Hms-chill
Okay, now, tell us your totally underrated books! Share in the comments below, and let us all add even more to our TBR!
