So here’s a list of some of the underrated and unknown books by 25 of our favourite authors: 

1. Douglas Adams

You may have read: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

We recommend: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a humorous detective novel. Describing the hilarious co-relation between a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an electric monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (the poet), and pizza, the novel will take you on an epic journey. 

2. Joseph Heller 

You may have read: Catch-22

We recommend: Good as Gold

Good as Gold is a satire on the US Government. It is about a Jewish, middle-aged university English professor, who is offered the chance for success, fame and fortune in Washington D.C and how it impacts his life. It is funny and sad, exploring the children growing up, the parents growing old and the distances that come in any relationship. 

3. Nick Hornby

You may have read: High Fidelity, About a Boy

We recommend:  How to Be Good

How To Be Good is another brilliant example of the wit and compassion that we’ve seen in Hornby’s works. This book is exactly what it’s titled, how to be good. The author tries to make the readers introspect and realize how they can be good and how they can be better than what they are. But it also explores the painstaking troubles of a dying marriage and an insight into the middle-class society. Read this for an honest but hopeful depiction of life. 

4. Audrey Niffenegger

You may have read: The Time Traveller’s Wife

We recommend: Her Fearful Symmetry

Set in and around the Highgate Cemetery in London, the 5th novel by Audrey is beautiful and compelling. It’s a tale that you are enamoured with. Niffenegger weaves a enrapturing story in the novel, centred around love, secrets, sisterhood and the tenacity of life, even after death. 

5. George Orwell

You may have read: 1984; Animal Farm

We recommend: Coming Up For Air

Goerge Orwell is famous for writing satirical dystopian novels like 1984 and Animal Farm. But Coming Up For Air is a personal account of the author’s struggle to cope up with the totalitarianism rising in pre-World War II England. It’s about a middle-aged salesman living in a middle-class English society. One day he wins some extra money and goes back to his village. But he is shocked with the changes that have happened there. It’s a different coming of age novel where the protagonist has to come to terms with the change happening around him and let go of his childhood memories. 

6. Stephen King  

You may have read: The Shining; The Stand

We recommend: Salem’s Lot

Stephen King has written more than 200 novels in his writing career so far and although you can’t really pick a best, Salem’s Lot is one of his best writings. It’s his favourite as well. A horror novel, it’s one of the most popular writings on Vampires. It’s a heartening story about small towns and how they are thought of by the populace. 

7. Mark Twain

You may have read: Tom Sawyer

We recommend: Roughing It

Mark Twain was a skilled chronicler of his personal life; and Roughing It is a great recount of his own wanderlust years. It’s a humorous read combined with the author’s personal perspective on life. An autobiographical writing, this novel is probably the best work by Mark Twain. 

8. Herman Melville

You may have read: Moby Dick

We recommend: Bartleby the Scrivener

Bartleby the Scrivener is a novella, but it’s one of the most absorbing and moving novellas ever. It is a story about a man working on Wall Street, New York, who just one day stops to question his life and his future. It’s a reflection on what if one day we stop in the rat race and say, “I don’t want to do this anymore”. It’s a beautiful portrayal of clinical depression and a reflection on the philosophy of success in life. 

9. Lewis Carroll

You may have read: Alice In Wonderland

We recommend: Sylvie and Bruno

Sylvie and Bruno is Lewis Carroll’s attempt to write something exactly unlike Alice novels, and this is just that. It’s a combination of two short stories, Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. Many people find the writing bizarre and haphazard, but that is exactly what makes this book endearing to many. A story of two siblings and their adventures recounted by an old man form the plot of the novel. It’s an unpredictable read, but if you’re hooked, you will be a fan. 

10. J.R.R. Tolkien

You may have read: Lord Of The Rings

We recommend: Farmer Giles of Ham

This is an exciting tale full of bravery, heroism and Tolkien’s subtle humour. The story shows how Giles, the protagonist, rises from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land with the help of a dragon named Chrysophylax. It’s a cheerful and lighthearted read, quite unlike the LOTR series. 

11. Stephenie Meyer

You may have read: Twilight

We recommend: The Host  

The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic earth where an alien race called ‘Souls’ has taken over the planet. This novel explores the human psyche and how we must value what we are given. The relationship between ‘Melanie’ (human) and ‘Wanderer’ (alien soul) is beautiful and insightful. 

12. Mario Puzo

You may have read: Godfather

We recommend: The Fortunate Pilgrim

Godfather was probably the best work by Mario Puzo, but The Fortunate Pilgrim is Puzo’s classic story of an immigrant family trying to settle in New York. It’s an honest depiction of Puzo’s mother and how she struggled to cope up with changing times and establishing a stronghold in a new strange land. Poignant, comic and violent, this novel is American-Italian fiction at its very best. 

13. Roald Dahl

You may have read: Matilda

We recommend: The Witches

The Witches is not a fairy-tale book, but a real book for children. The story is about a little Norwegian orphan boy and his grandma who come up with a plan to do away with all English witches. When they’ve accomplished that task, the little boy is noticeably altered in size and appearance. He doesn’t mind, though. He sets off cheerfully with his grandma on a grand tour to rid the entire world of those evil witchy creatures. The witches are wile and horrid, and do not ride on broomsticks. This book is a compelling narration full of humour and wisdom. 

14. Gillian Flynn

You may have read: Gone Girl

We recommend: Dark Places

Dark Places deals with the satanic cult hysteria that gripped the US in the 1980s. The novel, told from various point of views, paints a grim picture of poverty, marital abuse and abandonment. Flynn has a talent for dragging you into her stories and having them take you over until you find out just what the hell is going on, and this novel is no different. It’s a story about a woman who witnessed the murders of her mother and two sisters, and later testifies against her brother who she is convinced is the murderer. But 25 years later, she is forced to revisit the horrific incident and maybe discover the actual truth. 

15. JK Rowling

You may have read: Harry Potter Series

We recommend: Casual Vacancy

So anyone who expects Casual Vacancy  to be anything like the Harry Potter novels will be thoroughly disappointed. Casual Vacancy is a serious story about ordinary muggles and the struggles of life they are forced to deal with. The novel is set in a suburban West Country town called Pagford and begins with the death of beloved Parish Councillor Barry Fairbrother. Subsequently, a seat on the council is vacant and a conflict ensues before the election for his successor takes place. This novel deals with the reality without the haven of *magic*. 

16. Sophie Kinsella

You may have read: The Shopaholic Series

We recommend: The Undomestic Goddess

Sophie Kinsella is known for dealing with real life problems in a unique manner and this novel is no different. The protagonist is a high-achieving successful lawyer who one day commits a small error and goes into meltdown. She ends up miles from home in the middle of nowhere working as a maid to a family that doesn’t know anything about her true identity. She also doesn’t know anything at all about being a maid as you can probably guess by the title. The novel is an hilariously interesting ride. 

17. CS Lewis

You may have read: The Chronicles Of Narnia

We recommend: Out of the Silent Planet

Not one of the author’s popular books, this extremely effective satirical novel deserves to be famous. The novel brings together the elements of Scandinavian, Celtic, Greek, Roman and English literature to create a universe that is as bizarre as it is captivating. It’s a sci-fi fantasy succeeded by Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. 

18. Arundhati Roy

You may have read: The God of Small Things

We recommend: An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire

This novel is a direct question on democracy and how capitalists have learnt to subvert it. In this book, Roy talks about how the Empire (US) manages to control other countries for its profit, no matter what rights are trampled and lives are lost (in wars and smaller conflicts). Iraq is used as an example. There is also useful insight in India’s hair-rising wrongs and how little of it we read in our news. Roy’s incisive analysis of globalization is bold, brave, and unique. 

19. Neil Gaiman

You may have read: The Sandman Series

We recommend: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

This is a dark twisted novel that explores all that makes us human and reveals the power of stories and imagination in sheltering us from the darkness inside and out. The novel follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and remembers events that began forty years earlier. It’s a story for the search of self-identity and the relationship between childhood and adult life. 

20. Ray Bradbury

You may have read: Fahrenheit 451

We recommend: Death is a Lonely Business

This is a mystery novel written on a series of murders that happen in Venice, California, in the 1950s-1960s. Bradbury tells the story of a dying era through a straightforward sort of whodunit intrigue. The characters are all bigger than life and you will be enamoured by their stories. It’s a gripping tale of mayhem and murder.

21. Jonathan Swift

You may have read: Gulliver’s Travels

We recommend: A Tale Of A Tub

Jonathan Swift is a writer known for his powerful satirical writings and A Tale Of A Tub is no different. The story is about three brothers who are left with some coats on their father’s death with an order to never make any changes to the coats. The three brothers are a representation of the three branches of Western Churches. It’s an exuberant, bawdy fable that is a unique satire on politics, religion, fashion, madness and on writing itself. 

22. Mary Shelley

You may have read: Frankenstein

We recommend: The Last Man

The idea of this novel is that a plague wipes out all of humanity, leaving one man alone to survive. This story is set in the future, Shelley’s vision of which includes airships as an important means of transport. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel and intriguing portraits of Mary’s husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron make it a terrifying but interesting read. 

23. Nathaniel Hawthorne

You may have read: The Scarlet Letter

We recommend: The House of the Seven Gables

The spooky House of the Seven Gables is like any other good horror story and has two simultaneous plots running. One is of the historic tale of the cursed Pyncheon family and the other is of a land deal that the family is trying to win so that they can get filthy rich! House of the Seven Gables is as much a morality tale as it is a horror or haunted-house one. 

24. Joseph Conrad

You may have read: Heart Of Darkness

We recommend: The Secret Agent

This book was written in the early 1900s but is very relevant even today, and that is what makes this novel a brilliant read. It’s about a small time detective who takes on a simple case where one things go wrong and suddenly the politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London’s high-society people are involved. 

25. F. Scott Fitzgerald

You may have read: The Great Gatsby

We recommend: The Beautiful and Damned

This is a beautiful novel that delves into the high life of New York’s elite. The protagonist and his wife are people who like to live like the rich but do not want to work for it; the intricacies of each character is highly developed and the human nature and relationships are portrayed in depth. It’s an excellent read though it’s not the most action-packed. 

What are you waiting for? Go ahead and grab a copy already!