Booking Through Thursday

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

The book I picked for this week's question isn't exactly unknown (#16,981 in Amazon.com sales rank), but I have noticed that I get one of two reactions whenever I mention it. Either people give me a blank stare (even online, I can feel that stare) and ask, "What is that about?" or their entire face lights up with excitement and they flush with the memories of the first time they read the book and they gush, "I LOVE that book!" My answer to this week's question is The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, by Neal Stephenson.