Lesser known & obscure genres

[Asphodelus]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. Do you have any lesser known, niche, or obscure genres that you take a particular interest in? I myself am really into 19th & early 20th century boys' boarding school novels, such as The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's. I'm interested in seeing if anyone else out there in cyberspace is interested in lesser known genres too, especially ones containing many older works.

 

[poppy]

Firstly, welcome to BFC, Asphodelus 🙂

I've been reading a lot of vintage fiction lately. I particularly like books set in WW2 but also cosy mysteries in the English countryside.

Edited July 22, 2024 by poppy

[KEV67]

On 7/22/2024 at 2:17 AM, Asphodelus said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum. Do you have any lesser known, niche, or obscure genres that you take a particular interest in? I myself am really into 19th & early 20th century boys' boarding school novels, such as The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's. I'm interested in seeing if anyone else out there in cyberspace is interested in lesser known genres too, especially ones containing many older works.

 

I have read Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes. I found it quite an odd book. The reason I read it was that I had read all George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books. He was a character invented by Thomas Hughes. He was a bully who was expelled from Rugby Public School.

[KEV67]

I am into Victorian novels about misers, but it is a very small subgenre. The only ones I have found so far are A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Silas Marner by George Eliot.

[Hayley]

On 7/22/2024 at 2:17 AM, Asphodelus said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum. Do you have any lesser known, niche, or obscure genres that you take a particular interest in? I myself am really into 19th & early 20th century boys' boarding school novels, such as The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's. I'm interested in seeing if anyone else out there in cyberspace is interested in lesser known genres too, especially ones containing many older works.

 

I feel sure that somebody else here was interested in boarding school novels but I can’t remember who! My niche interest is dream portrayals in literature, especially in the nineteenth century  

 

3 hours ago, KEV67 said:

I am into Victorian novels about misers, but it is a very small subgenre. The only ones I have found so far are A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Silas Marner by George Eliot.

There’s a good one (when I say good, I mean he’s utterly detestable) in Nicholas Nickleby too!

 

[briber]

hello, 

Most of my 10 favourite books are vintage, early fifties and earlier. Authors i particularly like are:

Thomas Costain. 'The Tontine' set in the early nineteenth century.

Thomas Armstrong's King Cotton is set in the same era up to the end of the American Civil War.   His Pilling Always Pays is early 2oth Century.

Arthur Hailey, his formula is pretty much the same in every book but still good reads.

Neville Shute, extremely dry but some gems amongst them.

Frank Tilsley  Champion Road and Brother Nap, are very much set in the early 20th Century up to the labour government of the 40s 

R F Delderfield, A Horseman Riding By, 3 volumes   is set from the Boer War up to the sixties. and his God is an Englishman is set from the 1880s to the 1960s . 

His Dreaming Suburb and The Avenue Goes To War are set from the end of the first world war and beyond the second. 

I'll leave it there for now.

 

briber

[poppy]

 

On 8/24/2025 at 10:58 AM, briber said:

hello, 

Most of my 10 favourite books are vintage, early fifties and earlier. Authors i particularly like are:

Thomas Costain. 'The Tontine' set in the early nineteenth century.

Thomas Armstrong's King Cotton is set in the same era up to the end of the American Civil War.   His Pilling Always Pays is early 2oth Century.

Arthur Hailey, his formula is pretty much the same in every book but still good reads.

Neville Shute, extremely dry but some gems amongst them.

Frank Tilsley  Champion Road and Brother Nap, are very much set in the early 20th Century up to the labour government of the 40s 

R F Delderfield, A Horseman Riding By, 3 volumes   is set from the Boer War up to the sixties. and his God is an Englishman is set from the 1880s to the 1960s . 

His Dreaming Suburb and The Avenue Goes To War are set from the end of the first world war and beyond the second. 

I'll leave it there for now.

 

briber

 

I'm another fan of vintage books, at the moment I'm hooked on Golden Age mysteries. I've become a big fan of Moray Dalton who has been republished by Dean St Press.

 

I have the complete set of Nevil Shute books and have read most of them. My favourite is Pied Piper and I loved Requiem For a Wren too. One of my favourite genres are WW2 based books.

 

Also a huge fan of Delderfield, I've read all those and the Horseman Riding By saga several times. The TV series of this was very good, I thought.

 

 

 

[briber]

10 hours ago, poppy said:

 

 

I'm another fan of vintage books, at the moment I'm hooked on Golden Age mysteries. I've become a big fan of Moray Dalton who has been republished by Dean St Press.

 

I have the complete set of Nevil Shute books and have read most of them. My favourite is Pied Piper and I loved Requiem For a Wren too. One of my favourite genres are WW2 based books.

 

Also a huge fan of Delderfield, I've read all those and the Horseman Riding By saga several times. The TV series of this was very good, I thought.

 

 

 

Hello,

If you like WW2 books have you read Uris's Armageddon? Interesting theme of the Berlin embargo after the war. and the main characters dealing with the occupied area. Didn't care for the final chapter but, he wrote it the way he saw it.

Delderfield, Agree, the TV series was good, but so long ago it's in the mists of time and strangely, never repeated, to my knowledge. The books, I never tire of.

 

Regards,

 

briber

 

[poppy]

On 8/26/2025 at 12:18 AM, briber said:

Hello,

If you like WW2 books have you read Uris's Armageddon? Interesting theme of the Berlin embargo after the war. and the main characters dealing with the occupied area. Didn't care for the final chapter but, he wrote it the way he saw it.

Delderfield, Agree, the TV series was good, but so long ago it's in the mists of time and strangely, never repeated, to my knowledge. The books, I never tire of.

 

Regards,

 

briber

 

 

I'll look that one out, thanks briber. 

An author I haven't read (on my tbr list) but recommended by several people, is Frances Flaviel. She wrote Chelsea Concerto based on her experiences during the Blitz, and The Dancing Bear about her time in post-war Berlin.

 

I've rewatched The Horseman series on Youtube. 

[briber]

11 hours ago, poppy said:

 

I'll look that one out, thanks briber. 

An author I haven't read (on my tbr list) but recommended by several people, is Frances Flaviel. She wrote Chelsea Concerto based on her experiences during the Blitz, and The Dancing Bear about her time in post-war Berlin.

 

I've rewatched The Horseman series on Youtube. 

Youtube! Didn't think of that. 

[briber]

On 7/24/2024 at 7:14 PM, KEV67 said:

I have read Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes. I found it quite an odd book. The reason I read it was that I had read all George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books. He was a character invented by Thomas Hughes. He was a bully who was expelled from Rugby Public School.

Delderfields, 'To Serve Them All My Days' is public school pre WW1 and past WW2 something similar to 'Goodbye Mr Chips' by Hilton.