Sam Jordison 

Reading group: which underappreciated book should we read in April?

Do you have a favourite read that is tragically underrated? Is there an up-and-coming author who deserves the spotlight? Convince us and we’ll read it together this month
  
  

John Fowles at his home in Lyme Regis, in Dorset, England in 1985.
‘Unfashionable former titan’ ... John Fowles at his home in Lyme Regis, in Dorset, England in 1985. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

This month on the reading group we want to shine the spotlight on a writer you feel deserves more attention. At the end of last year we had you nominate the overlooked gems of 2017, and that felt like a tremendous success. Not least because we ended up reading the wonderful (and recently award-winning) Attrib by Eley Williams.

Now we want to extend that opportunity again and hunt for the writers who perhaps not enough people have read, or who just merit an extra bit of attention. The remit is as broad as you want to make it. If you feel that not enough people nowadays are enjoying Lucretius’s thoughts on Epicurean philosophy, sock us a nomination for De Rerum Natura. If, at the other end of the spectrum, you feel you know a writer who is going to be the next big thing, let us know about them.

And we’re hoping to hear about great, older writers who don’t get mainstream coverage any more, either unfairly forgotten or just deserving of a little extra love. It could be an almost-forgotten genius such as Alfred Chester, a perplexingly unfashionable former titan such as John Fowles, an eternal outsider such as Dan Fante, someone with a quietly brilliant career such as Lesley Glaister, or an independent publishing inspiration such as May-Lan Tan. The choice is yours.

We ask only that you suggest a book as well as an author, that the book is widely available, and that reading it will bring us all good things. It would also be splendid if you could provide a few words about why this book and author matters. I’ll compile and weigh up the suggestions in a few days’ time, put them in a hat and return with a book to read when the result has been drawn.

 

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