Books
10 Lesser-Known Works By Famous Authors
Famous authors are often known for writing that one iconic novel. Some of them may have only finished one novel; others didn't receive the same critical acclaim for their other works. Of course, these novels are all classics (and it's a great idea to read as many classics as you can), but it can be disheartening if you have a book hangover from one author's work, only to discover they have no other books you can add to your TBR pile.
Thankfully, many authors who wrote novels that eventually became classics also wrote other books. It’s hard to follow up a masterpiece, so maybe these novels didn’t become as popular as their most known works. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a read. Not every author wrote one amazing book and then disappeared — many created lots of works that are often just as wonderful as their most popular creation. It’s time to add some extra reading to your list that you may have missed in high school, but just because authors aren’t instantly known for these works doesn’t mean you should skip them. Here are some great books to read by famous authors, other than their best known works:
'The Beautiful And Damned' By F. Scott Fitzgerald
You probably read The Great Gatsby in high school, but there's more where that came from. F. Scott Fitzgerald based The Beautiful and Damned on his own relationship with his fascinating wife, Zelda.
'The Confidence-Man' By Herman Melville
He's best known for writing the whale-sized novel Moby Dick, but Herman Melville was actually an extremely prolific writer who crafted many other works. The Confidence-Man is a satirical book about passengers aboard a steamboat, and it's full of Melville's trademark wry, dense prose.
'Franny And Zooey' By J.D. Salinger
After reading The Catcher in the Rye, check out a couple of Salinger's other works. Franny is the story of a girl feeling pretty disenchanted after a weekend date, and Zooey is the story of her brother and his response.
'The Blue Castle' By Lucy Maud Montgomery
You know her as the author of Anne of Green Gables, but the sharp-witted Canadian author wrote several other works. The Blue Castle is one of her adult works, and it's a dramatic romance following protagonist Valancy Stirling.
'A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court' By Mark Twain
Mark Twain's novels Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are well-known classics often on school reading lists. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is still popular, but a bit less known (or at least less frequently assigned), but the story of a Yankee engineer displaced in the Middle Ages is certainly worth a read.
'Romola' By George Eliot
George Eliot, a.k.a. Mary Ann Evans, is best known for her novel Middlemarch. Her novel Romola is a good next read for Middlemarch fans: it's a historical novel about the city of Florence during the Renaissance.
'Northanger Abbey' By Jane Austen
Jane Austen's most-loved work is definitely Pride and Prejudice, but her novels Emma and Persuasion also get a lot of love. Northanger Abbey is a lesser known tale, but the story of heroine Catherine Morland and her obsession with dramatic gothic novels is still relatable even today. She's basically a Regency-era fangirl.
'Martin Eden' By Jack London
Jack London wrote more than The Call of the Wild. His novel Martin Eden is a partially autobiographical story about a struggling writer, and it's definitely worth a read.
'The Last Man' By Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley is best known for writing the chilling Frankenstein, but her scary stories don't stop there. The Last Man, which was a critical flop but beloved by Shelley herself, is a dystopian look at a world almost destroyed by plague.
'The Black Tulip' By Alexandre Dumas
Dumas is well known for his works The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. He's a master of adventure. The adventure continues in his work The Black Tulip, a novel about a tulip grower named Cornelius von Baerle, a jailer's daughter named Rosa, and the political drama that surrounds them.
