Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

A Russian one - “Three Jews” by Muhin. Stupid title, but it’s an incredible account of author’s life and work at a steel plant in Soviet Union in 70-80s. Probably not translated, but highly recommended for all Russian speakers.

'The Extended Organism' by J Scott Turner

I've posted this repeatedly to these lists, but no one else is as enthused by it.

From the GoodReads page:

"Can the structures that animals build--from the humble burrows of earthworms to towering termite mounds to the Great Barrier Reef--be said to live? However counterintuitive the idea might first seem, physiological ecologist Scott Turner demonstrates in this book that many animals construct and use structures to harness and control the flow of energy from their environment to their own advantage."

I'll venture "The Third Policeman" for comic surrealism.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27208.The_Third_Policema...

Anthony Trollope's "The Warden."

Trollope isn't as well known as Dickens or Austen. I think the emotional intelligence of this book makes up for the fact that nothing much happens.

There's a vicar who is old friends with the Bishop. He's made Warden of an Almshouse for old men in the community. The amount of money he's going to get to do basically nothing is embarrassingly large.

It's an extremely gentle book about controversy, conspiracy, and people taking a moral stand.

It got me hooked on Trollope. His other books are far more intricate, worldly, and entertaining. But I like this short novel very much.

The Diary of Opal Whiteley, written around 1910 by an observant child using unusual syntax. It's poetic, simple, brilliant. I first saw it in the Multnomah (Portland Oregon) library.

Available online: http://www.opalonline.org/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opal_Whiteley