My friend Mary McCoy from the 1947project and L.A. Public Library
hit upon an interesting endeavor while wandering the closed stacks:
Revisiting the bestsellers of the past. Not just any bestsellers, mind
you; they have to be forgotten and obscure.

She explains: This summer’s blockbuster hit is next year’s $5.98 remainder at Barnes
& Noble, so I wonder, what happened to the smash beach read from
1938 that currently languishes in your grandmother’s attic? Is there
some unsung classic waiting to be sold by the pound at your neighbor’s
yard sale?

This summer, I plan to slog my way through the
forgotten books of the twentieth century, and you are cordially invited
to join me in the Zombie Summer Reading Program. Email your most
ghastly, obscure finds to zombiesummerreading@gmail.com, and I’ll post
your blurbs.

Here are her rules:

1.  It must be over 40 years old, and ideally, have a whiff of mold or neglect about it.
2.  It must not be written by anyone you’ve ever heard of.