The Neglected Books Page

The Neglected Books Page is a book review website.[1][2] The site features reviews of books that have been, according to the site, "neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or stranded by changing tides in critical or popular taste." The site was founded in 2006.[3][4]

Brad Bigelow is the author of the website, he reportedly has had a lifelong interest in finding and reading neglected books, typically by browsing used books stores. He says he was inspired by David Madden's book Rediscoveries (1971),[5] a collection of essays by a variety of writers about little-known or long-forgotten books.[6] Bigelow said it provided the model for how to write about forgotten books.[6] Bigelow is unnamed on the website, only as "Editor", he says he does not seek publicity or fame, rather he sees the project as a hobby like stamp collecting.[6] Bigelow worked for the U.S. Air Force for 25 years; at the time the site started in 2006, he was an IT project manager for NATO.[3][7]

Some of the books rediscovered include The Moonflower Vine (1962) a novel by Jetta Carleton, a discovery noted by Publishers Weekly.[3] Neglected Books had featured the book in December 2006, including an endorsement from author Jane Smiley.[3] Literary agent Denise Shannon read Neglected Books and from that ordered a used copy of Moonflower which she read and loved.[3] From there she sold the idea to Harper Perennial to republish.[3][8][9]

Author Jack Gantos said in The New York Times that "My favorite Web site is The Neglected Books Page. Every time I go on it, there is always a title I walk away with that I track down, and it's drop-dead great."[10]

In March 2016, Bigelow and the website were featured in a New Yorker article titled "The Custodian of Forgotten Books".[11]

References
  1. Jennifer Scheussler (April 24, 2009). "Inside the List". New York Times Book Review. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  2. Chris Routledge (September 27, 2007). "Neglected Books". The Reader. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  3. Lynn Andriani (February 2, 2009). "Web Site and Author Rescue a Forgotten Book". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved August 17, 2012. Volume 256 Issue 5.
  4. Peter Steinberg (March 2, 2011). "Read Across America: 11 Obscure Titles For Adventurous Book Clubs". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  5. David Madden (ed.), Rediscoveries: Informal Essays in Which Well-Known Novelists Rediscover Neglected Works of Fiction by One of Their Favorite Authors, Crown, 1971.
  6. D. G. Myers (literary historian at the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at the Ohio State University); Brad Bigelow (September 8, 2009). "Interview with Brad Bigelow: In mankinds largest agora". A Commonplace Blog. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  7. Jetta Carleton (Mar 6, 2012). Clair de Lune: A Novel. HarperCollins. Pg. 227-28
  8. "Moonflower Resurrection". The Pitch. June 4–10, 2009. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013.
  9. Jetta Carleton; Brad Bigelow (March 24, 2009). "A Neglected Book". The Moonflower Vine: A Novel. HarperCollins. Pg.327
  10. Kate Murphy (July 12, 2012). "Catching Up With Jack Gantos". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  11. Daniel A. Gross (March 8, 2016). "The Custodian of Forgotten Books". New Yorker. Retrieved September 17, 2017.


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