15 Days Book Blogging Challenge - Describe One Underappreciated Book Everyone Should Read

If you've been following my blog for the past few days, you know by now that I'm participating in the 15 Days Book Blogging Challenge hosted at Good Books and Good Wine. My introductory post for the challenge is here, and I've been having fun writing up these posts, though I've decided to write them all up ahead of time to post each day. Quite the departure from normal for me. I'm generally more of a "write and post right away" type blogger.

Here we are at post 13 of the 15 days posts. I think it's one of the most difficult to write too: "Describe One Underappreciated Book Everyone Should Read". How can I say what everyone should read? I like fantasy and science fiction. You might hate those two genres. How can I know, and therefore how can I recommend that perfect book unseen? Besides, what do you consider to be underappreciated?

Anyway, after some thought, I'm dipping into my archives for a favorite. One I'd lost for a while, and even forgot both the title and the author, but never the storyline. Thanks to LibraryThing as I told in this post, I was able to rediscover the book and buy it again to re-read. That original review is here.

The book is:

The Tattooed Map
Barbara Hodgson
Raincoast Books
Copyright Date: 1995
1895714915

The cover blurb is as follows:

Somewhere in Northern Africa, a woman traveler awakens with a mysterious mark on her hand, a mark that soon grows into a tattoo. So begins the enigma of The Tattooed Map, in which intrepid traveler Lydia journeys with her friend and former lover, Christopher, in search of antiques and adventure.

Lydia records her daily experiences in a journal, keeping track of hotel addresses and conversations, and pasting such flotsam and jetsam as maps, photographs, and drawings into her diary. She records her shock and dismay as the marks on her hand reveal themselves to be a detailed map of an unknown territory.

Later a cryptic Moroccan man explains the map's connection to a spiritual and physical journey she must make. Whey Lydia disappears unexpectedly, Chris takes up her diary to record his search for her - and for a way to unravel the riddle of the Tattooed Map.

In her rich and captivating first novel, author Barbara Hodgson guides us through the exotic world of Morocco, with its maze-like streets, musty shops, and unexpected secrets. Mysterious, enveloping, and thoroughly evocative, The Tattooed Map will make you want to embark upon a journey - if only you could be sure of your return.

You know what? After re-reading my review and writing this post up, I want to re-read The Tattooed Map again. Now where is it...