Cult Fiction: Classic or Dud?

It's all books. The main effect it has is to make me realise that genre fiction tends to be all about the story and often isn't necessarily that well written, but classics in all genres are well-written and tend to break out of their genres.

Dr. Who books I just could never quite get behind, although I hear from some of my nerdier friends that some of them are really very good.

I don't distingish. For instance, I found The Stone God Awakens by Philip Jose Farmer every bit as pleaurable/useful-to-my-life (if not more so) as my concurrent high school assignment, The Scarlet Letter. Other "trash" they can bury with me in my tomb--Robert E. Howard, Roger Zelazny, any number of Tolkien knock-offs, Clive Barker, and Stephen King. I'm looking forward to the next George RR Martin book for my next fix.

Chandler is who does it all - at least in the short stories. Stories, action, language, insight and pith. All in that '40s LA pseudo-tough talk that became the standard for hard-boiled gumshoes.

Who's more frustrating than Dick? His surreal worlds pile ideas on ideas. Your compelled to read on but in the back (and sometimes in the front) of your mind your atmitting to yourself that this part of the book doesn't necessarily follow from that part of the book.

That doesn't surprise me, given the threads I scanned before posting this. Really, I'm looking for book recommendations. ;-)

Andrew, _Thief Of Time_ is a FUCKING STELLAR BOOK and really shows that Pratchett still has the goods to spin out a great multi-faceted story. This more than anything else gives me high hopes for _Monstrous Regiment_.

I always used to spit feathers at 'cult' sections in bookshops, because it seemed like such a random ghettoisation, and why will someone who enjoyed 'On the Road' necessarily enjoy 'Fight Club' or whatever other strange bedfellows are relegated to that section? or for that matter why should they be subtly directed away from Jane Austen or Raymond Carver or Dickens or whatever resides in 'mainstream'? I say bung it all in together and encourage more serendipity.

Not really; I wanted a thread title reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction"; also I was specifically thinking of Doctor Who books when I started the thread (and you can't say THAT isn't a cult!).