Top Ten Of The Most Unique Books We've Read

 

 

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 Jamie's picks

1. Liar by Justine Labarestier: OMG this book. I didn't really LOVE it but it was definitely one of the most unique (and frustrating for ME) books I've ever read. I don't know that I'll ever read something quite like it again.

2. Every Day by David Levithan: I have his other two books on my own personal TTT for today but I wanted to add this one in as well. I don't know that I've ever read a book where the MC whose gender was ambiguous. The story was amazing and unique but it also challenged me because the whole time I wanted to call the MC a he or a she. I had a hard time talking about the book without trying to attach a he/she to A. Also, hard to pin a genre to it which I love! It was just different and beautiful and a fave!

3. Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff: This one isn't unique in a WOW kind of way but it just FELT different? The MC is younger but it's not middle grade but it was just really quiet and reflective and smart. The plot wasn't anything unique but it just felt different to me if that makes sense...

Julia's Picks

4. The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran - This is a historical romance (if you couldn't tell by the word Duke in the title), and a lot of those are pretty similar. But Duran sets part of this book in India during the British occupation. The main character (said Duke) is half white half indian and it is so interesting to read about him and his thoughts. The romance is great, too! This book has inspired me to read more unique settings in my historical romances.

5. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak - This one wins for most unique narrator and story telling method with Death. The reason I read this book (outside of the glowing reviews at the time) was it intrigued me so much that the narrator was Death. It's also used as a story element that ties everything together. Great book. One of my all time favorites. It does bring the feels though. 

6. The Bridge by Rebecca Rogers Maher - This short story I stumbled into. It's a romance in the textbook sense, but it has some pretty deep underlying threads. You see the hero and heroine meet as they are about to commit suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. They decide that they cannot kill themselves while the other is there because they could save the other person. They decide to spend the next 24 hrs together where each tries to convince the other what they have to live for. It's a heart wrenching novella but one that fully engrossed me in its unique charm.

Bridget's Pick

7. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I didn't know much about this book before picking it up, but it was thrilling, surreal, enchanting, and humbling all at once. It was, in a word, beautiful. You should read it if you haven't yet.

Tahleen's Picks

8. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. This was the Printz winner this year. There really is no telling what you're going to get when you jump in here, unless you've read a lot about it beforehand in reviews. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling it, but I will say there are seven tales contained in here, and they all come together beautiufully.

9. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner. Another Printz book, this time an honor. Set in what seems to be an alternate history in the 1940s, we read about many terrible things. That it's narrated by Standish Treadwell in dialect just adds to the strangeness and surreality of this nightmare world. I would definitely recommend this one to fans of George Orwell.

10. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. This might be THE weirdest and most disturbing books I've ever read. Rape, incest, bestiality, magic, and individual heavens all rolled up in a young adult novel. Of course, this is another Printz honor. The writing is beautiful, though.