Top Ten Most Unique Books I’ve Read

April 8, 2014 by 5eyedbookworm 12 Comments

This meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is the most unique books one has read. Admittedly, it was hard narrowing down this list to ten, but here they are:

A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki – This is the first book I read from the author and to tell you the truth I wasn’t expecting it to discuss a lot of topics including World War II, quantum mechanics, Zen philosophy, climate change, the 2011 tsunami… I didn’t mind though. It was one of my favorite books last year. While many people have read a lot about World War II, this book offers a perspective from a reluctant Japanese soldier, who can’t make sense of the war’s purpose. It’s also the first book that made me say “SUPAPAWA” :) You can read my review here – This review contains itsy-bitsy SPOILERS.

Carrie by Stephen King – It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. His book Carrie, for me, was the most unique, because of the character herself. She was bullied, tormented emotionally yet she fought back with her hidden abilities. I was a teenager when I read this so I guess it left an indelible impression on me. Every time someone mentions Carrie, my mind automatically snaps to that prom scene.

The Humans by Matt Haig – I love this book! The narrator is an alien who has taken human form, is extremely intelligent, and who is in control of technology and powers beyond human capacities. Yet he understands our human ways and likes to read Cosmopolitan and Emily Dickinson. It’s like The Terminator mixed with The Tooth Fairy. The reason why it’s so unique for me is that I do not usually read any book with aliens in them. I decided to read this after reading the reviews, so I thought I’d give it a try. This is the first book I reviewed in this blog and while the review lacks eloquence, you will no doubt sense how much I enjoyed this book :P

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker – Most of the events in the book happened in Burma, a place I’ve never been to. The love story between a blind young monk and a poor crippled girl was beautiful. The writing was amazing. What made it so unique for me is the true love shared by the characters – selfless, unconditional, and can never be affected by time and distance… It’s also the first book I’ve read originally written in German (translated by Kevin Wiliarty). It was one of my favorite books last year.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows – This one’s unique for me because it’s the first epistolary novel I’ve read. I know I’ve been gushing about it for weeks but time hasn’t changed anything. The characters are also quirky and unique in their own ways.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami– Another favorite author of mine, Haruki Murakami has written some of the weirdest, mind-bending and strange books I have ever read. I was tempted to add almost all of the books I’ve read from him but I settled with this one because it had the right elements to be the most unique: the time-travel, parallel worlds, characters like Aomame (the female protagonist) and Fuka-eri. It was a great read!

Watchmen by Alan Moore – Perhaps I found this unique because of the book’s overall theme of reaching deep into the psyche of heroes and masked crusaders who do not possess superhuman powers. It served not only to dissect their thoughts and NOT glorify their existence. I wasn’t expecting it to be so ‘deep’ and profound.

The BFG by Roald Dahl – This is one of my favorite books from Roald Dahl (another favorite author of mine). I’ve always thought that giants were scary and they would stomp at me when I lied (my mother should be stomped by a giant because it was her who told that lie – just kidding). But this giant is as gentle as can be, and friendly too. It was a fascinating book to read.

The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto – I’ve read this three times already and every time I do, it doesn’t fail to draw me in again and again. This is the first Japanese literature that I’ve read and it was unique for me because it didn’t have any plot to begin with. It’s a story which marvels at the characters and stories. The ending is always something I think about after each reading.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson -This is the first Scandinavian literature I’ve read. For me it was unique because of the story (amazing!) and because of Lisbeth, the female protagonist. This book was absolutely brilliant.
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