Hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.
Today's topic is Top Ten Most Unique Books.
Actually thinking of unique books is a difficult challenge, because - well, unique books are rare. So I've only got four today. :-(
1. The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
The perspective of this book is fantastic - a superior devil writing letters to his nephew on how to best corrupt the nephew's human "target" - and the way that Lewis flips around good into evil is spectacular!
2. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (and the rest of the Thursday Next series)
You're reading about a girl who loves to read and then gets to enter into Bookworld and engage with the characters from the books she's read. And one of the books in the series is narrated by a written version of Thursday Next (as in, she became famous and had a book written about her, and THAT character is narrating the book you're reading). Talk about meta! It's awesome.
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bet you didn't think you'd see this one on here, did you? It's been over-read, over-analyzed, and over-adapted-into-movies. BUT I still insist that Fitzgerald's writing is some of the most unique stuff out there. He invents new phrases where some might have used an old cliche. I challenge you to show me one place where Fitzgerald uses a cliche. His writing is so tight and fresh, it clears your head.
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Again, this is not for plot, which is good, but not spectacular. The Night Circus is unique in its whimsical, descriptive writing, and in its interesting structure. Going from past tense, third person, to present tense, second person (a very rarely seen point-of-view!) - this book almost forces you to get lost within its beautiful tangles.
Okay, that's all I have today. I'm sure I'll think of more over the next few days, but oh well.
~Sophia
What are some of the most unique books that you have read?
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The Eyre Affair and Night Circus are both on my list too! They are both such great books! The Screwtape Letters sounds really different.
ReplyDeleteAwesome - I love those books. And Screwtape letters is truly fantastically written - you should read it!
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
I also have The Eyre Affair on my list. I was very interested in your take on The Night Circus as I felt that the setting was amazing but that the emotion and the characters felt muted and a little flat. I know lots of people really love this book and I may re-read it someday to see if my opinion has changed. The Screwtape Letters is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteYup - I agree with you entirely about The Night Circus. I sort of was in this daze of wonder after I read it, and thought it was so utterly awesome, and then a few days later when I really considered it, I realized I was only captivated by the writing style and descriptions. Without those, it would be nothing.
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