Top Ten Tuesday #7

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Most Unique Books I've Read

This is not going to be the most easy topic, because I really can't think of any on the top of my head at the moment. I've read most 100 books in the past four years (yes I know, it's a sad number) so the chances of any of them being "unique" to me are pretty slim. So technically this will be my top five instead of top ten.

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

There is absolutely no quotation marks or true dialogue you would find in other books. I'm not sure if I'm describing it correctly, but basically no punctuation is used throughout the road.

"A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other."

2. Machine of Death by Ryan North

My favorite anthology of all time, because it has one of the most unique concepts I have ever read about. Seriously, everyone should go read this.

"The machine had been invented a few years ago: a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. It didn't give you the date and it didn't give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die."

3. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I didn't like this book, but I thought it was pretty different that each character was linked to one another. And the Mountains Echoed and the History of Love are more examples of this.

"Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption."

4. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

One of my favorite books from 2013. Wecker takes two religions and weaves them together, literally by using a golem and a jinni.

"Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world. The Golem and the Jinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice"

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I've read books that featured emails, like in The Boy Next Door and Attachments, but I loved the idea of a story being told in letters.

"Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor."

Feel free to comment and link up your TTT below :)