Top Ten Tuesday #21

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Six Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Books Relating to Mental Disabilities

Look at that originality! Ha! Actually, I was going to just go for the YA fantasy, because I read so much from that genre. But then I figured "Well everyone has read YA fantasy or just regular fantasy because it's just so darn good, so my list would mean NOTHING." And then, lightbulb!

I have a thing for books about main characters with autism, alzheimer's, memory loss, and anything else brain or behavior related.

Because I am a cognitive scientist, and I eat brains.

And I especially love it when it's about children. Which is why, I will be featuring a list specifically focusing on this. And I know all of you readers will be rushing home to pick these up, because they are that good. 

Still Alice by Lisa Genova - This book, was amazing. I remember reading it on a train ride in Europe, and trying to hold back all my tears, while my friend silently judged me. Basically, it's about a Harvard professor, going through the stages of Alzheimer's. It was incredibly sad and depressing, and also heart-wrenching. But still, I liked it a lot.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes - Another amazing book, which I think is considered a classic at this point? Not sure, but I did read it on my own time, and absolutely loved it. It's about a disabled man, named Charlie, who volunteers to be a test subject for this new drug that makes him super, super smart. But then after awhile, it stops working, and slowly his intelligence drops. It's another great, but sad read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon - OKAY enough with the sad talk. Are you ready for a book all about wit? Then this one is for you. It's centered around Christopher John Francis Boone, a super smart boy that relies and depends on patterns and logic. When his neighbor's dog is "murdered", he sets out to solve the case. I'm not sure if this is categorized as autism, but I'm still putting this here because I love this book too.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - Truthfully, this didn't stick to me as some other novels, but I still did like it at the time. I loved how the sentences weaved together, and how Oskar, our little main character, traveled all throughout NYC in order to discover the mystery behind his father's key, who recently died in the 9/11 attack. Not sure if I would classify this as autism, again, but OH WELL.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence - Something I read last year, because I was really intrigued by the whole "a meteorite struck his head". I did love his way of thinking, and how determined he was to learn, and also, he became friends with a grumpy elder, and formed a Kurt Vonnegut book club. I think that's pretty cool. Honestly, just think of it as the Pixar movie, Up!

And last but not least, one of my favorites that everyone should go read right now

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks - It's actually about imaginary friends, specifically Budo, who is the imaginary friend to Max. AND IT IS AWESOME. And you think this is just about friendship? Well, yeah, but there's also kidnapping. Like there's actually a mystery to this, and Budo has to save his best friend. And ultimately, maybe even let him go. THE FEELS FROM THIS BOOK. It was just so, so good.

So there, there you go. Now all you guys know about these titles, and it gives you no excuse to have never heard of them. Especially that last one!

Feel free to link up TTTs below. Also, which book are you most interested from my list?