Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is: Top Ten Of The Most Unique Books I’ve Read (topic originally done 4/14) Some variations: top ten unique sounding books on my TBR, top ten most unique books I’ve read in X genre, etc

Sometimes books are weird. Often, they are wonderfully so! Other times, they leave you wanted to throw them across the room in a “what the actual fuck did I just consume?” fashion. No matter, weird books are par for the course. And I have some to share with you. Be they quirky, confusing, or just altogether head-scratching, these are the books that had me saying “Well, that was weird”.

Images link to Goodreads cause I am awesome like that. I also linked to my reviews for extra awesomeness/in case curiosity gets the best of you.

A Review Snippet: 

I have no coherent thoughts on this because.. what just happened to me?

If you can get past the point where you feel like you’re on drugs or someone is pulling a very elaborate prank, it actually gets really good!

My Rating: 3.5 Stars. It was oddly engaging after awhile!

A Review Snippet: 

I have a confession: I don’t know if I completely understand what happened in this book.

My Rating: 3 stars. The writing was awesome, but I still don’t understand this book.

A Review Snippet: 

I really have no idea what the hell is going on. Or where it’s going on. Or when. What I’m saying is, there are questions.

On the surface, it sounds like a pretty intense ride. And it might have been, but I honestly had absolutely no freaking clue what was happening. For a solid 40% I thought I was being Punk’d.

It is still a really unique and creative book, but it ended up mostly giving me a headache.

My Rating: 1.5 Stars. Which, is low for me, but this book drove me bananas. Did anyone finish this series? Does it get better? I need to know.

A Review Snippet: 

I figured I’d think about it for a bit before writing down my thoughts. But then I realized that I don’t really have any quality thoughts because I have no idea what just happened.

I think this should be a team effort, and someone can explain this to me. It wasn’t a bad book at all, and the writing and atmosphere alone make it worth it.

My Rating: I actually rated this “Shrugpony”, because I had literally No. Freaking. Idea.

A Review Snippet: 

This book is weird. If you don’t like weird, then move along, because any book that contains the premise of seeing both the past and future upon the consumption of petrified bat remains will probably not be for you.

My Rating: 5 Stars! This is one of my favorites, despite its weirdness, and if you can handle weird, this is a great one!

A Review Snippet: 

I kept holding out hope that I’d get answers to all the background stuff that had me scratching my head, but alas, I still have absolutely no idea where, when, how, or why anything happened.

My Rating: 1.5 stars. Again, a biiiig old miss for me.

A Review Snippet: 

Was it a contemporary? A sci-fi? A  dystopian? The answer was… yes.

My Rating: 3 stars. It was definitely weird and unique, but worth the read.

A Review Snippet: 

Things in the beginning had moved slow, and then suddenly Aza is a bird person, in this whole new world, and I simply couldn’t keep up. And also, it was kind of too weird and I stopped caring.

My Rating: 2 Stars. You know this one lost me at “bird people”. But I know a lot of people did enjoy it!

A Review Snippet: 

On the other hand, this was delightfully weird and awful. So if you enjoy that, Daughters Unto Devils absolutely delivers.

My Rating: 3.5 stars. It was creepy and weird but it was supposed to be so it worked.

A Review Snippet: 

And frankly, it was one of the most unique and inventive books I have ever read.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars. Another book that I genuinely adored- its weirdness served it well!

So, have you read any of these? Do share, what are some of the weirdest books you’ve ever read?

Posted April 11, 2017 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Top Ten Tuesday / 35 Comments

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35 responses to “Weird Books Are Weird

  1. “Magonia” is one I thought about reading once upon a time (I mean, that cover??!!), but I’d since forgotten about it in pursuit of other books. Sounds like, perhaps, I’m not missing anything.

    Sometimes books are weird. And sometimes, yes, that’s the best kind of read! 🙂

  2. I HATE it when I finish a book and I’m like, whuzzat? Like are my reading comprehension skills not sufficiently developed lol? So yeah…

    “petrified bat remains”??? Really? Okay then… and The Iceling! I forgot about that…I wanted to read it. Looks creepy?

    a bird person?

    Down w/ The shine though- does look awesome. I have that one on my list. Yeah it sounds kinda weird but I don’t know I want that one…

  3. I’ve also read An Inheritance of Ashes and still couldn’t understand what was happening. I’ll have to read Down the Shine one day too! Amazing list! 🙂

  4. Kate Karyus Quinn books are so wonderfully weird. I’ve really enjoyed her books even if they mess with my head a little. I have a copy of Magonia but I’m not rushing to read it. For some reason, I’m really not feeling it anymore. Great list!

  5. Eve

    I own a couple of these and a couple others are on my TBR! So many great books though I hope to read some of these picks soon!

  6. I read Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future for a class about a year, and it’s definitely unique. I had too many unanswered questions throughout the book, but it was an interesting commentary on life and self-discovery.

  7. Oh man, I LOVE weird books!! I feel like everything that Kate Karyus Quinn writes/will write is weird– and I’m cool with that! Did you read Another Little Piece? It was like **insert emoji with the mouth open**. I also loved Glory O’Brien!! But I’m also a HUGE A.S. King fan. I especially liked the future visions– I just wish Glory wasn’t so mean to her neighbor/only friend. AND I didn’t “get” everything in the end of The Walls Around Us. I still really really really loved it, but if you can explain to me what the ending fully meant, I love you forever!

  8. Yes, I can’t believe I forgot all about A Smaller Evil. I read that book and totally feel you. I don’t know that I ever figured it out and I think my review was pretty incoherent if I recall correctly. However some people loved it and I remember thinking “What did I miss?”

  9. I loved Down with the Shine and listed it today too! What a cool concept. I need to get to her other books…

    I agree about Magonia haha. I think I gave it 3 stars because meh bird people. The concept was kind of intriguing so maybe I’ll read the second book someday? lol

  10. Oh my greatness. You truly are like red wine. You just get better and better the longer you stay on the shelf (I’m talking bookshelf here, blog-shelf an bestest-shelf).

    Your post is amazing, but I’ve only heard of one book on your list! Down with the shine. But I will have a look at one or two of the other ones as well.

    I didn’t do a TTT on most unique books, I did a post on TT most unique characters! You are welcome to have a look!

  11. I’m also a huge fan of the weird books. I don’t even know why, but I just love not knowing what in the world is going on in a book. I’ve only read one of these, and that was Daughters Unto Devils, which I didn’t like. It was too slow-moving for my taste. ? But Glory O’ Briens is on my TBR!

  12. I’ve only read two of these: Seeker and Down with the Shine. I actually liked Seeker pretty well, but I ended up giving it 3 stars and the weirdness was definitely a factor. I haven’t continued the series, but I always thought I probably would. Now I’ve got to go find someone who has and see how they liked it. Like you, I loved Down with the Shine. It was weird, but in a super fun way!

  13. Great list, Shannon! I have Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future but I haven’t read it yet (story of my life) so I’ll have to get to it… eventually. I haven’t read any A.S. King yet which is crazy because I think I’ll like her, but her books also intimidate me a little for some reason. Daughters Unto Devils sounds very cool – I may have to check that one out. =)

  14. Omg, yes on Seeker! Everyone loves that book and I was like, “wtf is going on??” I didn’t understand the cousin love either.
    I have read the second book too (it just gets more confusing), but I have the third from the library and I am hesitant to go through anymore.
    I recently bought An Inheritance of Ashes. I hope I like it. I checked out Down with the Shine: never got a chance to read it.
    I almost bought a History of Glitter and Blood but read somewhere that it’s kind of graphic so I don’t know! ?

  15. Sam

    You’re a genius! I love your twist on this weeks TTT. Weird books are weird, and I would add: The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Vassa in the Night, and Wink, Poppy, Midnight. I liked these books, but they were odd.
    Sam @ WLABB

  16. I FEEL SUCH KINSHIP TO YOU RIGHT NOW OMG. I absolutely had no idea what the flippity flop was going on in Magonia or the Walls Around Us. ? I mean, there’s weird and then there’s WTF DID I JUST READ sort of weird which I’m not fond of.?I did like The Smaller Evil but what happened???? WHAT HAPPENED???? I don’t even know. And part of me thinks The Walls Around Us was written in a different language and my brain just forgot to inform me of that. :’) Good times. #not

  17. I absolutely loved The Walls Around Us! The writing style was gorgeous, and I think the open-endedness of the plot was a purposeful artistic choice. It makes you really think about the themes, which makes it much more likely that you’ll take something from and remember the book. It’s definitely not a style for everyone, though. :/ I’ve heard very mixed reviews of Magnolia, so it was interesting to hear your thoughts!

    Ellie | On the Other Side of Reality

  18. YES, A.S King is such a good pick for weird/unique books! Basically everything she’s written is like that. Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Everybody Sees the Ants are still on my “best written, most meaningful YA books I’ve ever read” list. I, um, like lists. LOL.

  19. I was LITERALLY ABOUT TO MENTION THE WALLS AROUND US BEFORE I OPENED THIS POST. GAH. #spooky. That book was so weird, though, I DNFed it, which I hated because dance books are so damn cool. Down With The Shine still sounds so cool, I’ve been dying to read it. It’s about moonshine cooking, I believe?? I always confuse Magonia with that super cute romantic YA, Magnolia. lolz. Two of the weirdest books I’ve ever read are M.G. Reyes’s Emancipated (A few kids rented some sort of summer house, tried to emancipate themselves from their parents, but were still accepting their $$$?) and Placebo Junkies, which was suuuuch a cool concept but handled so terribly and weirdly, appropriately enough.

  20. Seeker. What the heck was up with that book? I had JUST started blogging and there was all this buzz. And then I actually got approved via NetGalley to read the book. Lots of bloggers I followed read it right away and there were all these negative reviews so I put off reading it. It was…I don’t know. I just know I didn’t like it.

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