I don't know how exactly to put it but I'm looking for books with unique plots, ones that don't follow typical storylines you often find. Books that just stand out due to their characters and unique storylines and settings. Of the books I have read for example, I found Piranesi really gripping. It had a distinctive artistic setting and an attention grabbing storyline one could not just simply come up with. I really loved the narration style as well. So maybe books with a similar sense of uniqueness I guess. Can be any genre.
by somephilosophershit
12 Comments
Ella Minnow Pea – letters are banned in the book and the author stops using them in the story
Kitchens of the Great Midwest – Each chapter is told from the perspective of someone close to the main character at different points in her life, culminating in how she becomes a world renowned chef. You never hear from the same character twice and you never hear from the main character. (So, infancy is told by father, elementary school by cousin, teenage years by high school boyfriend’s mom, etc., etc.)
If you liked Piranesi, try I Who Have Never Known Men. I just read it and found a lot of parallels/similar themes.
I tend to prefer quiet, slice-of-life character studies so I don’t have too many titles to recommend, but “My Sister The Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite was a wild and fun ride. “Chlorine” by Jade Song and anything by Melissa Broder (specifically “The Pisces”) might also be up your alley!
I also loved Piranesi. These are others I have read and consider somewhat unique. None of these are long books, each under 250-ish pages.
KIndred by Octavia E. Butler
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K.
Le Guin (very, very short)
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Pew by Catherine Lacey
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Foe by Iain Ried (all his stuff is unique)
Panenka by Ronan Hession
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
The Hike by Drew Magary
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
I also loved Piranesi, and would recommend Kraken by China Mieville. Usually his stuff is a little heady for me, but Kraken is both beautifully written and very funny, with really oddball magic and storyline.
The House on the Borderland and Night Land, both by William Hope Hodgson
Nice question! I agree about *Piranesi*, the setting is unique. I’d like to add:
**Synchronicity** by Sharon Dodua Otoo – A graphic designer whose relationship to colours changes dramatically, upending her whole life (a very short book, highly recommend it)
**When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain** by Nghi Vo – An archivist chronicling a story told by a tiger (the whole Singing Hills series is unusual, but this one stands out to me as the most unique perspective)
**Remote Control** by Nnedi Okorafor – A child traveling the country on her own, who is also a feared and respected spirit as a bringer of death (not sure I can claim I understood ths book completely but maybe that’s not it’s purpose)
Bonus: **Olivetti** by Allie Millington – A children’s book told from the point of view of a typewriter
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
Finna by Nino Cipri
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Lulu Deans little library of banned books
You can try Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It’s written as a palindrome. If you read the wiki page on it before you read the book itself you’ll get more from it on a 1st reading.
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin