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Oddest Quirkiest and Interesting Books
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 2:02 am
There's haunting and there's traumatizing (Good Night Mr. Tom is honestly a book I wish I'd never read)....
And Flowers for Algernon is just sad and bleak.
I don't need a happily ever after, but I like things to end off with a redemptive note at least.
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ora_43




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 2:17 am
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Also agree re: The Giver, the Handmaid's Tale

I liked The Leftovers and The Age of Miracles as two books that had very unusual/interesting concepts, but were still very "normal" in terms of the actual action.
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Cheshire cat




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 9:24 am
Ora,
Do you mind providing author's name for The Leftovers and The Age of Miracles? (A quick search turned up several.)

Also, would love to hear of interesting book recs that are not necessarily dystopian or depressing!
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jeweled




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 9:29 am
amother [ Ruby ] wrote:
House of Stairs by William Sleator. A dystopian novel before the genre existed!! I think it was published in the 70s though I read it early 90s. I read it as a preteen and didn't read it again for probably 20 years. It still stood the test of time and I was amazed by now well I remembered it which shows how memorable it was. I had literally never read anything like it before and all the dystopian novels that came after seem kind of vanilla after it.


I read this when I was a preteen and wanted to read more like this and the Giver. Unfortunately they were few and far between. But excellent haunting books. Hunger games reminded me a little of house of stairs
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momaleh




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 9:52 am
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It was hailed as a masterpiece, I couldn't get through it. Way too disturbing, especially tied into Judaism.
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chocolate moose




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 1:12 pm
The Ajax Penumbra books by Robin Sloan
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lilies




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 2:23 pm
A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Essentials) by John Kennedy Toole

Don't know how to describe this one properly, here's the New York Times quote;
‘A pungent work of slapstick, satire and intellectual incongruities..
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 4:37 pm
If kid books count, DD just read something about "Exceptional Chickens" that was quite weird.

But Hitchhiker's Guide definitely wins the "odd, quirky, and interesting" prize. Others may be odd or quirky or interesting but I don't know of anything that comes close. Content warning that it gets increasingly risque as the series goes on. I wish it didn't because I don't want to expose my kids to that, but the writing is so great.
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 4:45 pm
Very few books listed here are quirky. Odd maybe, but not quirky.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 4:51 pm
True. But I don't usually care for truly quirky books. Either they come across as gimmicky or they are hard to follow. I like intense books but not ones that give me a headache to follow!
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singleagain




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 4:53 pm
When I saw the title I immediately thought of Uncle John's bathroom readers. That is a fantabulous set of books. About all sorts of weird things.
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lilies




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 6:17 pm
Tepper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin
Quite quirky.
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 6:50 pm
singleagain wrote:
When I saw the title I immediately thought of Uncle John's bathroom readers. That is a fantabulous set of books. About all sorts of weird things.

Same!
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Kiwi13




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 8:33 pm
The Duct Tape Book is quirky. (It explores the many uses of duct tape. It's an awesome coffee table book)

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is one of my all time favorite books. I wouldn't call it quirky, but people who liked some of the other books mentioned here might like it.

The man who mistook his wife for a hat - a collection of psychology case stories that's known to be very interesting. I think we went over some of it in one of my undergrad classes.

Tuck Everlasting. I read it around the same time I read The Giver (7th grade?) and LOVED it.

Of Mice and Men - the only school-assigned book I ever read in one sitting, and personally I think it's pretty quirky, although maybe not in the ways mentioned here. I got a lot out of that book as a future writer. :-)

I am the cheese (Robert Cormier) - it's heavy and written in a way that takes some getting used to, but I was OBSESSED with that book in 8th grade! It's a really interesting concept and the story is told in a fascinating way, at least I thought so.

I might be alone here, but I thought The Odyssey (Homer) was AWESOME. I didn't read the actual Odyssey, but I read a commentary/explanation on it (under the actual text) and found it to be reallllly interesting. In particular I really liked the stories about the cyclops, the lotus flowers, and the part with the impossibly old dog. There were so many ideas in that thing (not sure what to call it, it's not a book per se, but a whole collection of books?).

A kids' book I loved was "The Chocolate Touch," which was a kiddified version of The Midas Touch, where everything the kid touched turned to chocolate, which starts off as a good thing, but, well... ;-) I was in 2nd grade, so I doubt that would be interesting in the same way nowadays.

I loved the entire Wayside School series. Even long after I was the appropriate age for it. That series is quirky and awesome and I would probably still laugh at a lot of it.

My brother really liked "The Picture of Dorian Gray." It's a cool concept. I didn't read the book, but I know enough about it that I think it's cool.

Shutter Island - one of the coolest books out there, in my opinion. Still trying to get my husband to read it, lol. Not exactly "quirky," but it's a very cool story.


Life Expectancy (Dean Koontz) is INSANELY quirky. Prepare for a rollercoaster of what-the-heck if you read this one. I was thoroughly entertained (and creeped out, lol), and it's oddly touching, too.
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amother
Ruby


 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 8:50 pm
Did you know a brand new Wayside School book was just published? Last month.
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Cheshire cat




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 10:12 pm
I'm really enjoying this thread- I keep earmarking books that I want to read.
Oh dear, I miss the library so much...
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Kiwi13




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 10:22 pm
amother [ Ruby ] wrote:
Did you know a brand new Wayside School book was just published? Last month.


I did NOT know!!! But I do now!! Thanks! :-)
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youngishbear




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 11:06 pm
Aren't "Brave New World" and "1988" older than the other dystopian novels listed here?

As far as weird books, no one beats Terry Pratchett. He's the Douglas Adams of fantasy. Or, one can argue that Douglas Adam's is the Terry Pratchet of sci-fi.

I also thought Howl's Moving Castle by DW Jones was very entertaining.

I HATED A Confederacy of Dunces. I felt it was all cringe humor, my second least favorite kind of humor.
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Kiwi13




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 11:10 pm
youngishbear wrote:
Aren't "Brave New World" and "1988" older than the other dystopian novels listed here?

As far as weird books, no one beats Terry Pratchett. He's the Douglas Adams of fantasy. Or, one can argue that Douglas Adam's is the Terry Pratchet of sci-fi.

I also thought Howl's Moving Castle by DW Jones was very entertaining.

I HATED A Confederacy of Dunces. I felt it was all cringe humor, my second least favorite kind of humor.


Now I gotta know, what's your least favorite kind?
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lilies




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Apr 07 2020, 11:14 pm
youngishbear wrote:

I HATED A Confederacy of Dunces. I felt it was all cringe humor, my second least favorite kind of humor.


Beneath the cringe humor there's sharp wit.
It's definitely quirky or odd, so there's that.
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