Books on the Nightstand discussion

I have two novels that qualify for the strangest or unique that I've read.

1) Snow Country by Kawabata. I read this novel years ago and still remember some of the scenes vividly and it was written more in an Haiku style than straight forward prose that makes it an unique reading experience.

2) Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. While The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia are considered the standard bearers of the fantasy genre, Islandia has been the crazy uncle of the genre that people find interesting but never brought out to the public.

This strange and highly imaginative book has developed a cult following over the years and its readers (myself included) are the rebels who prefer this book over Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia.

Those are my choices? What are yours?

The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker. It's about a guy's lunch hour, with deep meditations on shoelaces and escalator grooves. Sun generis, epic.

Douglas wrote: "The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker. It's about a guy's lunch hour, with deep meditations on shoelaces and escalator grooves. Sun generis, epic."

that sounds really funny.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

It has a really unique way of shifting points of view, and the thread that connects all the different scenes is fascinating.

Without thinking too much about 'the most unusual ever', I recently read 'The Hundred-Year House' by Rebecca Makkai thought the structure was fascinating. I reread sections and then the entire book backwards trying to ensure I picked up all the connections. The story is told from recent to oldest. The Hundred-Year House

Speaking of strange and weird I just wanted to bring up the strangest I own but I have not read because of the weirdness of the novel and that is Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić. This is so different I can't explain it so Google the name to get a better explanation.

A really weird novel: Rupert Thompson's The Insult. Very well-written and disturbing, about a guy who is blinded in an accident but can still see - maybe.

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi came immediately to mind. It has much symbolism and very little plot, along with some very strange characters. I consider myself a good reader, but I don't think I came close to understanding this novel.

I got an ARC of The Hundred-Year House and agree that the structure of the novel is unusual.

Ella Minnow Pea which is also one of my favorites. The premise is that the man who came up with the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." was from Nollop, so the people of Nollop erect a monument to the man and the pangram in the town. After years the letter "z" falls off the monument and the people of the town take it as a sign that the letter "Z" is no longer usable. As time goes on, more and more letters fall of and the logic of disuse continues.

The story is told through letters between Ella and others. I've always called it a novel novel.

I have two books to contribute:

1) Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman. I read then re read this book this past summer. The story revolves around the Weird siblings that are born with blessings given to each of them by their grandmother but have turned to curses. And to remove their curses they must come together within one week to their grandmothers death bed. The book is short, weird, smart and laugh out loud funny.

2)The Raw Shark Text by Steven Hall. Eric Sanderson wakes up and realizes that he has erased his memory of who he is. He only know of what his past life was like through letters he has addressed to himself and to advise of a shark that is after him. This book is amazing and with a book trailer read by Tilda Swinton how can it get any better.

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. There are some interesting novels on this post.

Marion

As a fiction fan, I found the graphic novel "Blacksad" strangely amazing. It was only the second graphic novel for adults that I had read. It's Chandler with anthropomorphism and a dash of evil white supremacist villains-all illustrated stunningly by Juanjo Gaurdino. It's the graphic novel for the "I don't like graphic novels" reader.