5 Most Uniquely Written Books I Read In 2015

Top 5 Most Uniquely Written Books I Read in 2015





Title: Illuminae 
Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Publisher: Knopf Books
Publication Date: Oct. 20, 2015

Description:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Why it was unique:

I talked about this book previously as I did receive the original e-copy I read for review from the publisher and netgalley.com. After taking one look at the formatting I immediately went out and purchased a physical copy and I still say that is the way it should be read.

This book is made up of a series of emails, IM's, reports, and logs from a Artificial Intelligence system aboard a space craft some years in the future.

It is compelling and beautifully published. Some pages might contain nothing but a short diary entry while others might be a detailed governmental report. If you have read the story I will say that some pages were more minimalist but in the most fascinating way because of the character they are coming from. I can't say more than that as it will give away a key plot point but just know it is brilliantly done and fits so seamlessly into the story that you will love how it all plays out.

I couldn't be more excited about a book continuing into a series as I am about this book and can't wait to see what unique formatting book 2 has in store.

Simple yet effective and amazing.




Title: Young God
Author: Katherine Faw Morris
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: May 6, 2014

Description:

Meet Nikki, the most determined young woman in the North Carolina hills. Determined not to let deadbeats and dropouts set her future. Determined to use whatever tools she can get her hands on to shape the world to her will. Determined to preserve her family's domination of the local drug trade. Nikki is thirteen years old.

Opening with a deadly plunge from a high cliff into a tiny swimming hole,Young God refuses to slow down for a moment as it charts Nikki's battles against isolation and victimhood. Nikki may be young, but she's a fast learner, and soon—perhaps too soon, if in fact it's not too late—she knows exactly how to wield her powers over the people around her. The only thing slowing her down is the inheritance she's been promised but can't seem to find, buried somewhere deep in those hills and always just out of reach. 

With prose stripped down to its bare essence, brash and electrifying, brutal yet starkly beautiful, Katherine Faw Morris's Young God is a debut that demands your attention and won't be forgotten—just like Nikki, who will cut you if you let that attention waver

Why it was unique:

If you want to know the book that was most difficult for me to stomach this year this book also falls into the top of that list.

Gritty. Raw. Poetic. Shocking. I don't think I have an adjective that really explains how this book got under my skin.

I actually heard about this book after reading a buzzfeed.com article about the best books of 2014:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/books-we-loved-in-2014#.tu5d2jdvb3

I included the link to the article so you can see what they said that made me decide to pick it up when it came out in paperback in early 2015.

I never really expected anything from this other than it to be interesting and it was definitely that. I have never read anything like it and I doubt I ever will again.

When the description says it is striped down to the essentials and "bare essence" I think that is definitely what I would say.

Even if the writing style wasn't as unique I still think the content alone is shocking. A 13 girl who uses her body and relationships to become a drug leader.

I honestly felt like I was reading disjointed poetic prose. It is difficult to describe but completely it's own. The story is not for everyone (myself included, I felt very mixed about the content) but I can guarantee you have never read anything like this.



Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Various Publishers over the years (I read the Rupa Publications, India edition)
Publication Date: August 17, 1945

Description:

Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Published in 1945, this powerful satire of the Russian Revolution under Stalin remains as vivid and relevant today as it was on its first publication.

Why it was unique:

Anyone who has ever read this classic can attest to the fact that it is unlike any classic they have read.

Told from the story of the animals working on a farm who decide to revolt against their humans and take over the farm for themselves is deep in political meaning that was very relevant at the time and is something I spent half the book trying to figure out.

I actually read this with my husband, it was a reread for him and a first time read for me and we both enjoyed diving into the history of the book and the meaning behind the story.

It surprised me how much I enjoyed it and it is very short but it is powerful and I think what really resonated with me the most was the way the pigs slowly came around to be just as overbearing and powerful as the humans they worked so hard to overthrow. For some reason it just really spoke to some of my own ideas about communism and political beliefs.

Very entertaining, short, but memorable. It is no wonder this is widely read in schools and considered a classic.




Title: The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil
Author: Stephen Collins
Publisher: Johnathan Cape
Publication Date: June 17, 2013

Description:

The job of the skin is to keep things in.

On the buttoned-down island of Here, all is well. By which we mean: orderly, neat, contained and, moreover, beardless.

Or at least it is until one famous day, when Dave, bald but for a single hair, finds himself assailed by a terrifying, unstoppable... monster*!

Where did it come from? How should the islanders deal with it? And what, most importantly, are they going to do with Dave?

The first book from a new leading light of UK comics, The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil is an off-beat fable worthy of Roald Dahl. It is about life, death and the meaning of beards.

(*We mean a gigantic beard, basically.)

Why it was unique:

I honestly just started getting into comics/graphic novels at the end of 2014/beginning of 2015. I am not widely read in this area like some people might be but I have tried to read diversely over the last year especially in the area of comic books as I work to decipher what I like within the medium.

I had heard a little rumbling about this on "Booktube" and decided to try it out.

I absolutely loved the art style. Done in black and white this story has a certain fluidity that I haven't found matched in any other graphic.

The story is about a beard that tries to take over a town but really it is about so much more than that.

It speaks to the problem of conformity and the need for individuality. It is about wanting more out of life and having the courage to step out of the norm and do what is right for the individual.

I was mesmerized throughout and really was said to see it done. I just left feeling very effected by the story and I haven't been able to match it with any other comic this year. A must read.




Title: 5 to 1
Author: Holly Bodger
Publisher: Knopf Books
Publication Date:

Description:

In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.

Sudasa doesn’t want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. Sudasa’s family wants nothing more than for their daughter to do the right thing and pick a husband who will keep her comfortable—and caged. Kiran’s family wants him to escape by failing the tests. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.

This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view—Sudasa’s in verse and Kiran’s in prose—allowing readers to experience both characters’ pain and their brave struggle for hope.

Why it was unique:

This is another one that really surprised me this year and that I wish more people would pick up. I received it for review but I was immediately drawn in by the description.

But as I began reading the story I realized this book was so much more than just a dystopian about arranged marriages in an "India" like country. It is about this amazingly beautiful and poetic writer who captivated me for all 300+ pages.

“Nani’s allegiance is to her anger
and
anger
runs deeper than blood and skin.
It’s set in bone
and bone, once broken,
never
heals the same.” 
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“A man is measured
not by the answers he finds
but the questions he asks.
Find an answer
and you stand still.
Stop asking questions
and you die.” 
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

I just still can not fathom this only having 324 reviews on goodreads.com. I just could not stop talking about it and I know a lot of people received it for review. It is page after page of beautifully written prose for a YA audience that just can not be matched in beauty and resonates with such feeling and heart that it is definitely not something to be missed.