TOP TEN TUESDAY | BOOKS I LOVED THAT AREN’T MY USUAL STYLE

I love it when a book pleasantly surprises me. I tend to feel like I have a good handle on what I’m going to like, but every once in a while I hear so much about a particular book that I decide to give it a try, even though on the surface it doesn’t seem like one I’ll enjoy. That risk sometimes pays off big time. Here are some of my favourite surprises!

I don’t do outer space sci-fi books. I don’t have any interest in the genre, and I don’t find the challenges and adventures imagined off-world to be necessary when there’s so much going on on this one. But I heard enough about this book to pick it up, and the description on the back clinched it – this was a book I had to try. I’m so grateful I did, because it was so hilarious and insightful and just damn well written.

Daisy, the poor girl, as if she doesn’t have enough to deal with, suffers from an excess of hype. I’m not even sure why I originally decided to give her a try. I guess I figured it would be an easy read, and I was in the mood for something that wouldn’t be too challenging. It took me completely by surprise and blew of first one, then the other of my fuzzy socks. I am a complete convert, and I recommend this book to basically anyone.

Similar to my feelings on the premise of The Martian, I’m not big on video games. So this book doesn’t seem like an obvious choice. But my partner, who is into video games, assured me that even without the context, I would still enjoy the story. And enjoy it I most certainly did. It’s a gripping story, and it had me unable to put it down from beginning to end.

I heard some good things about Tracey Thorn’s writing on BookTube, and though I wasn’t that interested in her life to start with, it turns out that once I started reading about it, I most certainly was. Her writing is stellar, and I loved the audiobook even more (as it’s read by the author).

I only read Circe because it was on the Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist this year and I wanted to try to read the whole thing (which I very nearly did, but got stuck part way through Milkman). I really enjoyed the book – not just the story, but the title character. I was surprised by how much I related to her, and I cared deeply about her development.

Again, I can’t remember where I first heard about Good Omens. Someone recommended it to me. I don’t think I would have tried it otherwise – I don’t care at all about fiction based on religious stories, and often find them off-putting. I don’t know the source material, and I don’t feel like I’m the intended audience. But this book was so incredibly clever and funny that I was completely taken in by it. It is possibly my favourite book of all time.

This was a recent discovery. The only thing I have against this book is that it involves time travel, something I usually run away from at a fast clip. But in this book it somehow worked. I enjoyed the whimsy and charm of this story and it was exactly what I needed when things were feeling a bit rough.

I know little about Shirley Jackson, and not being of the constitution to handle any form of scary story, I have never read any of her books. I only picked this up because I was desperate to find real descriptions of motherhood, to know that I wasn’t alone in finding it simultaneously the most rewarding experience in the world, and the absolute hardest. I loved the humour and humility in this book, and her honesty in sharing her experiences as a young mom.

I didn’t love Just Kids, so I was hesitant to pick up M Train. I was sent a proof by the publishers so decided to at least give it a try. This book was, to me, what Just Kids nearly pulled off but fell just short of. It was full of the introspection I loved in glimpses in her first book, but had a quieter and more humble outlook. I enjoyed that it was about small things, and yet managed to feel like it was also about everything. Her voice in this book was finally the one I wanted to hear.

I don’t like zombie books much, it gets too intense and futile for me. I don’t do well with no future plotlines. But this one had me hooked in early on, and I really enjoyed what Carey did with the story – especially the ending (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it). For those who read more of these types of books, it might not be quite as fresh and interesting, but for me the very fact that it surprised me made the experience for me.

I hadn’t read Elizabeth Wein before this book. I’d heard good things about her, but hadn’t picked up any of her work. This came up on a list of upcoming releases for review, and I thought, why not? So I requested a copy and read it as soon as it arrived. I was so impressed by so many elements in this book. It dealt with a women doing brave and unconventional jobs in a time when they had few options. It dealt with interracial adoption. It has a mom who will do anything for her kids – including moving across the world to take her adopted son to a part of the world where he could find his history. It dealt with war, cultural differences, sexism, motherhood, childhood and the amazing things people can do when they choose to stand up for what is right. Very impressive book, particularly considering it’s for young readers.

I enjoyed the film of this book, so I decided to pick up a copy. I didn’t really have any expectations going in, but I actually really enjoyed it. The writing was better than I thought it would be, and there was surprising depth and complexity to the characters. Plus, cute puppy.

Man, this book. It’s chock full of tragedy, and yet it manages to be one of the funnier books I remember reading in the past decade or so. I think the very fact that it deals with such serious subject matter almost made the humour funnier by contrast. Plus the characters really had me caring about what was going to happen to them.

I don’t usually go for post-apocalyptic stories (see comments re: zombies above), so this didn’t seem on the surface to be my kind of thing. But the writing. Once again, the writing. Mandel captured in such vivid detail what it would be like if most of the world were suddenly gone – not just the people, but the civilizations humans have created. How that would feel if you were one of the survivors, and what would you do next? It’s scary, but also beautiful.

I knew I was going to like this book, but I guess what I wasn’t so prepared for was how devastated I’d feel, at the end of this book, knowing that was it. There won’t be any more. Marina Keegan died in a car accident shortly after graduating from university, at the beginning of what promised to be a brilliant career. This book proved that, and left me feeling like I’d lost something that’ll never come back.

On a lighter note, Alan Bennett’s novella about the queen discovering a love of reading and slowly becoming lost in a world of books made me so happy. It’s so strange to read a work of humour about such a revered character, and to see echoes of my own bibliophilia in her and watch her slowly becoming interested in little else beyond her world of books just brought me nothing but joy. Plus it’s a tiny book, so it really is a one sitting read.

I know that there have been many others that I could include in this post. There’s nothing better than taking a gamble on a book you’re not sure you’re going to like, and winning big. I’d love to hear if any of you loved the books on this list as much as I did, and I’d also love to hear which books took you by surprise!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.