Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Awesomely Weird Settings


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I’m putting my own spin on this week’s topic. I think the topic is supposed to be about historical or futuristic settings. That didn’t sound interesting enough for me, so I’m going to list some books/series that have peculiar settings.


Ten books with awesomely weird settings







1. The Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling


You all knew that this was going to be on the list. Let’s just get it out of the way immediately. The Wizarding World is probably my favorite fictional setting ever. Lots of awesomely weird stuff happens here. (Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, anyone?)






2. The Dark Tower series – Stephen King


These books were described to me as “sci-fi/fantasy/horror western,” and that’s exactly what most of them are. They have a Wild West setting, but with monsters, magic, robots, and general craziness.






3. Midwinterblood – Marcus Sedgwick


A creepy Scandinavian island where people are sacrificed to gods, reincarnated, and stalked by vampires (not the sparkly kind). Sounds pretty awesome to me.






4. Going Bovine – Libba Bray


Most of this story takes place inside the main character’s head as he’s dying from mad cow disease. The character goes on a road trip across the US with a punk-rock angel and a talking garden gnome. Yes, I’m totally serious. This is really what happens in the book.






5. Feed – M.T. Anderson


The characters go on vacation to the moon. Then they go on a date to a filet mignon farm, and the farm has a maze made out of raw steak. Who doesn’t want to wander around a giant meat maze?






6. The White Darkness – Geraldine McCaughrean


In this book, a teenager and her imaginary boyfriend try to survive in Antarctica. Yes, Antarctica. How awesome is that?






7. The Enchanted – Rene Denfeld


This weird little book is set in an enchanted prison where goblin-creatures hug the warm urns of recently cremated death-row inmates. Also, there are horses.






8. The Martian – Andy Weir


Mars is just a strange place. Strange and very, very deadly.






9. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline


Most of this story takes place in a virtual-reality universe where people can do whatever bizarre thing they want. The characters spend a lot of time flying around in virtual spaceships, running from enemies, and solving 1980s-themed puzzles.






10. A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab


Parallel color-coded Londons with dangerous magic and crazy kings. There’s so much potential for weirdness. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.





Have you read any books with awesomely weird settings?




10 comments:

  1. I have only read The Martian and Ready Player One and loved both of those settings. This summer I will be listening to Harry Potter. I have to check out some of the others because I like different types of settings. Great list!

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  2. Great list! Ready Player One has a great/weird setting :)

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  3. What a fun topic! Of course, the Wizarding World would be #1 :) FEED also has a very weird setting.

    Happy TTT!

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  4. Great list! I tried reading The Dark Tower series a few years ago but couldn't really get into it (I was told that the first book was pretty weak so maybe I should get back to checking out the other books in the series one of these days). Loved The Martian and Ready Player One; the latter had a very interesting setting.

    My TTT

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  5. Fun list! I can't think of any other crazy settings, but I do love Harry Potter, The Martian, and Ready Player One.

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  6. I LOVE your take on this topic! I definitely struggled a bit this week. I would love to visit the world of Harry Potter more than anything else! Great list :D

    Here are my Top Ten!

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  7. I really need to read Ready Player One...I hear so many wonderful things about it!

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  8. The Wizarding World is probably my favourite fictional setting too!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/top-ten-tuesday-42/

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  9. I don't need a date, I'll totally go the filet mignon farm on my own! What a great list. The most recent weird setting I can think of is the Library of Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. I actually put the book aside because I had a hard time getting into the weirdness. I'll try again some day.

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  10. Great list! I have only read one book that made your list - The Martian. Many of the other books that you picked have been sitting on my TBR for a long time. I hope to get to A Darker Shade of Magic this year and maybe Ready Player One.

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