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I had to dig deep for this one. I've read thousands of books in my life. Which ones have the most unique, most memorable settings?
Here are ten books to read if you like a weird setting.
Books With Unique Settings
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Adult Horror
Set in an alternate universe
Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.
Why I recommend it: Most of Stephen King's books have weird settings. It was hard to choose one for this list! I went with The Gunslinger because the world is very much like our own, but everything is a bit . . . off. It's uncanny and definitely unique.
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Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Young Adult Fiction
Set inside a teen boy's mind
All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news. He’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.
Why I recommend it: This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. Cameron is a normal teenager until he starts to hallucinate and lose control of his muscles. He is diagnosed with mad cow disease and told that he is going to die. As the disease eats away at his brain, he goes on a hallucinated journey across America. Along the way, he encounters giants made of fire, a happiness cult that believes everything can be cured with vanilla smoothies, a Norse god trapped in the body of a yard gnome, and a lot of excited college kids on spring break.
The brain of a teenage boy is a weird place.
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The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Young Adult Fiction
Set inside a teen girl's mind. Also, Antarctica.
When her uncle takes her on a dream trip to the Antarctic wilderness, Sym's obsession with Captain Oates and the doomed expedition becomes a reality as she herself is soon in a fight for her life in some the harshest terrain on the planet.
Why I recommend it: The brain of a teenage girl is a weird place. When Sym gets lost in Antarctica, her survival depends on herself and her imaginary boyfriend. This book is intense and beautifully written. It’s a survival story with amazing descriptions of the landscape. You’re never sure which characters to trust because they all have selfish motives for being so far from home. They’ll even resort to murder to get what they want. By the end of the book, you can’t even trust Sym because the cold and sensory deprivation of Antarctica makes her hallucinate. I couldn’t stop reading this story. I had to find out how Sym would survive.
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The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
Adult Literary Fiction
Set inside a prisoner's mind. Also, a prison.
The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries magical visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs, with the devastating violence of prison life.
Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest, and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honor and corruption—ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own.
Why I recommend it: This book is strange. It's narrated by an omniscient death-row inmate. He’s an unusual guy. He believes that golden horses live under the prison, men live inside the walls, and creatures come out to steal the warmth from the urns of cremated prisoners. The unnamed narrator tells the story of the prison and the people who live and work there. The setting is eerie. I especially love the descriptions of the cremations and the creatures that come out to hug the warm urns. I thought about those creepy creatures for a long time after finishing the book.
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The Book Of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Adult Science Fiction
Set on an alien planet
It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings—his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.
Why I recommend it: The atmosphere and world building are on point. The ironically named “Oasis” is a believable desert planet. It’s flat and mostly empty with no landmarks except what humans/natives have built. Peter arrives on Oasis at night, and the pitch blackness of the planet creates a sense of anticipation in the reader. What bizarre things will Peter find when he starts exploring? That anticipation is present through most of the book. Oasis is a weird place that just keeps getting weirder.
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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Young Adult Science Fiction
Set inside a video game
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
Why I recommend it: This book is so much fun. It’s crazy and intense and unpredictable and hilarious. It’s one of the most imaginative novels I’ve read. Both the OASIS virtual world and the dystopian real world are well-developed and believable, but the characters are the best part of the book. They’re snarky, and they have very distinct personalities. My favorite part is when Wade meets his online friends in real life for the first time. A few of his friends are nothing like their online avatars.
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Island Of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Set on a (nearly) deserted island
In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Year after year, she watched one season pass into another and waited for a ship to take her away. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building shelter, making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs.
Why I recommend it: This is a childhood favorite. I was a bizarre kid who thought it would be awesome to be abandoned on a deserted island. The main character, Karana, probably didn't find it awesome. In order to survive, she has to make peace with her enemies and learn how to take care of herself in the wilderness. It's an inspirational story of resilience on a beautiful island.
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Life Of Pi by Yann Martel
Adult Literary Fiction
Set in the Pacific Ocean
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea.
Why I recommend it: That plot twist at the end. It was so shocking that I still remember where I was when I read it. I thought about it for days. This book is a work of art. It's well written with a harrowing ocean survival plot. It's the type of book you give to your friends and say, "You have to read this right now!"
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Holes by Louis Sachar
Middle Grade Fiction
Set in a kids' prison camp
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.
It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake?
Why I recommend it: Another childhood favorite. I loved the mystery, the humor, the vivid desert landscape, and the poisonous yellow-spotted lizards. As an adult, I can appreciate how intricate and tightly plotted this book is. The author weaves together three stories that demonstrate how history never dies.
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Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Young Adult Fantasy
Set in a boarding school
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere . . . else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced . . . they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
No matter the cost.
Why I recommend it: The cover and synopsis sound sweet and innocent, but the insides are dark and bloody. Every character is a weirdo because they’ve spent years in worlds that don’t make sense. The characters are eager to get back to their portal worlds, even though some of the worlds are horrible. I guess it’s easy to overlook creepy things when you’re an important person in a scary place.
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Tell me about books with unique settings!
I liked Island of the Blue Dolphins as a kid as well!
ReplyDeleteReady Player One has always sounded scarily plausible to me!
ReplyDeleteI could not get far through The Life of Pi though I tried more than once.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your #TTT
Great list! Island of the Blue Dolphins is such a throwback... And this reminds me that I still need to read The Enchanted.
ReplyDelete