I was initially ecstatic to write an entire article on my personal recommendations—after all, who doesn’t love to talk at length about their favorite books? Until I realized that my tastes tend to jump around at random, usually ending up on the weird and wonderful, or dark and twisted types of stories.
As years pass, I tend to go through phases of interest: one year being memoirs like The Glass Castle and The Sound of Gravel, or novels centered around taboo topics like Tender is the Flesh and Exquisite Corpse. One year, I couldn’t get enough of translated Japanese novels and books dealing with time travel. My tastes are ever evolving, which makes it difficult to be consistent in my recommendations!
For this list, I decided to go through my Goodreads and pick out some of my five-star reads that stuck with me that also (hopefully) won’t leave anyone scarred! If you’re looking for a few atypical or lesser-known reads, check out what I’ve brought to the table!
Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin
In an isolated mountain town, things go on like normal. The villagers till the fields, harvest, cook, and clean, waiting for the train to bring new supplies or things to trade. The children grow, pair up and wed, and have children, and mothers disappear. With no rhyme or reason, they fade into the clouds that surround the village, ceasing to exist.
Vera, a young girl when her mother vanished without a sound, has become a woman herself. As her peers pair off and become mothers, the customary gossip begins: Who spoils her children? Who seems to neglect them? Who will disappear first? Now a mother in her own right, Vera is forced to consider the likelihood that she may never get to watch her child grow. A haunting and poignant novel, Elsewhere makes you consider the effects of motherhood: how it becomes an identity in itself and the challenges and wonderful parts of bringing a new life into this world, with the knowledge that there is no one way to do it perfectly.
Jumper by Steven Gould
When asked what superpower most people would want, teleportation is usually up there with flying or super speed. In movies and comics, the main character is born with their powers, an alien from a distant planet, or has some insane biological change due to a radioactive something or other. Not Davy, an introverted teen living with his abusive and alcoholic father, who discovers he can teleport. But only to places he has been before. What else to do then, but run away from home?
This is a shockingly realistic portrayal of what the average person would do if they had one day woken up with a startling ability, but never wanted to become a superhero. Davy just wants to live his life comfortably and (as close to) normally as he can. Sneaking into Disney World, searching for his mother, finding and keeping a girlfriend, all the while avoiding the attention of the CIA.
This is one science fiction novel that I could genuinely see taking place, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning alongside Davy as he tests and practices his “jumping” ability. A superpower with clear rules that roughly obeys the laws of physics? As nerdy as it sounds, count me in! I found myself desperate to see how his story would end, and it has become one of my go-to reads during a slump. Book one of a tetralogy, there’s plenty to read about Davy and later, his daughter!
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Doing laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking meals: these are the tasks of the unnamed narrator, a single mother and housekeeper. But unlike her other clients, she has become part caretaker; her charge is an elderly professor of mathematics, who can’t make any new memories. Due to a traumatic head injury, the professor suffers from anterograde amnesia and cannot remember anything short-term longer than eighty minutes. Each day, the housekeeper and occasionally her son, introduce themselves to the Professor. Each hour and twenty minutes later, he forgets. Despite his crippling amnesia, the professor retains his love of life and appreciation of mathematics and baseball, subjects that he was passionate about before his accident seventeen years in the past.
Loss, memory, connection, and family. No grand revelations on the meaning of human existence, just a simple story about the comfort and closeness of human beings who can appreciate the beauty of the world around them. The characters learn and grow from one another, sharing passions for mathematics and baseball, two subjects I never thought I would care enough to read about. Ogawa makes me see them in an entirely new light, and I cannot think of this book without feeling echoes of its heartwarming and bittersweet story.
Short but impactful, this novel is barely under two hundred pages, but its message and characters have sat with me longer than it took for me to read it. I suggest you check out more of Ogawa’s works, such as The Diving Pool, Mina’s Matchbox, and The Memory Police.
Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt
Why do praying mantises kill and eat their mates? Why did European colonists think Indigenous peoples were all man-eaters? Why does cannibalism happen in the first place? This baffling non-fiction pick answers all of these questions and more. This novel breaks down biological, anthropological, and historical cases of cannibalism in both the animal kingdom and throughout human society.
Natural historian and zoologist Bill Schutt teaches the reader the various ways and reasons why cannibalism occurs in natural environments. From tadpoles and sharks to shipwrecks and plane crashes, Schutt supplies nuanced and thought-provoking facts and theories on one of humanity’s most feared taboos. Avoiding the sensationalism of pop-culture obsession with cannibalism, this book gets into the details of history, medical science, and the very natural justifications for cannibalism. An odd choice, I am aware, but I couldn’t put this book down, even as someone who rarely ever reads non-fiction. Eye-opening, yet funny enough to keep me from blanching at the subject matter, Schutt’s book has become one of my all-time favorites!
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
Anna is a simple cog in the corporate machine. It’s not fun or glamorous doing office work — it’s tedious and boring, and needs to get done. But most temporary office workers don’t do data entry for super villains. No different than working for some hospital that overcharges its patients, or a law firm that defends white collar criminals, Anna defends her occupation by at least knowing what evil deeds her supervisors are up to. When she finally scores a promising gig, things seem to be going her way. Until she’s injured by a “hero” foiling her new boss’s dastardly plan and becomes both a physical and financial casualty.
In her bedridden haze, Anna begins to turn her anger and frustration at the hero system, utilizing her data analysis skills to prove that heroes, not villains, are the true detriment to society. After all, you’ve seen what property damage heroes can do in movies, haven’t you? How villain sidekicks and goons alike are treated as cannon fodder. Doing the math, Anna likens superheroes to natural disasters and intends to destroy them in the way only she can: marketing. With targeted media campaigns, blackmail, and curated scandals, Anna rises to supervillain status. With enough spite and coffee, anything is possible. Plus, if you’re a fan of the TV series The Boys, I think you’ll take a liking to Hench!
The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki
Natsuru, a 6th grader who loves soccer and lives with his single mother, befriends Rio, a quiet girl in his class. A stand-alone manga about a simple and sweet childhood summer romance with a dark twist.
Read when I was around the same age as the protagonists, this manga never fails to elicit an emotional and nostalgic feeling whenever I re-read it, despite my life and upbringing being very different. A story straight out of a Studio Ghibli film, this slice of life manga evokes the feelings of lazy summer days and the endless possibilities of childhood. A friendship blossoms into something more, as the two come to depend on one another. Despite being a short standalone manga, this coming-of-age story mirrors the highs and lows of adolescence and the darker troubles that come with life. Heartwarming and bittersweet, this book holds a special place in my heart, and I tend to pick it back up when the weather turns warm.
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Told through a series of letters, Meet Me at the Museum is a quiet, contemplative novel about human connection, second chances, and the courage to stop settling for unhappiness. Anders, a museum curator in Denmark, receives a letter from Tina, an overworked farmer’s wife in England, originally addressed to the museum’s former curator. She writes inquiring about the Tollund Man, a mummified man dating back to the Iron Age.
What begins as a polite back-and-forth becomes a long-distance correspondence born out of monotony and loneliness that becomes something so much more. Their exchange grows into a profound friendship, as they begin to share their worries, fears, and quiet dissatisfaction with their daily lives. Who better to confess such things to than a stranger who just might feel the same? As time passes, the two begin to grow and pull themselves from the bog they’ve found themselves in. Both in their early sixties, they slowly realize that nothing is set in stone. You can change your life at any point.
Whether it’s nonfiction, manga, sci-fi, or satirical fiction, these stories dig into human relationships. They can be messy, complicated, and often unexpectedly beautiful. These picks are more about people than plot, and they find meaning in the smallest moments. Sometimes there are superpowers, sometimes it’s math and baseball, and sometimes it’s just about writing letters to someone who might understand you. Although they seem all over the place, they all have a spot on my bookshelf and a nagging spot in my mind. I hope you will enjoy them just as much as I have, if not more!
Interested in more weird works? Niche Genres? Come One, Come All: A Look at Weird and Wacky Book Genres!
Want more Bookstr Team Recommendations? Check out our list here!
