Few books that stand out for their uniqueness

 

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Books are ubiquitous – that’s something we all know. But in the unfathomable depths of the vast ocean of books lie few exemplary ones that have portrayed the boundless power of human imagination. Here are few literary works that deserve the spotlight for their brilliancy.

A la recherche du temps perdu

This seemingly endless book – an extraordinary feat that sets a high bar for all writers – is Marcel Proust’s 4000-paged masterpiece. Entitled “Remembrance of Things Past” (written originally in French), the book has 1,267,069 words stretching over its many leaves, making it the longest book in the world..

The magnum opus is established on the theme of “involuntary memory” that is triggered without any conscious effort, and consists of seven volumes, the first of which was published in 1913. It begins with the narrator's memories of his happy childhood, eventually unfolding his feelings about art, love and life, and exploring the concept about how everyone and everything is an immense part of “time”.

Ingeniously, Proust has revealed himself in three ways in his novel—as the author, as the narrator, and as the characters who are projections of his own self. (Source)

Ducks, Newburyport

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Eight sentences are more than enough to make up a novel running over a thousand pages, as proven by Lucy Ellman in her book "Ducks, Newburyport". This book shows the world through the eyes of a middle-aged woman living in Ohio and describes her feelings, emotions and life, largely in first-person perspective.

The sentences in this book are often broken down by commas and common clauses like “and the fact that”. Being a ‘stream – of – consciousness' narrative which depicts the story's narrator’s stream of spontaneous thoughts, the novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2019, and the author won the Goldsmiths prize in the same year.

If you want a long read, then this book is perhaps the perfect choice as it unknots the various disappointments that disturb the protagonist – unless you want to read a longer book, of course.

Gadsby

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Try searching for the letter “e” through this book and you won’t find any. This is what makes “Gadsby” by Ernest Vincent Wright special. The book is, in fact, a lipogram – text that excludes one or more letters, and in this case, the letter “e”. However, there might have been four to five words of the fifty-thousand of his book with the letter “e”. But that is understandable, and possibly even forgivable, for it is remarkably challenging to not use the most common letter of the English language.

The protagonist of this novel, John Gadsby, is alarmed by the downfall of his hometown Branton Hills. Eventually, because of his actions, the town develops into a thriving city and he becomes its mayor. The story is written from the perspective of an anonymous narrator, who, from time to time, complains about his writing skills.

The text of the entire book

 

Finnegans Wake

                                                      An extract from the novel
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‘Finnegans Wake' by James Joyce is a novel that has surprised the literary stream. The author has conflated multiple languages, to invent new words, most of which are a hundred letters long! This literary work has a complex plot, as it blends reality with dreams. In fact, its complex plot had even critics puzzled, as some found it almost unreadable when it was introduced for the first time to the world. Yet the book stands out for its ingenuity, and can be considered as an important achievement in the literary world.

One fascinating thing about this book is that it begins with the second half of the last incomplete sentence and ends with the first half of the first sentence.

Life after Life

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The novel “Life after Life” by Kate Atkinson is quite different from those novels that involve rebirth and time loops. It covers the story of the protagonist, Ursula Todd, who goes through terrible deaths, and gets reincarnated again to try and make better choices and live again - only to die once more.

Looping repeatedly through time, the novel has a unique structure, as it explores the alternate possible lives of the protagonist. The book has won the 2013 Costa Book Awards, and several other honors as well.

Are there novels that have enthralled you? Let us know in the comments below!