Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish.

Welcome to this week’s top ten! I’ve had a bit of a hiatus from Top Ten Tuesday over the past couple of weeks due to taking some holiday time and being pretty busy getting my next book ready for publication.

This week I am back with the latest top ten theme – top ten books with unique book titles. This one was quite tough, as in many ways lots of book titles are unique. To narrow it down a little, I picked a selection of books from my reading list over the past couple of years which I chose to read in part because I was drawn by their unusual-sounding title. So, without any further ado, here is my top ten:

The Ribs and Thigh Bones of Desire by Sandra Hutchison

This was one of my holiday reads this year. A coming-of-age novel set in 1970s small-town America, the story revolves around the unexpectedly close relationship which develops between a thirty-something grieving widower and a teenage girl. The title is a quote from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Don’t Call Me Kit Kat by K J Farnham

This is a young adult novel which I read a couple of Christmases and I was so hooked on it that I read it in two days. This is a heartbreaking emotional rollercoaster of a story about a teenager’s descent into depression, anxiety and eating disorders. A very honest read which stuck with me for a long time afterwards. ‘Kit Kat’ is the unwanted nickname of the protagonist, Katie Mills and this title, for me, captures a lot of what the book is about.

The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie

This is a sweet novel, bringing together the stories of Jean and Donald, Connie and Alf, and Fred, all taking place across different periods of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but all connected by one thing – A Singer Sewing Machine. I loved the novel’s title and its unique telling-point, the way that it is an object rather than a person which acts as a sort of inanimate protagonist, grounding the story and cementing the history which brings these characters together.

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

The Virgin Blue is Isabelle Tournier, known as ‘la rousse’ because of her similarity to the Virgin Mary. The story follows Isabelle and her descendant, Ella, born centuries apart but whose lives follow interesting parallels. A book full of tragedy and sadness which always left me wanting more, but I did love the title.

Whisky From Small Glasses by Denzil Meyrick

This is one of these great titles which draws you in but which, upon reading the book, seems to have no obvious link to the story! Nonetheless this is a great crime novel set on the west coast of Scotland, and the first in Meyrick’s DCI Daley thriller series.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Frankly, this is probably my book of 2017. It is, in short, a beautiful story about a very unconventional, flawed but likable character who, the reader realises very early on, has a terrible past to come to terms with. The title is quirky and completely evokes the tone of the novel.

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Based on the true story of Eyam, the English village struck by plague in 1666, this is a story of survival and a year of catastrophe becoming instead an ‘annus mirabilis’, a year of wonders.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the story of Anne Neville, youngest daughter of the Earl of Warwick or the ‘Kingmaker’, and later wife and Queen of Richard III. A really enjoyable read about the short but relentlessly exciting life of a woman at the centre of late medieval English politics.

Veronika Decides to Die by Paolo Coelho

At the beginning of this story, Veronika attempts suicide. What follows is a journey through despair, emotional discovery and ultimately liberation in a novel which questions the very meaning of madness and conformity. I have read this book so many times that I probably know it by heart.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

This is a ‘Salem’ novel with a bit of a difference. I love books which are named after objects and this is no exception, the ‘physick book’ being the central physical tenet which binds Connie Goodwin and her ancestors together in a tale of mystery and revelation.

So what are your favourite unique book titles? Please feel free to share in the comments or via social media.