Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday's weekly question:

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?

And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

It had to be Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. I'd read a bit of Robbins before, but this one hit it out of the park for me. Prior to that, I'd not read much in the way of fantasy/alternate reality, but I've certainly read a fair amount of this genre since. I fell in love with the main characters instantly and recommended it to anyone who would sit still and listen.

I re-read it once a few years later and it is probably time to give it another go and see if it still has the magic.