Book recommendations that play with what it means to be a book

I really love sci-fi novels and I read a lot of books. I read 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson a while back and that book is particularly interesting to me. Rather than each chapter advancing the narrative of the story, there were occasional breaks where a chapter would have a list of semi-random words which just gave the vibe of what's happening, or some history of a scene, or a recipe for how to build an asteroid.

There's another book that I have heard of but neglected to write the name down, where the reader of the book is a character within the book, and the narrator speaks directly to you (but not a choose-your-adventure style book).

All of this got me interested in finding other books, preferably sci-fi or maybe fantasy, where the concept of being a book is played with and new ideas are tried. Any recommendations?

Voroxpete ,

Cloud Atlas for its Russian nesting doll narrative structure.

Feersum Endjinn for how it plays with time, space, and even basic concepts of spelling and punctuation.

Generation X for its intwerweaving of advertising and informational sidebars into the text.

Worx OP ,

Started reading Feersum Endjinn but it hasn't grabbed me yet. The badly spelled chapter is honestly just annoying to me. There's a couple of weeks left before it's due at the library so I might give it another go. But, it's definitely a weird book which fits my criteria so thank you for the suggestion.

emergencyfood ,

There's another book that I have heard of but neglected to write the name down, where the reader of the book is a character within the book, and the narrator speaks directly to you

If, on a winter's night, a traveller?

Worx OP ,

What a weird fucking book! It's not the exact one I was looking for (I believe in my novel, one of the characters in the book begged the reader not to finish the book, because then the character would die).

Thanks so much for the recommendation though, it's definitely the sort of weird I was looking for. I found it a bit hard to get through - I think it being a translation made some parts a bit stilted and a bit unrelatable for me - but I still read it over only a couple of days. I felt at chapter 8 where we read a Certain Character's diary that the book was coming together and starting to make sense for me.

emergencyfood ,

I believe the chapters that sound stilted were deliberately written thus to give an air of being foreign or exotic.

My favourite chapter in the book was the discussion on censorship. My country has a weird and completely unpredictable censorship system that depends on how many people got offended, who they know, which judge the case goes to, and how well the author can get the media interested in the case.

DaleGribble88 ,
@DaleGribble88@programming.dev avatar

Not sci-fi, but Mister B Gone by Clive Barker was really good. The book is a conversation with a demon who is telling you his life story. It is the story of how he came to be trapped in the book you are reading.

I thought the book was super funny and surreal. I saw reviews after finishing that it is considered some of his worst work. That might be true, but the worst 24 carat bar of gold is still a 24 carat bar of gold. Well worth the read imo.

Worx OP ,

Great suggestion. I had this book sitting by my computer when I was waiting on the computer to finish processing something. Idly picked it up and started reading, then just read the whole book in one sitting. I liked it a lot :)

vankappa ,

You mean If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino? Still do check it out

yum_burnt_toast ,
@yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com avatar

yea this definitely fits the description. brief summary: chapters alternate between the first chapters of different novels, and the main character (addressed as "you") trying to track down the different novels whose chapters youve just read which are cut off for various reasons. it is great, relatively short (i think 250-ish pages in my copy), and if you dont mind the wild stylistic jumps between chapters its pretty delightful.

shandrakor ,

I think Idaho Winter by Tony Burgess does this pretty well. It's a wild read.

Worx OP ,

Wow, what a mindfuck. Had a bit of time to spare before getting up and read it through in one go. Not what I was expecting from the (honestly boring) cover. Thanks for the recommendation!

jodawznev ,
@jodawznev@sh.itjust.works avatar

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski fits that model really well.

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