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?
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski fits that model really well.
+1 to this book, it’s really surreal
I immediately thought of House of Leaves. Do not read it as an ebook, if there even is an ebook version. It must be read as a physical book.
It gave me actual nightmares about houses. Such a high quality book!
Agreed! House of Leaves is a must read. Get the physical book, it won’t work with an Ereader. I got the softcover edtion and it was totally worth it. If I ever sell my house I am going to rough up my copy real good and hide it somewhere for the new owners to find.
Great call, you have to be careful that you get the color version!
I lost my original copy and when I replaced it, there was no more color. Had to return that one to find one with color. I think it adds so much.
House of Leaves is fantastic.
Another book of his, Only Revolutions, is wild, but I couldn’t get through it. You have to turn the book upside down to read half of it.
Fun fact, his sister is the singer Poe
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