Recs if you like Gravity’s Rainbow...

coined by phil ford and jf martel, co-hosts of “weird studies,” zonal literature is a term that refers to narratives set in reality-bent spaces. in these liminal zones, ordinary life is suspended, altered, other. the rules here are different, even if things may look the same.

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

ANTI: fascism, ai, nfts, Big Tech, billionaires, surveillance states, optimization, algorithms, bot farms, technofeudalism, enshittification, exploitation, extractionism, planned obsolescence PRO: organized labor, punk, analog, solidarity, free speech, friction, degrowth, experimentation, right to privacy, right to repair, diy, material process, mutual aid, ecological living, the human hand, the human mind

*Short stories welcome. Looking for nonfiction? Check out The Big Bad Luddite List.

Apophenia: the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated or random things and events

Books that exhibit key traits of, or helped develop, the Postmodern literary movement, many of which are experiemental. Not including criticism or theory. Research trigger warnings before reading.

(Recommendations welcome)

A collection of books that impacted the future of their own genre. ✨️please make recommendations✨️ (Picking emojis for this was hard)

"Turn me over, I'm done on this side!" —St. Lawrence, whilst roasting on a spit

Gallows humor, black comedy, l'humour noir — whatever you call it, this is the place for it. This list includes André Breton's seminal anthology of dark humor, a number of the works excerpted in this anthology, and beyond. You can find a link to the complete contents of Breton's anthology in the comments.

Want more weird humor? Check out my list Nitpicky Neuroticism (Comedy Edition)!

Unconventional and experimental novels that play with syntax, style, narrative and structure Tristram Shandy - the grandfather of experimental Pale Fire - intertwines a poem and commentary Dictionary of the Khazars - in the form of a dictionary Man Eating typewriter - written in Polari Exercises in style - 99 retellings of the same story Hopscotch - designed to be read in multiple ways If on a winter’s night a traveller - a story within a story within a…

Time Magazine’s All-Time Best 100 English Language Novels from 1923 to 2005 as published in 2005.

Fiction inspired/influenced by Melville's masterpiece (or sometimes just by Melville)

Looking for nonfiction? Check out my list Special Interest: Moby-Dick.

Novels (or even more broadly, Prose works) that incorporate mathematical elements within, as its concept/plot/characterization/etc. ...

Time Magazine’s compilation of the 100 best novels published since 1923.

(101 because “The Berlin Stories” is an omnibus of “Mr Norris Changes Trains” and “Goodbye To Berlin.”)

Inspired by my quest to find a humanities man for my friend doing STEM who is sick of mansplainers who don't shower. NOT saying any of these books are bad- Blood Meridian is one of my absolute favs.

The encyclopedic novel is a genre of complex literary fiction which incorporates elements across a wide range of scientific, academic, and literary subjects. Here I'm trying to collect noteworthy examples of this type of novel. Be patient with me, this is my first list.

Books with a distinct literary DNA that reflects the chaotic, revolutionary era they were born into and often show a systemic distrust of authority. Whether the enemy is the military (Catch-22), psychiatric institutions (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), or government surveillance (Vineland)

fiction and non-fiction literature books that help me feel cool and cultured 😎 as listed in the Hardcore Literature Book Club with Benjamin McEvoy, on Patreon

Novel as travelogue, travelogue as novel