Recs if you like Dictionary of the Khazars...
1001 Books to Read Before You Die
Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.
Books That Break The Rules
Books that ignore the traditional way of telling a story. These books tell their stories in unexpected ways, through letters, transcripts, diaries, documents, text messages, or unconventional layouts.
experimental lit
books with an experimental structure or narrative choices, metafiction, oulipo, postmodernism, etc.
Epsitolary, Ergodic, and Experimental Books
This list features books with nontraditional forms, structures, and narratives.
Feel free to recommend more! :)
Ergodic Literature
Ergodic literature is a term coined by Espen J. Aarseth in his 1997 book CybertextโPerspectives on Ergodic Literature to describe literature in which nontrivial effort is required for the reader to traverse the text.
Bending The Rules - 50 Novels
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 winterโs night a traveller - a story within a story within aโฆ
Books that are better physical ๐
I love books that have some unique feature that is best enjoyed as a physical book, rather than e-book or audio. An example could be that it has footnotes, appendices, non-linear storytelling, or requires frequent flipping of pages.
In this digital age, itโs fun to find books where the physical book has an advantage. Itโs also a factor I use when purchasing books at the bookstore.
Totally open to recommendations, as part of my reason for making this list is wanting to find more!
ergodic lit and other odd books
"ergodic literature is a mode of textual organization in which nontrivial effort is required for the reader to traverse the text, beyond ordinary eye movement or turning pages." - espen j. aarseth
books with unique formatting, books you can play like a game, books you need to take apart and put back together again, stories-within-stories, books containing found documents and ephemera, etc.
transient-collapsible time-spaces
books to finish in the early hours of the morning, begun the night before - books twisted in form and function, to disarticulate and piece back together in your head. To read in threes, to read in straight lines, to take one page when required
Fiction in academic form
Narratives that mimic the structure and tone of scholarly or documentary writing. These works present themselves as research papers, field notes, encyclopedias, annotated manuscripts, or official records.
Eccentric literature
Narration interrupted by the narrator, bawdy humor, irreverence, plot development prioritized over content, genre failure, parody... If you can think of other titles, they are welcome to the list!
