5 books that do “book” differently
As a writer, I am constantly looking for inspiration to refill my creative cup. If I’m going to make good stuff, I have to be reading good stuff (or reading bad stuff that inspires me to make something better, lol).
I also like weird stuff. I don’t know if it’s being neurodivergent or that my favorite professor in college told me things like “The author does not exist” and “Yes, you can study Bugs Bunny for an entire year and get credit for it.”
Probably a combination of things.
But I like books that break boundaries, that try new things, that do the whole idea of “book” in a way nobody’s seen before.
And if you clicked on this weird blog title, I assume you like that, too!
So here are my five favorite books that are pretty darn weird in the best way possible. Enjoy, and let me know what you think in the comments!
What You’ll Learn From These Books: How to use different formats to build a story unlike any other.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
This is one of the very few books that I think is worth getting in hardcover. It’s also hard to explain without giving things away, but I’ll try…
Basically, this is a ghost story within a documentary within a film criticism essay within a meta-commentary within a story about a guy down on his luck.
A lot of it is told in footnotes and even handwritten notes from the guy on the topmost layer of the book.
The book tickles your thoughtful side and then suddenly takes a big swift right turn into scary town. One of my favorite books ever.
Informed Sources: Day East Received by Willard Bain
This story is told through daily typewritten reports in the style of AP News Bulletins.
It’s a story of murder, espionage, revolution… and it all takes place directly on the page.
I don’t mean metaphorically. It’s really hard to explain.
You just have to buy the book, but eventually, you realize that everything is taking place directly in your hands.
I’ve never seen letters in a chase scene before.
It’s kind of hard to find it, but there are various sellers still online. I saw a copy for $20, that is a STEAL for how interesting and weird this is.
Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel by Milorad Pavić
It’s a dictionary! It’s deadass a dictionary, no cap.
It’s also this incredible work of magical realism that wraps inside and around itself like a mobius strip of wonderment.
The foreword explains that you can read the entries in whatever order you want.
You can read it straight through, you can go from reference to reference (yes, the terms are cross-referenced within the book, it’s great), and you can even just read different sections at random for your own unique journey.
It’s a very funny and very meaningful story that blows my mind when I think about how difficult it must have been for the author to organize his thoughts when he originally conceived the concept.
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Okay, full disclosure, it’s not that this one does “book” differently, it’s that it “books” WAY TOO HARD.
This is probably the longest book I’ve ever read. It’s actually more like five books, but it all goes together.
(To give you an idea, it is twice as long as The Fellowship of the Ring.)
It’s about a fictionalized version of Juarez and a series of missing person’s cases there, but it’s also about WWII, but it’s also about academia, but it’s also about love/adultery/sex/marriage, but it’s also about prison, but it’s also about being a writer, but it’s also about motherhood, but it’s also about EVERYTHING.
To give you an idea of how good this book is, even though it’s MASSIVE, I will definitely read it multiple times in my life. It’s one of those you can return to over and over because life itself is in it.
I think it’s important to read a book like this and remember you don’t always have to write short punchy things just because people on twitter say that sells better.
Although Bolaño did die before this book got any fame or sales so… Take from that what you will.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Marco Polo entertains Kublai Khan with stories of all the cities he’s seen on his travels.
Each chapter is about an entirely unique city, and yet, each chapter is about every city, and every human being in that city.
Is Marco Polo being a freaking liar? Maybe, yeah, probably, most likely, but who cares? It’s so beautiful! And what is truth, anyway? I don’t know anymore!
Most of Calvino’s books could go on this list, but this is a great one to start with, because it’s short and pretty but contains a lot.
Any recommendations?
Know any books similar to these or so entirely in its own ballpark that you have no idea what would be similar to it?
Let me know in the comments, I’d love to read it!
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