109
Book recommendations that play with what it means to be a book (lemmynsfw.com)
submitted 11 months ago by Worx@lemmynsfw.com to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
60 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] jodawznev@sh.itjust.works 48 points 11 months ago

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

[-] cabhan@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 11 months ago

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.

[-] moon@lemmy.cafe 8 points 11 months ago

+1 to this book, it's really surreal

[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

It gave me actual nightmares about houses. Such a high quality book!

[-] Xraygoggles@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

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.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 5 points 11 months ago

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.

[-] FollyDolly@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

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.

[-] jrbaconcheese@yall.theatl.social 2 points 11 months ago

Fun fact, his sister is the singer Poe

this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
109 points (95.8% liked)

Science Fiction

13644 readers
7 users here now

Welcome to /c/ScienceFiction

December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

We are a community for discussing all things Science Fiction. We want this to be a place for members to discuss and share everything they love about Science Fiction, whether that be books, movies, TV shows and more. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow.

  1. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  2. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Put (Spoilers) in the title of your post if you anticipate spoilers.
  5. Please use spoiler tags whenever commenting a spoiler in a non-spoiler thread.

Lemmy World Rules

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Tenthrow@lemmy.world