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?

    • cabhan@discuss.tchncs.de
      8·
      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.

    • FollyDolly@lemmy.world
      5·
      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.

    • Xraygoggles@lemmy.world
      5·
      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·
      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.