Books

For those who can read german: "Henry Frottey, sein erster Fall, Teil 2, das Ende der Trilogie" by Jan Philipp Zymny, who is a german absurdist comedian. Its a bit like the Dirk Gently Books by Dougkas Adams, though even more absurdist and less structured. A funny, but also exhausting read.

I don't know, if there is an english translation.

House of Leaves would make a terrible audiobook if that's the kind of thing you're looking for.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Edit: I'm not surprised to see that this is a popular response.

Another, different, one is The Fisherman by John Langan.

"The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime" is written in the narrative of a boy with aspergers, read it many years ago and enjoyed it a lot. Like, it really paints an interesting picture of how the world can also be experienced

Station eleven had a really unique format. You could say there were multiple main characters from different timelines but I would almost argue there was not a "main" character. All of them were super fascinating in their own right and the transitions between them, and their timelines, was incredibly smooth. I didn't find it confusing at all and I normally do with books formatted like this.

It's a post pandemic dystopia that focuses on the role of art in helping people find purpose if you want the shortest possible synopsis.

The broken earth trilogy by NK Jemisin is written in second person, interesting style and a good read. (Fantasy, sci-fi)

Gardens of the moon by Steven Erikson, not really 'unique' but he does a lot of show and tell, so if you're willing to pay attention and think a long it's a great read. (fantasy)

I never finished it, but definitely House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I'll call it a "labyrinthian" horror story where both the narrative and physical formatting mirror the themes presented in the story. It's hard to describe, but you have to at least find one in a bookstore and look through it. I don't know if audio or digital versions exist, but I'd avoid them, you won't get the whole experience.

Edit: Damn, took to long to write and somebody already mentioned it, lol.

In literary fiction, it's probably As I Lay Dying. Flowers for Algernon is also a really neat concept (and a much easier, more enjoyable read).

Feersum Endjinn

Lockpick Pornography by Joey Comeau. I'd never read a book from the POV of a genderqueer character before.

Hoppscotch comes to mind. There are 2 ways to read, first is read chapters 1-56 and discard the rest. Second is follow the author's order, which is 73, 1, 2, 116, 3, 84... At the end of each chapter it says where you should jump next. Plus there's a lot of experimental stuff in it, steam of consciousness, news fragments, a chapter where the author made up his own language, fragments of a fictional writer, etc

Only thing is I don't know how well the original Spanish translates to other languages (tho according to Wikipedia the English translator won some award so should be good).

Iain M. Banks Feersum Endjin one of the characters narrates the story phonetically.

Alan Duff Once Were Warriors and sequels. Entirely written as interior monologues.

A few I haven't seen mentioned in the thread yet:

• Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellman. It's one sentence long, although it occupies 1,000 pages. It's well though done that it doesn't just feel like a creative writing exercise. It's not necessarily something I'd recommend, but it's surprisingly ok.
• If on a winter's night a traveler - Italo Calvino. It's about the reader (you) trying to read a book called "If on a winter's night a traveler" It's funny, and short enough to not push the bit too far. Every time you think you're onto its trick, it finds a new one.
• Ulysses - James Joyce. A loose reframing of the Odyssey with the stakes massively lowered. Different chapters have different writing styles. Other works borrow ideas from this, so any individual attempt at innovation may be something you've seen elsewhere. For example, the single sentence stream of consciousness of Ducks, Newburyport was likely inspired by the 3 sentence closing chapter here. The book is kind of a lot. If you were to read it, it's worth at least considering if you want to use a guide. The Joyce Project has a good wiki-style guide embedded in the text.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was a book that threw me just because the main protagonist had such odd perspectives.

Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera is written with segments of it like a true crime podcast. Highly recommend it as a listen.

Ive been reading a lot of books that aren't written traditionally. Taylor Jenkins Reid books, Evelyn Hugo was written as an interview, Daisy Jones and the Six like documentary, etc. Dungeon Crawler Carl is LitRPG and best as audiobook (written primarily as such). Of Monsters and Mainframes was written with computers as main characters. Super fun.

So many good books out there. Please report back on what you've enjoyed the most!

Gnomon by Nick Harkaway is one of my favorite weird books. On its surface, it’s about a detective digging into a wrongful death at the hands of a state interrogator… but as it progresses, you realize things are not quite what they seem.

If you can find it, Gooberz by Linda Goodman is a pretty wild read. It's a poetic semi-autobiography with an overarching theme of love and grief.

It's also printed in a fairly bold style in the original hardback.

I can't think of anything I've read that stands out as much in terms of never having run across anything quite like it. People just don't write 1000+ page stories in rhymed meter for one thing. Doing so with a blend of autobiography and fiction, weaving in bits of mysticism and philosophy (rather woowoo in that regard, the author was a professional astrologer, but don't let that sour you on the book itself) and managing to tell a heart wrenching story.

Is it something everyone will like? Absolutely not. I did. I recently acquired a first edition of it and plan a re-read soon (the book is fucking thick though, so it isn't a casual read with my arthritis nowadays). It weren't cheap, though also not beyond my reach either, so I obviously think it worth the effort of wrestling my attention span for.

I do, however, suggest that one get a digital version and just look up pictures of the printed version lol.

XX by Rian Hughes uses different fonts for different characters. The story isn't told in a linear fashion and there are plenty of twists and doubling back.

'The Iron Dream' by Norman Spinrad. In 1921, a young German war veteran named Adolph Hitler left his homeland and moved to America. He settled in New York's Greenwich Village and started illustrating pulp novels. After a few years he was confident enough to start writing. This book is considered his masterpiece ...

I think that would probably be Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, although I haven't finished it.

I've never read anything quite as horrible or with a unreliable narrator that justifies his behaviour this hard. The story keeps getting worse too. There's no clear hope for a long stretch.

If you don't know the narrator, Humbert Humbert, is the pedophile who goes after the twelve year old Dolores Haze, whom he calls Lolita.

Can be read here: https://online.fliphtml5.com/unwsfj/Lolita---Vladimir-Nabokov/

Clemens P. Suter’s “Heavenland” a plainly weird crime story. Entertaining though.

Cemetery of Forgotten Books by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. A luscious rich story in a difficult period of Spanish history.

originally in Spanish, but the translation to english is pretty good

The Thought Gang by Tibor Fischer. Its about a man who quits his job and takes up robbing banks using only philosophy.

Be here now

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig is one of my most memorable reads. A cross between philosophy and mystery told from a first-person narrative in a somewhat autobiographical/travelogue manner.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

"The people in the trees" lives in my head rent free, but not 100% in a good way. Huge SA trigger warning (not pervasive in terms of time spent on the topic, but yeah, if you are AT ALL squeamish about that sort of thing, give this one a pass). But it is quite unlike anything else I've read and stuck with me in a way other books I randomly grabbed at the library with no context generally do not. Left me very much questioning how I view people and the world and how easy it is to allow monsters to hide in plain sight.

Probably A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark by Harry Connolly. It's got some fantasy/urban fantasy elements mixed with like a mystery/detective vibe. It super surprised me in the best way when I was reading it.

Pale Fire by Nabokov.

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld is told backwards. Each chapter takes place before the previous one.

Twenty-One Truths about Love by Matthew Dicks is told entirely in lists.

A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan switches genres about 60% through. It's best if you know that and nothing else.

Naked Lunch, by William Burroughs

Maybe Stalking the Wild Pendulum? It's pretty unlike what I usually read, so it was fun/unique. I can't say I subscribe to it, whatever that would even entail. It's like 90% woo-ey BS probably, but...still kinda enjoyed it mostly.