Hi book lovers,
I’m becoming a fan of ergoic lit and wanted to get your reccomendations. I know there are articles online but I was hoping someone could tell me about an ergodic lit book (or any book written in an atypical format) they have read and enjoyed.
I have read some interview format books (Daisy Jones and The Six and Fantasticland) and I own House of Leaves but haven’t picked it up yet. Thanks in advance!
by meh80
10 Comments
Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn. It’s a story told in letters. But, letters of the alphabet are slowly banned and can no longer be used in correspondence. At first it’s fun to see how that plays on word choice, but as more and more letters are banned…it gets crazy trying to decipher what people are trying to communicate.
Double or nothing – don’t even know how to explain this one, but there is a lot of playfulness with the format, like writing in geometrical shapes..
The Unfortunates by BS Johnson – also referred to as the book in the box – chapters are unbound and you can rearrange them and read the book in any order
Two books come to mind:
Lincoln in the Bardo — George Saunders
The Savage Detectives — Roberto Bolaño
I’ve never read anything structured quite like those books. The first is perhaps more unique, but the latter switches perspectives in an interesting way to slap you in the face with the punchline to a 500-600 page long joke that could have only been pulled off in the way the author chose to write the book. Both are also excellent novels.
Crossings by Alex Landragan: can be read two ways: cover to cover, or as you finish each chapter it directs you to what to read next
Very few of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books have chapters, if that counts.
Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children uses a lot of old found photographs to advance the story.
The Selected Works of TS Spivet by Reif Larsen is about a cartography-obsessed 9-year-old boy who wins an award and gets invited to the Smithsonian to present a talk on his work. The story is enhanced by his maps. It’s a neat book.
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. In the middle of this one and really liking it so far! Also Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.
The Unfortunates. Each chapter is printed in a little pamphlet, and you’re encouraged to read chapter 1 first and the last chapter last, but all the middle chapters in any order you wish.
anything by Borges.
If you’re into poetry, Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back by Alicia Cook is awesome! It’s written as a record, and each poem on Side A is a “track”. Side B repeats the “tracks”, but with bits and pieces scratched out to make new black-out poems. It’s a great read!