5 Great Books with Unique Formats

by Jessica Pyle

BOOKS ARE GREAT. NOT JUST THEIR CONTENT BUT THEIR SHAPE, THEIR SIZE, THEIR BINDINGS AND EVEN THEIR SMELL. WHO HASN’T LOOKED IN AWE AT A SHELF FULL OF LEATHER BOUND BOOKS SQUAT OR TALL, THIN AND STREAMLINED OR BUSTING OUT THEIR SEAMS WITH CRISP OR WEATHERED PAPER? OR BOUGHT A SECOND OR EVEN THIRD COPY OF A BOOK THEY ALREADY OWN JUST BECAUSE IT HAS A COVER EVEN BETTER THAN THEIR FIRST COPY? YET DESPITE THE WAY WE INTERACT WITH BOOKS AS PHYSICAL OBJECTS RELATIVELY FEW AUTHORS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH THE TEXT INSIDE THE COVERS AND THE WAY WE INTERACT WITH HOW THE STORY IS TOLD ON THE PAGE ITSELF. HERE ARE A FEW RECENT BOOKS THAT DO JUST THAT.

 

HOUSE OF LEAVES

If you’ve been anywhere on the internet where people are discussing the weirdest book they’ve ever read you’ll probably have seen people discussing Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Even describing its format is a difficult prospect; the overall structure is of an academic treatise on a sort of urban legend written by an old blind man named Zampano and found scattered throughout his house on scrap paper and the like after his violent and potentially supernatural death. The book is annotated throughout by the supremely messed up Johnny Truant and includes upside down pages, black pages, innumerable footnotes, different coloured words and even mirror writing in order to portray the the non-Euclidean house at the centre of Zampano’s mystery as more than just flat text. It is definitely a daunting prospect to read House of Leaves and certainly parts can be incredibly dense however it is a staggeringly unique piece of writing that is, if nothing else a grand achievement in the art of the novel.

 

CITY OF SAINTS AND MADMEN

Jeff Vandermeer’s compelling Southern Reach Trilogy has been gaining in popularity and visibility recently after being published over a period of eight months in 2014 and being praised by the likes of Stephen King. However in his earlier career Vandermeer’s contributions to the New Weird genre resulted in the creation of the city of Ambergris, a fantastical city in the vein of China Miéville’s New Crobuzon. City of Saints and Madmen is a collection of tourist brochures, short stories, medical reports, written histories and encyclopedia articles from this city covering everything from love, to politics, to the unique citizens that populate Ambergris. On the surface it sounds like a regular old short story collection however Vandermeer’s treatment of the city as a very real place and the way it becomes a character in itself is well worth experiencing. Luckily, those who fall in love with Ambergris can also move on to Vandermeer’s other works set in the same world.

 

THIS IS NOT A BOOK/WRECK THIS JOURNAL

Keri Smith’s publications are perhaps the biggest departure from the traditional novel format in this list in that they don’t attempt to tell a story at all. They are more like personal do-it-yourself art pieces and similar works have been taking over small sections of book stores shelved with the adult colouring books. Don’t let that put you off if you haven’t bought into the idea of sitting down for a light colouring session however. These books are designed by the author to bring out the reader’s creatively and challenge them in ways they won’t expect with pages directing them to “poke holes in this page” or “glue random objects here”. They’re not for everyone but if you have ever felt the desire to be creative and found yourself feeling the creeping dread of staring at the blank page then they’re a great jumping off point.

 

DIARY

At this point in his career Chuck Palahniuk can probably be considered one of our foremost working authors and Fight Club is often the book that comes to mind when hearing his name. As one of his lesser known works Diary has received less publicity but is a thoroughly engrossing story told in a highly irregular fashion. It takes the form of a ‘coma diary’ written by the artist Misty Wilmot to her husband Peter as he lies in a suicide induced coma and she wastes away at his family home on a secluded island. As the reader you are intruding on their private correspondence yet the book is oddly personal due to the fact that the narrator is directly addressing the reader but the story never falls by the wayside and the conclusion of the mystery of the little New England town Misty is exiled to is shocking and engrossing. Palahniuk’s style can be off-putting to some but for those who know his work well or are interested in seeing what he has to offer Diary is one of his best works.

 

THE 13 ½ LIVES OF CAPTAIN BLUEBEAR

Ending on something a little more whimsical, Walter Moers’ The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear is an adult fairytale of sorts. Written by an illustrator and cartoonist it follows Bluebear’s adventures through fantastic lands and charts his interactions with fantastical creatures complete with illustrations and textual experimentation. At first glance it could be easily mistaken for a children’s book but at 700 pages is less of a bedtime story and more a fully realised yet satirical mythic tale. It may seem strange to imagine becoming invested in the journey of a fuzzy blue blue bear and his friends but by the end you will be rooting for him and anticipating his adventures in the sequel. It may not be something you would want to be caught reading on the bus but Bluebear’s adventures will get their hooks into you if you have a love for the nonsensical and the absurd.