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?
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brookes is a detailed fictional instruction manual. It’s sequel is World War Z which is closer to a normal book, but still has an odd structure of creating a world through interviews … and the The Zombie Survival Guide book exists within it.
WWZ is one of my all time favorite books. They should really make it into a movie. Or, even better, an HBO miniseries.
I dunno, I think maybe some things should just be left alone
WWZ is a banger!
It is at that :-)
The WWZ audiobook is really solid.
Did they get different people to record each story?
Yup! Alan Alda and Henry Rollins are the only 2 I can remember off the top of my head. Get the expanded version - the original was abridged, but the new one has all the content.
Oh fab, I’ll keep an eye out for it. It’s one of my favorite books :-)
Thanks for the suggestion. Should I read WWZ first?
As with so much in life, it’s best to read the manual first. It can get a little dry in places though, like any instruction manual, but I enjoyed all of it because I’m the sort of person who likes normal manuals, lol