Books with Extras

Two recent bestsellers have been released with extra-textual gimmicks that just might draw you right in. Documents, pictures, letters and more function as a driving force in the plot of these novels.

S. (Ship of Theseus) by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

A work from famed director J.J. Abrams and noted novelist Doug Dorst combines a traditional narrative with a second story in the form of notes scribbled in the margins by two readers of the main narrative, in a story that also features clues online and in real life.

 

 

 

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

When the daughter of an enigmatic cult horror film director is found dead in an abandoned Manhattan warehouse, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath, disbelieving the official suicide ruling, probes into the strange circumstances of the young woman’s death while being drawn into the director’s eerie world.

(If you have a smartphone or tablet, be sure to download the free app from your app store.)

 

 

If you enjoy this type of book, you may also enjoy the authors A.S. Byatt, Nick Bantock or Mark Z. Danielewski.