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1,107 books · 1,718 voters · list created February 18th, 2010 by deleted user.
779 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


T 750 books
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Comments Showing 1-23 of 23 (23 new)

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message 1: by Bookman (new)

Bookman Which of these are "children's"? I was quite surprised to see the list when I looked under "children's" because there are some books there that are very much NOT for children.


message 2: by Alix (new)

Alix Epstein some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here.


message 3: by Jacob (new)

Jacob The only thing that J.D. was experimenting with when he wrote Catcher in The Rye, was new ways to make high school students waste their time.


message 4: by [deleted user] (new)

"Ulysses" obviously deserves the number 1 spot


message 5: by Leslie (new)

Leslie This is my favorite category of books. It's hard to define, but I'll take anyone's suggestions- because that's just more ideas for my 'to read' list!


message 6: by Carrie (new)

Carrie P I couldn't finish #1 because I couldn't get past the rape scene of minors. I even tried watching a midnight showing of the movie but fell asleep, although mostly because of the booze I'd consumed prior. What little I did read of Burgess' "experimental" vocabulary & his premise of "experimenting" bad behavior out was "interesting", to say the least.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Alix wrote: "some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here."

I agree...


message 8: by Danail (new)

Danail Hristov The End of the Jesus Era correlates with tags: creative, history, innovative, non-fiction, odd, religion, science, series, unique, unorthodox.

An honest search for a path to God reveals the shocking findings...
... The study includes author's autobiography, stories from his life experience as a zealous Christian, and some observations on Christianity, gained over 70 years.

The book, which is intended to be the first of a series, was recently published.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listin...
http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearc...
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/49...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trk...
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Sea...


message 9: by Paul (new)

Paul Thoresen I can't believe how many WWII books there are on every list


message 10: by Juan (last edited Mar 26, 2014 10:05AM) (new)

Juan Booklovinglady wrote:


Alix wrote: "some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here."
I agree...


I agree...


message 11: by Melanie (new)

Melanie Page Alix wrote: "some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here."

Definitely.


message 12: by Taylor (new)

Taylor Melanie wrote: "Alix wrote: "some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here."

Definitely."


Agreed: Life of Pi? I'm actually pretty disappointed with a lot of the books on this list.


message 13: by Melanie (new)

Melanie Page Agreed: Life of Pi? I'm actually pretty disappointed with a lot of th..."

Life of Pi is more like a fairy tale than experimental. There are certain publishers people should be looking at, like FC2, Coffee House Press, and FSG.


message 14: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Some of these books are only experimental if you've read nothing that's actually experimental.


message 15: by Melanie (new)

Melanie Page I'm going to add a bunch! I can totally do that!


message 16: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Checked for duplicates: 3 books removed.

I'd love someone to explain to me how 'Catcher in the Rye' is in any sense 'experimental'.

Another list rendered useless by being set up but not curated to remove spurious additions.


message 17: by Leo (last edited May 28, 2016 10:30PM) (new)

Leo Walsh Seems to me that these books aren't that experimental. The top of the list are transgressive, not experimental. Experiemntal works play with language and expectation.

And then, some light-weights that you can polish off in an evening show up. Like, for instance "The Eyre Affair."

Any serious list of experimental fiction would include heavyweights like "Finnegans Wake," "Ulysses," "The Waves," "To the Lighthouse," "Foucault's Pendulum," Name of the Rose," "JR" "Mason & Dixon," and "Gravity's Rainbow."

Those books take work to read. Because they play with both a novel's form and language itself. Some are dang-near impossible to read. For instance, I think I'll be 70 before I finally crack "Finnegans Wake," which I've been reading off and on since my thirties.


message 18: by Ben (new)

Ben S Paul wrote: "Checked for duplicates: 3 books removed.

I'd love someone to explain to me how 'Catcher in the Rye' is in any sense 'experimental'.

Another list rendered useless by being set up but not curated t..."

The Catcher in the Rye is not exactly experimental, but it is on this list because it isn't a typical novel, for these reasons: The slang it is written in was very edgy at the time, it frequently uses passive voice, and most subtle but undoubtedly most important-the novel is entirely inseparable from its narrator. While people may dismiss Holden Caulfieldas as whiny and annoying, if you analyze his character carefully you will find that he is a unique and brilliantly written character who makes this book that would otherwise be pointless have real worth and significance. It ain't a classic for nothing.


message 19: by James (new)

James Luna pmsl@ Mein Kampf
The man was totally misunderstood in his time.


message 20: by Serenity (new)

Serenity Forward Alix wrote: "some people are playing a little fast and loose with the word "experimental" here."

True


message 21: by Erin (new)

Erin How is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on this list??? It is the quintessential children’s adventure novel — absolutely nothing experimental!

I also don’t see how Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, The Hunger Games, Romeo and Juliet and others make any sense on this list, and that is only the first page...


message 22: by Erin (new)

Erin Even Pride and Prejudice? Okay, wow, either some people really misunderstood what this list was for or, as the someone who posted this list on ListChallenges put it, modern readers apparently think anything not written about vampires is experimental. =P


message 23: by Caroline (new)

Caroline Page I find it funny how there are three books that share pretty much the exact plot right by each other: Breakthrough by Ken Grimwood, The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton, and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Currently they're all right by each other on the list 69 to 72. Since Breakthrough by Ken Grimwood was the first to be written, it should be the only one of the three on the list. Flowers for Algernon was the very last to be written, and the worst in my opinion. I have no idea why it's on this list, and how in the hell did that book sell over 5 million copies? The author must have priced his book for 1 cent and bought 5 million copies and then upped the price, ha, ha.


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