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A list of books whose book designs or inherent literary structure pushed limits at the time of their publication, or whose book designs are well-known for their incredible artistry.
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
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House of Leaves
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 195,741 ratings
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| 2 |
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S.
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3.85 avg rating — 28,466 ratings
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| 3 |
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Cloud Atlas
by
4.01 avg rating — 265,144 ratings
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| 4 |
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If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
by
4.02 avg rating — 109,885 ratings
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| 5 |
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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 433,468 ratings
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| 6 |
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Tree of Codes
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.84 avg rating — 3,794 ratings
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| 7 |
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Night Film
by
Marisha Pessl (Goodreads Author)
3.78 avg rating — 95,156 ratings
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| 8 |
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Pale Fire
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4.17 avg rating — 56,698 ratings
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| 9 |
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Griffin & Sabine (Griffin & Sabine #1)
by
4.03 avg rating — 75,905 ratings
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| 10 |
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The Raw Shark Texts
by
Steven Hall (Goodreads Author)
3.83 avg rating — 21,510 ratings
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| 11 |
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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3.89 avg rating — 1,581,914 ratings
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| 12 |
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Invisible Cities
by
4.10 avg rating — 95,419 ratings
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| 13 |
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Ulysses
by
3.77 avg rating — 139,606 ratings
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| 14 |
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The Book Thief
by
Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author)
4.39 avg rating — 2,835,964 ratings
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| 15 |
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Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)
by
Amie Kaufman (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 160,269 ratings
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| 16 |
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Only Revolutions
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
3.23 avg rating — 5,853 ratings
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| 17 |
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The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
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3.88 avg rating — 8,728 ratings
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| 18 |
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Dracula
by
4.02 avg rating — 1,440,992 ratings
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| 19 |
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Ella Minnow Pea
by
3.94 avg rating — 57,247 ratings
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| 20 |
|
Wreck This Journal
by
Keri Smith (Goodreads Author)
4.10 avg rating — 15,042 ratings
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| 21 |
|
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by
4.22 avg rating — 188,829 ratings
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| 22 |
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Hopscotch
by
4.20 avg rating — 48,176 ratings
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| 23 |
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Building Stories
by
4.33 avg rating — 7,360 ratings
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| 24 |
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A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 761,043 ratings
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| 25 |
|
Kafka on the Shore
by
4.12 avg rating — 538,492 ratings
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| 26 |
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Dictionary of the Khazars
by
4.17 avg rating — 7,544 ratings
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| 27 |
|
The Fifty Year Sword
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
3.59 avg rating — 6,153 ratings
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| 28 |
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The Neverending Story
by
4.18 avg rating — 218,412 ratings
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| 29 |
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
by
3.73 avg rating — 22,876 ratings
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| 30 |
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The Princess Bride
by
4.27 avg rating — 942,043 ratings
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| 31 |
|
Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel
by
Zachary Thomas Dodson (Goodreads Author)
3.51 avg rating — 2,417 ratings
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| 32 |
|
A Visit from the Goon Squad
by
Jennifer Egan (Goodreads Author)
3.70 avg rating — 246,878 ratings
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| 33 |
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The Sound and the Fury
by
3.86 avg rating — 194,128 ratings
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| 34 |
|
The Lover's Dictionary
by
David Levithan (Goodreads Author)
3.86 avg rating — 47,849 ratings
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| 35 |
|
Nox
by
4.37 avg rating — 3,977 ratings
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| 36 |
|
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)
by
Robin Sloan (Goodreads Author)
3.72 avg rating — 215,136 ratings
|
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| 37 |
|
Everything is Illuminated
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 183,341 ratings
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| 38 |
|
One Rainy Day in May (The Familiar, #1)
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
3.65 avg rating — 4,184 ratings
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| 39 |
|
Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 349,122 ratings
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| 40 |
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POENA DAMNI: THE TRILOGY (3-Book Box Set)
by
4.68 avg rating — 91 ratings
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| 41 |
|
The People of Paper
by
4.07 avg rating — 5,448 ratings
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| 42 |
|
Wittgenstein’s Mistress
by
3.92 avg rating — 7,201 ratings
score: 840,
and
9 people voted
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| 43 |
|
A Very Minor Prophet
by
James Bernard Frost (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 114 ratings
score: 771,
and
8 people voted
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| 44 |
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The Strange Library
by
3.55 avg rating — 68,670 ratings
score: 767,
and
8 people voted
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| 45 |
|
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Story (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5)
by
4.38 avg rating — 336,423 ratings
score: 750,
and
8 people voted
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| 46 |
|
A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel
by
4.34 avg rating — 991 ratings
score: 675,
and
7 people voted
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| 47 |
|
Codex Seraphinianus. Ein Orbis Pictus des Universums der Phantasie.
by
4.50 avg rating — 3,857 ratings
score: 670,
and
7 people voted
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| 48 |
|
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
by
Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)
4.01 avg rating — 653,856 ratings
score: 654,
and
7 people voted
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| 49 |
|
Sabine's Notebook (Griffin & Sabine #2)
by
4.19 avg rating — 11,207 ratings
score: 648,
and
7 people voted
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| 50 |
|
The New York Trilogy (New York Trilogy, #1-3)
by
3.86 avg rating — 85,643 ratings
score: 646,
and
7 people voted
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| 51 |
|
Autobiography of Red
by
4.25 avg rating — 35,460 ratings
score: 643,
and
7 people voted
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| 52 |
|
Z213: EXIT
by
4.27 avg rating — 237 ratings
score: 592,
and
6 people voted
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| 53 |
|
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4)
by
4.26 avg rating — 336,500 ratings
score: 568,
and
6 people voted
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| 54 |
|
Slade House
by
3.81 avg rating — 68,995 ratings
score: 567,
and
6 people voted
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| 55 |
|
A Greater Monster
by
David David Katzman (Goodreads Author)
3.64 avg rating — 169 ratings
score: 561,
and
6 people voted
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| 56 |
|
The Sorrows of Young Werther
by
3.69 avg rating — 151,964 ratings
score: 554,
and
6 people voted
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| 57 |
|
Foucault’s Pendulum
by
3.91 avg rating — 74,305 ratings
score: 536,
and
6 people voted
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| 58 |
|
THE FIRST DEATH (Poena Damni #3)
by
4.59 avg rating — 163 ratings
score: 495,
and
5 people voted
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| 59 |
|
Woman's World
by
3.99 avg rating — 596 ratings
score: 493,
and
5 people voted
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| 60 |
|
How to be Both
by
3.66 avg rating — 27,144 ratings
score: 487,
and
5 people voted
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| 61 |
|
The Unfortunates
by
3.87 avg rating — 1,145 ratings
score: 485,
and
5 people voted
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| 62 |
|
City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris, #1)
by
Jeff VanderMeer (Goodreads Author)
3.86 avg rating — 8,000 ratings
score: 480,
and
5 people voted
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| 63 |
|
Finnegans Wake
by
3.68 avg rating — 13,526 ratings
score: 478,
and
5 people voted
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| 64 |
|
Composition No. 1
by
3.51 avg rating — 86 ratings
score: 476,
and
5 people voted
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| 65 |
|
The Tattooed Map
by
3.74 avg rating — 1,236 ratings
score: 472,
and
5 people voted
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| 66 |
|
As I Lay Dying
by
3.72 avg rating — 184,652 ratings
score: 470,
and
5 people voted
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| 67 |
|
Wonderstruck
by
4.16 avg rating — 59,528 ratings
score: 468,
and
5 people voted
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| 67 |
|
Peter Pan
by
4.03 avg rating — 371,552 ratings
score: 468,
and
5 people voted
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| 69 |
|
Life: A User's Manual
by
4.18 avg rating — 9,997 ratings
score: 464,
and
5 people voted
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| 70 |
|
The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7)
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
4.29 avg rating — 187,442 ratings
score: 458,
and
5 people voted
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| 71 |
|
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by
3.99 avg rating — 429,505 ratings
score: 455,
and
5 people voted
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| 72 |
|
Six Characters in Search of an Author
by
3.83 avg rating — 22,265 ratings
score: 446,
and
5 people voted
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| 73 |
|
The Decameron
by
3.88 avg rating — 43,111 ratings
score: 436,
and
5 people voted
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| 74 |
|
We of the Forsaken World...
by
Kiran Bhat (Goodreads Author)
4.21 avg rating — 1,312 ratings
score: 400,
and
4 people voted
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| 75 |
|
Here
by
Richard McGuire (Author/Illustrator)
4.18 avg rating — 17,048 ratings
score: 398,
and
4 people voted
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| 76 |
|
With the People from the Bridge (Poena Damni Book 2)
by
4.55 avg rating — 101 ratings
score: 397,
and
4 people voted
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| 77 |
|
A Life In Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley
by
Warren Lehrer (Goodreads Author)
3.90 avg rating — 61 ratings
score: 394,
and
4 people voted
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| 78 |
|
Multiple Choice
by
Alejandro Zambra (Goodreads Author)
3.90 avg rating — 6,660 ratings
score: 391,
and
4 people voted
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| 79 |
|
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
by
3.88 avg rating — 55,222 ratings
score: 380,
and
4 people voted
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| 79 |
|
Landscape Painted with Tea
by
4.01 avg rating — 1,762 ratings
score: 380,
and
4 people voted
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| 81 |
|
The Bone Clocks
by
3.85 avg rating — 99,880 ratings
score: 377,
and
4 people voted
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| 82 |
|
Be Here Now
by
4.34 avg rating — 42,839 ratings
score: 376,
and
4 people voted
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| 83 |
|
The Golden Mean (Griffin & Sabine #3)
by
4.16 avg rating — 9,935 ratings
score: 375,
and
4 people voted
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| 84 |
|
This Is Not a Novel
by
4.03 avg rating — 1,588 ratings
score: 371,
and
4 people voted
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| 85 |
|
The Waves
by
4.14 avg rating — 52,349 ratings
score: 368,
and
4 people voted
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| 86 |
|
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
by
3.95 avg rating — 7,222 ratings
score: 346,
and
4 people voted
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| 87 |
|
I am an Island
by
Jonathan Culver (Goodreads Author)
3.80 avg rating — 25 ratings
score: 300,
and
3 people voted
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| 87 |
|
My Dirty California
by
Jason Mosberg (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 327 ratings
score: 300,
and
3 people voted
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| 89 |
|
The Exquisite Book: 100 Artists Play a Collaborative Game (Julia Rothman x Chronicle Books)
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 205 ratings
score: 299,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
|
Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page
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4.28 avg rating — 359 ratings
score: 298,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
|
Eunoia
by
4.04 avg rating — 1,768 ratings
score: 298,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
|
JPod
by
Douglas Coupland (Goodreads Author)
3.71 avg rating — 20,296 ratings
score: 298,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
|
The Mind
by
John Fitzgerald (Goodreads Author)
4.67 avg rating — 21 ratings
score: 298,
and
3 people voted
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| 94 |
|
The Road to London
by
Adriano Bulla (Goodreads Author)
3.92 avg rating — 40 ratings
score: 297,
and
3 people voted
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| 95 |
|
Cane
by
3.82 avg rating — 11,448 ratings
score: 296,
and
3 people voted
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| 96 |
|
The White Hotel
by
3.85 avg rating — 5,105 ratings
score: 295,
and
3 people voted
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| 97 |
|
Radi Os
by
4.17 avg rating — 295 ratings
score: 294,
and
3 people voted
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| 98 |
|
Super
by
Aaron Dietz (Goodreads Author)
4.22 avg rating — 59 ratings
score: 293,
and
3 people voted
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| 98 |
|
Newspaper Blackout
by
Austin Kleon (Goodreads Author)
3.92 avg rating — 2,446 ratings
score: 293,
and
3 people voted
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| 98 |
|
Go Ask Alice
by
Beatrice Sparks (as "Anonymous")
3.74 avg rating — 290,411 ratings
score: 293,
and
3 people voted
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305 books ·
550 voters ·
list created October 5th, 2010
by Aaron Dietz (votes) .
Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)
date
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message 1:
by
Sharon
(new)
Jan 20, 2014 11:00AM
Why isn't the book Night Fim on this list? It should definitely be added!
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Night Film? Agreed, it looks terrific! I haven't read it yet, but I've added it to the list. You can add books, too, and/or vote for them/others to move them up in the order. Thanks for mentioning Night Film!
I haven't actually read these books yet, but they certainly have intriguing design. There's Tristano, a novel that is printed in different order every copy, and also 10,000 Ghost Stories.It doesn't look like Tristano is all that well received, but that's not a criteria, is it?
Well received or actually being good is not a criteria--I imagine this to be a list of books pushing boundaries and often those are failed experiments (in terms of final impact) yet still great opportunities for others to study them and learn from them. Thanks for the comment!
I'm not sure "The Road" really pushed boundaries, at least at the time it was published. Maybe it would have in the 19th century. What does it do besides not use quotation marks for dialogue?
Thanks, Lobstergirl, I haven't read it myself. Do you recommend I remove it?
Yes, I don't really think it's innovative in terms of design or structure. It's a good book though.
Yeah, I've been very much meaning to read it, but...being already familiar with the story it's hard to get excited about it. Thanks for the tip! I'll remove it from the list.
Oh, looks like the joke's on me--I can only remove the books I voted for, which probably still only removes the vote I contributed. So it looks like this book is here to stay. Working on an experimental fiction course, though, and I'll definitely remove it from the list of works for students. Thanks again!
Not sure that Eating animals by Jonathan Safran Foer belongs on this list... I haven't read it though, so perhaps it does.
You definitely can add all the comics from Marc Antoine Mathieu like the Julius Corentin Acquefaques series.Unflattening from Nick Sousanis , which is a phD thesis on comics in form of a comic book, my preferred one.
Un cadeau , which is a comic book you unfold that is destructible
Anyone can add books to this list.
How to Vote
To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.
To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.
