Books told in unique formats - Any Genre or Age

[Aerulan]

Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock

[Ingo]

For some reason I am surprised no one mentioned one of the classics:
Dracula

It was one of the more difficult books, as I was just starting to read more in English (I am German, English is my second language), and it was rather long and not too much suspense (actually I later saw the same book in German translation was cut shorter for some reason).
Still, I think it is a classic and as it consists of journal-entries and diaries of different persons (at least 2, I think more), that could interest you.

As it is rather old, you might get a Public Domain version for free, look here:
Dracula, different formats, even Audio!

[MJ]

Katherine Kerr, Deverry series, Daggerspell.
400+ years
Reincarnations

C.M. Owens, Daughters series, The Daughter Trilogy Bundle
First book, second book is a rewind to the start of the first book... boring right, nope, cause they change events. Book three.

Are you interested in adult books? There is a series that is being written by three authors. As you write this one, I'll write the next. The story lines are great.

[Katee]

The Quantum Manual of Style is a quirky mind-bend of a book, I guess sort of an abstract how-to manual for life. A majority of it is written in bizarre prose/list/code form, but the rest is a regular story contained within the ramblings. It's a lot of fun to read if you relax your mind and let the book make connections for you.

[MomToKippy]

Winter Solstice Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Told alternately by the MC in his youth and as an adult.

[Kaion]

Vanishing Point is told though a box of notecards that have the main character's ideas for a novel.

[Isabel (kittiwake)]

Griffin and Sabine is a book consisting of the correspondence between two people, but their letters and postcards are tucked into pockets in the book so that you can take each one out to read.

[J.]

How about The Princess Bride by William Goldman? Even better than the movie, it is told as an abridgedment of an old, old true historical book, keeping only the "good parts". There are all sorts of footnotes and things added to make it seem authentic but not quite. When I first read it as a teenager, I was quite confused what was true and what was made up (it all is) especially because the forward and notes about the "history" of the book and how Goldman had to search to find a copy of the book in an obscure used book shop. If you read the latest anniversary addition, there are even more notes and extras.

[GracieKat]

Shadows in the Asylum: The Case Files of Dr. Charles Marsh is told like a medical file with notes and newspaper clippings and diary entries.
Skeleton Creek has links within the book to videos. In physical book they are written out. I'm not sure about e-book. I would think they would be just a regular link.
There is a YA book about an asylum that uses real pictures from closed down hospitals but i can't remember the name. I'll let you know.

[Melanie]

As a tween, I loved P.S. Longer Letter Later and Snail Mail, No More :)

[GracieKat]

The name of the asylum book was Asylum (go figure, lol). There is also another book, I'm pretty sure it's YA called Dracula's Heir which has letters in pockets and fold outs and stuff.

[MJ]

James Patterson, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas & Sam's Letters to Jennifer

Joanne Harris, Blackberry Wine

[Becky]

Dear Mr. Darcy - it's all letters written like a journal.

[Gen]

I suggest The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and the rest of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence. The story starts at the present moment and than moves into the past with each chapter moving back and forth from the chapter present to chapter past until they catch up with each other and each chapter moving the book closer to the time in which it was started. Than there are the flash-back chapters that use the same format.

Very good.

[Bonnie]

His Fair Assassin series
Each one features a different heroine that all know each other and they intersect throughout the series, and all come together at the end.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/57803

[[deleted user]]

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff

[GracieKat]

The Whalestoe Letters goes with House of Leaves.

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red told in diary format

The Blair Witch Project told like a dossier on the missing students

Entwined - Tales From the City each story connects to a person from the story before.

[Courtney]

a curious case of the dog in the night time is written from an Autistic boys point of view.

A series of unfortunate events is... Unique and interesting. It's following the Baudelair Orphans journey as they are chased by the nefarious Count Olaf. The writing style is unique and while it seems like it takes place in this world, it doesn't quite.

Dear America and Royal Diaries Are written as diary entries.

[Nadine]

Aerulan wrote: "Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock"

YEs those are amazing! Love the artwork.

[Nadine]

Cathy's Book is told as a diary, but it also contains a pocket with memorabilia (messages, photos,maps)
and, there is an app that goes with it! There was also phone numbers you could call, but I didn't dare try.

CrankCrank is the story of a meth addict all told in sculpted verses. It could be annoying or gimmicky, but no. it's powerful and perfect for the story.

[Electric]

Three specifically come to mind.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman, he pretends to abbreviate a book by S. Morgenstern.

The Road by Cormac McCathy, it is definitely an adult book about a post-apocalyptic world. It is written interestingly with no quotation marks or punctuation. It's been awhile since I read it, but it was interesting.

And then my favorite of these three! The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, told through the eyes of death. Instead of being morbid or creepy, it was actually heartwarming and moving. Once of my favorites.

[Kate]

☆Joycedale☆ wrote: "The only one I can think of is Why We Broke Up, its written out as a letter."

Not just a letter but a list, sort of -- a girl going backward through a relationship as she gets rid of a box of stuff collected throughout it. Each item gets a story of how it played into the relationship's development/dissolution. This book is fantastic.

[Teresa]

The Goodreads young adult newsletter just listed this one:
Hello? by Liza M. Wiemer (Goodreads Author)
Five very different high school seniors find their lives both linked and forever changed by a single phone call. This lovely and heartbreaking debut is told from different POVs in prose, verse, drawings, and as a screenplay.
For some reason it's not linking with the linky magic, so here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Brenda]

@msg 32 lobstergirl. The Golden Gate---yes that is a terrific book.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

The Supernatural Enhancements - classic epistolic format of a collection of documents, but much of the documentation is transcription from security video. I found those snippets added a lot of tension to the story, which I really enjoyed.

City of Saints and Madmen - some people classify this as a collection of short stories, but the author calls it a mosaic novel (I think David Mitchell's stuff is similar). Many of the stories/chapters are unusual means of telling a story (the footnotes of a history, an annotated play, a natural history of squid in which the author relates a murder story in the bibliography, and other things of this nature).

Tainaron: Mail from Another City - the narrator's letters to an unresponsive recipient as she explores her new home, a city of insects. (Also see Datura by the same author.)

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography - nonfiction, but it deserves a mention for a genuine innovation for telling his bio in a choose your own adventure format.

[Karen]

Multiple Perspectives
Six of Crows - told from the POV of five out of the six main protagonist completing a heist

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - told from the POV of four best friends that share one pair of jeans

The City of Ember - told from the POV of the main protagonists, a boy and girl

Anything but Ordinary - told from the POV of the main protagonists, a boy and girl

Legend - told from the POV of a boy and girl on opposite sides of a civil war

Ten Kids, No Pets - each chapter is told from the POV of one of the kids of the family, which, you guessed it, has ten kids

A Game of Thrones - told from various POV of several people scattered through different places in this epic fantasy

The 100 - told from the POV of four protagonists

Toxic Bachelors - told from the perspective of three male friends

Ember in the Ashes - told from the POV of the main male and female protagonist of the story, a soldier and a slave

Daughter of the Sun - told from the POV of the main male and female protagonist, a ruler revered as god and a village girl who is rumored to make pottery that can make it rain

Flashbacks Throughout the Story

According to Jane

There's No Place Like Here

Told Through Letters, Emails, Text, IMs, and Diary Entries - aka epistolary format

Boy Series by Meg Cabot - emails & IMs & letters
1. The Boy Next Door
2. Boy Meets Girl
3. Every Boy's Got One

Catherine Called Birdy - diary

These Is My Words - diary

P.S. Longer Letter Later - letters
Snail Mail No More - emails

I've Got Your Number - text messages, emails

Regarding the Fountain - letters, postcards
Regarding the Sink - letters, postcards

Daddy Long Legs - letters to her benefactor whose identity is a secret


The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie - letters, diary entries
The Year of Secret Assignments - letters, postcards
Feeling Sorry for Celia - letters, diary entries

TTYL - instant messages

Rob&Sara.com - emails, IM

Unique

The Music of the Dolphins - it is about a girl that grows up feral, the book's narative parallels Mila's increasing comprehension of the English language

Out of the Dust - the story is told solely through a series of poems

In the Night Room - the story of a novelist whose book character somehow comes to life and crosses over to his world, the story is told from both the author and his book character's pov and for half the book the book character doesn't even know she is a book character, it was pretty weird but definitely one the books with the most unique formats I've ever read

The Amulet of Samarkand - MY FAVORITE series of all time, has a unique format because not only is it told from two characters' POVs, but one of the character's perspective has footnotes throughout his chapters. This is because the character, Bartimaeus, is a 5000 year old djinn that has many many thoughts at once, the footnotes are meant to represent that. And god is he funny!!

The Blessing Stone - the story is told from the POV of various people, males and females, ranging from primitive times to modern times, who all live in different parts of the world. What holds the story together is a beautiful stone that each of the characters finds.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

Just finished Shriek: An Afterword (the sequel to City of Saints and Madmen) and it is unusual as well: the narrator's abandoned manuscript is being edited/commented on by her brother, who she had thought was missing (not a spoiler; information is given right up front). I really liked this one, but I would recommend reading COSAM first.

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I had forgotten, but Annihilation is a journal.

[Kimber]

A new YA or NA book has come out called Illuminae that is told completely in Dossier and Secret Files form. Looks interesting.

[Marcel]

Iain M Banks: Fersum Endjin (c authr jose 2 write sis in a k8nd of pdjn english - if u c what I mean :) )
David Mitchel: Cloud Atlas (parallel stories in different styles, one being, as above in some kind of future English)
Hannu Rajaniemi: Quantum Thief (non linear)
Haruki Murakami: Hardboiled Wonderland (two parallel stories of different styles and genre's that cross-over)
Bombyonder: Avantgarde experimental ramblings (I hated it, but it was in a quite different style - stream of consciousness)
Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho (stream of consciousness)
John M Harrison: Multiple parallel stories, non linear
Dan Simmons: Hyperion (a Scifi take on Keats and Canterbury tales)
Richard Kadrey: Angel Scene (novelette but a bit more like a goth poem)

[Michele]

Ficie wrote: "Let's see...The Raw Shark Texts and The End of Mr. Y both have a very original structure - but read as novels.."

You are the only other person EVER that I have encountered who knows this book lol! It is indeed very different.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

In and Out is a novel told in verse form.

[Amy*skye.rhyme]

Psylk wrote: "So I have always been a sucker for a book told in a unique way. Books told in multiple perspectives or by unique narrators are great. Books that shift timeline like past and present or even future...."

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

This book is told in letter format. It's an intriguing tale about an abducted teenager and her thoughts and feelings toward the man holding her captive.

[Michele]

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters - in each chapter, one more letter disappears.

Gadsby and A Void are both written without the letter "E".

[Cheryl A]

My absolute favorite - Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger - baseball, Brooklyn and Broadway in the 1940's as told through report cards, telegrams, memorabilia. In the same vein - The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt (1920's) and The War Bride's Scrapbook (1940's), both by Caroline Preston

[Amy (Other Amy)]

I just found out about Tree of Codes, which is a cutout collage of The Street of Crocodiles. I couldn't say how it is yet; I'm reading the latter now in preparation for the former. I'm pretty excited about it.

[Moussia]

Jodi picoult has a very unique style and writes BEAUTIFUL,heartwarming stories that make you question everything

[Gillian]

Two novels I found very interesting and told in unique ways:
The Eyre Affair
footnotes, complex timeline, moving into and out of alternate worlds

The Psychology of Time Travel
multiple points of view, time travel

[Gillian]

I agree with Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters. And by the author of The Supernatural Enhancements is Meddling Kids.
I also recommend The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

[Heather]

The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, an very unusual Uncle and Nephew correspondence. Flowers for Algernon, by D Keyes, the benefits of a medical experiment change the life of a challenged man, extremely touching.

[Julia]

100% The Princess Bride

[Peter]

It's a comic book, but Fantastic Four #352 is one of my favorites of all time. Each page has a time stamp at the bottom, and there are two stories happening simultaneously. The main story follows the heroes as they try to save the day in Dr. Doom's castle. The side story is Doom and Mr. Fantastic fighting, but it's all out of order because they're fighting a time duel. Halfway through the book you see the start of the duel, and whenever they jump in time you see what time they're traveling to. So you read the main story through sequentially, and then jump around to different pages to follow Doom and Richards as they battle each other.

[Ann]

The Name of This Book Is Secret - unusual narration, also asterisks (*) link to footnotes if you are reading ebook version
Hello...Wrong Number - all telephone conversations
Dear Mr. Henshaw - letters and journal entries

[Rosa]

Novels written in the form of letters or diaries are not unique, or even particularly unusual.

[Zev]

I thought "The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka was told in a unique way. It's been described as a collection of linked narratives. There's different POVs, time periods and some poems.

[Keyera]

The Candymakers is told four times, each time from the perspective of a different child

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is just plain weird. It's complicated, with so parts told in pictures, and others with a single sentence of word for a chapter, so I'm not sure how to explain it. I would suggest looking at the available preview on the title page to get an idea of what I mean. But it definitely meets your criteria.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, if I remember correctly, is told in the perspective of both the MC's past and present selves. Some chapters are dedicated to his life as a kid, while others show what is going on in his current life, as an old man.

Book of a Thousand Days is a series of diary entries starting from the day the MC and the princess she works for are locked in a tower for seven years, as part of a punishment from the princess's father.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is told with both pictures and words, but not in the style of a picture book. Rather, the story may go on for a while in words, then pages will be dedicated to pictures zooming in on someone's face, or following the MC as he runs through a passageway.

[Michele]

Has anyone mentioned An Instance of the Fingerpost? In that one the same events are told from several different points of view, and by the end it's become a completely different story.

Borges' story "The Garden of Forking Paths" is, if I recall correctly, told backwards.

[SamSpayedPI]

Slaughterhouse-Five and The Lock Artist are told nonlinearly (non chronologically).

[Rosa]

Hi, Sam! My dad and I finished watching The Maltese Falcon last night, and I liked it very much. I'm currently reading the novel.
You've read Garfield: His 9 Lives, I assume?

[SamSpayedPI]

Rosa wrote: "You've read Garfield: His 9 Lives, I assume?"

Hi, Rosa!

No, actually, I got "Sam Spayed" from a character in a Dog City cartoon. I didn't realize it was originally from Garfield. It's a play on my own name, and also the name of one of my (late) dogs.