Time loops, playing with time, no quotation marks, 2nd person POV, oh my. These books inlcude some of my favorite things in books, the things that will suck me in.
Sections
6
No Quotation Marks
2nd Person POV
Time Loops/Playing with Time
Unnamed Narrator
Story Within the Story
Epistolary Elements
No Quotation Marks
None of these books use quotation marks anywhere in the story and it's definitely a choice, but one that I enjoy
A book for the Sacramento weirdos who love the history of this city. A bookseller writing about a bookseller in a very bookish city. Weird fiction for weird readers
Burnside
Sometimes when I open the door to my renovated bathroom I also feel like I'm entering prison. Short and inventive writing, longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
The Renovation: A Novel
Aging sucks but maybe being rich would make it better. Longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
Switzy: A Novel
A short book about a woman who gets bit in the hand by the family dog and meets a new friend a the facility. Eccentricities and meandering
The Shadow of the Object
A pretentious book that is honest to god incredible to read
The Vivisectors: A Novel
2nd Person POV
Nothing hits like 2nd Person POV. I love the feeling of being so disoriented but also like you're incredibly forced into the story.
What would you do if you left the country but you also didn't? A speculative science fiction novel that calls into question the immigration practices and stigmas prevalent today.
Sublimation
Sometimes horror movies can be used as a metaphor for your relationship. A challenging read that is incredibly worth it. Carmen Maria Machado is unmatched with memoirs.
In the Dream House: A Memoir
Choose your own adventure book for adults (but there are no happy endings). You'll have a ton of fun reading it but don't expect a happy ending.
Pretty Little Mistakes: A Novel of Choice & Fate
What would you do if you won the lottery and then made every mistake imaginable
Million Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel 2
Listen. If there’s one thing a man is going to do, it’s have the audacity.
Helen of Nowhere
Time Loops/Playing with Time
Give me a time loop, deja vu, groundhog's day. Give me time loops in romance, in horror, in science fiction. Anything that plays with time will be in a win in my book.
Your love story didn't begin by getting stuck in a time loop for over a year? A fun romance that has a fun story.
The Déjà Glitch: A Novel
We all yearn for a magical apartment in New York City that brings the love of your life straight to your doorstep.
The Seven Year Slip
POV: the algorithm has glitched so hard that you're stuck in it and can't get out
Once in a Timeline: A Novel
Slashers + time loops + weddings
Kiss Slay Replay
Unnamed Narrator
I love the existential crises of an unnamed narrator.
The existential crisis increases when you become black bag and we don't know your name
Black Bag: A Novel
Who cares about your name when you're just utterly exhausted
My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel
The beauty industry is totally natural, not weird stuff happening here whatsoever
Natural Beauty: A Novel
She's never met a man and she doesn't know her name. Bleak and depressing. Hopefulness that gets yanked away at every turn.
I Who Have Never Known Men
Story Within the Story
I love when excerpts or footnotes of another story are found within the main novel
A haunted house story and familial trauma with excerpts of the novel that tore the family apart
Home before Dark
None of the sisters trusted their mother, now she’s dead. They made a pact that they’d never read her book about their haunted childhood. One sister doesn’t keep that promise.
Play Nice
An unsettling psychological thriller about friendship and obsession
The Pallbearers Club
Did she kill her husband? Is that why the meatballs taste so good?
The Dead Husband Cookbook
Epistolary Elements
A book told in a non-traditional format? Sign me up for all of the letters, emails, interviews, ads. Please.
Arguably the twistiest of thrillers written by Alice Feeney with the best payout. And it's written partially in letters
Rock Paper Scissors: A Novel
Interviews and media galore in this deeply dramatic story of obsessive love
The Favorites: A Novel
Told in letters after a town begins banning the use of specific letters of the alphabet
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
If you love mess then you'll love this toxic love story set around a popular band in the 70s told through interviews
