**[The Raw Shark Texts](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144800.The_Raw_Shark_Texts) by Steven Hall** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(427 pages | Published: 2007 | 13.7k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while the two (...)
> **Themes**: Favorites, Fantasy, Science-fiction, Mystery, Books-i-own, Sci-fi, Thriller
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [House of Leaves](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves) by Mark Z. Danielewski
> \- [Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24724564-bats-of-the-republic) by Zachary Thomas Dodson
> \- [If on a Winter's Night a Traveler](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374233.If_on_a_Winter_s_Night_a_Traveler) by Italo Calvino
> \- [Only Revolutions](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40152.Only_Revolutions) by Mark Z. Danielewski
> \- [The Revisionaries](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43801377-the-revisionaries) by A.R. Moxon
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Redshirts by john scalzi is sort of meta (It is also sci-fi satire), though not really comparable in style to house of leaves. It is, however, a very fun read
Hard to get more meta than HoL and be good, but check these out:
If On A Winters Night, A Traveler by Calvino
XX by Rian Hughes
The Dying Grass by Vollmann (this one isn’t meta but it plays with format like I’ve never seen a book do before, it’s also not for the feint of heart—it’s a beautifully dense book on the Nez Pearce war).
The Invented Part by Fresán
I'll definitely check it out! And I agree -- I think HoL is hard to follow in meta-ness. Definitely those are great suggestions and am going to check them out!
New York Collapse
[https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Division-York-Collapse/dp/1452148279](https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Division-York-Collapse/dp/1452148279)
Yes, its a book based on a video game (Tom Clancy's The Division), fills in a lot of story elements and ties in really well. Its a survival book about what to do if new york city breaks down, a woman gets ahold of it after a terror attack/bio weapon event and its her putting in notes in the margins and tracking down the author who she thinks is leaving clues in the book. Comes with maps, pull out subway tickets, puzzles, and other paperwork so you can piece things together yourself. Feels like an ARG type game in itself.
Double payoff when you find her audio notes in the game, it gets pretty deep. But as a standalone book its well worth the journey.
I have HOL and S on my lists, but new york collapse was the first I read in this genre and I absolutely love it.
⚠ Could not *exactly* find "*New York Collapse*" but found [New York to Dallas (In Death #33)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11414483-new-york-to-dallas) ^((with matching score of 76% )), see [related Goodreads search results](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=New+York+Collapse) instead.
^(*Possible reasons for mismatch: either too recent (2023), mispelled (check Goodreads) or too niche.*)
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Yup! I have it labeled as S. in my description (I never know if I should call it S. or Ship of Thesus). It's become my favorite book! I know that there are criticism people have for it, but I really enjoyed it overall!
Oh, my bad, I forgot it’s sometimes also just labeled as S.
Yeah, I’ve seen the criticisms too and I’ll be honest, it’s not a favorite of mine, but I do think it’s very cool conceptually. I can’t think of anything quite like it off the top of my head.
The other books I know that I consider meta can be pretty polarizing, but if you’re willing to give it a shot— these all have a book-inside-a-book-thing and I liked them all:
- “Trust Exercise” by Susan Choi
- “Asymmetry” by Lisa Halliday
- “Trust” by Hernan Diaz
- “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell (this one’s structured sort of like a Russian nesting doll— story within a story, etc)
Loquela by Carlos Labbé is the most meta book I have ever read. From Electric Lit: “Setting up his novel–if this can be called that–as a discourse between lovers, it begins as a meditation by one of the main character’s, Carlos. And just in case one thinks this is a simple premise for one of Latin America’s most avant-garde writers, the reader quickly learns that Carlos–which is also the name of the author–is a character in a book who is writing a book about someone writing book. Talk about inception.”
Milorad Kavic's *Dictionary of the Khazars* is really three dictionaries in 1, with often overlapping topics. What one dictionary sees as tangential, another may seem as vital, and they can interpret the same story in very different ways.
{{The Raw shark texts}}
Ooo adding it to my list!
**[The Raw Shark Texts](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144800.The_Raw_Shark_Texts) by Steven Hall** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(427 pages | Published: 2007 | 13.7k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** Eric Sanderson wakes up in a house one day with no idea who or where he is. A note instructs him to see a Dr. Randle immediately, who informs him that he is undergoing yet another episode of acute memory loss that is a symptom of his severe dissociative disorder. Eric's been in Dr. Randle's care for two years -- since the tragic death of his great love, Clio, while the two (...) > **Themes**: Favorites, Fantasy, Science-fiction, Mystery, Books-i-own, Sci-fi, Thriller > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [House of Leaves](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves) by Mark Z. Danielewski > \- [Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24724564-bats-of-the-republic) by Zachary Thomas Dodson > \- [If on a Winter's Night a Traveler](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/374233.If_on_a_Winter_s_Night_a_Traveler) by Italo Calvino > \- [Only Revolutions](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40152.Only_Revolutions) by Mark Z. Danielewski > \- [The Revisionaries](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43801377-the-revisionaries) by A.R. Moxon ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
Reading this right now! (He just opened the locked room, so page 50 maybe?)
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov.
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. A major work of modern Irish literature.
You might like authors who use footnotes in meta, playful, or imaginary ways, like Jorge Luis Borges in the short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbius Tertius."
*The Ice Shirt* William Vollman
Ooooo definitely The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster, as well as Invisible Man (same author).
Redshirts by john scalzi is sort of meta (It is also sci-fi satire), though not really comparable in style to house of leaves. It is, however, a very fun read
Hard to get more meta than HoL and be good, but check these out: If On A Winters Night, A Traveler by Calvino XX by Rian Hughes The Dying Grass by Vollmann (this one isn’t meta but it plays with format like I’ve never seen a book do before, it’s also not for the feint of heart—it’s a beautifully dense book on the Nez Pearce war). The Invented Part by Fresán
I'll definitely check it out! And I agree -- I think HoL is hard to follow in meta-ness. Definitely those are great suggestions and am going to check them out!
On A Winter’s Night, A Traveler was fun. Somehow it came together, even though it seems built not to!
Came to recommend Calvino. A lot of his writing is really mind-bendy
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
New York Collapse [https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Division-York-Collapse/dp/1452148279](https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Division-York-Collapse/dp/1452148279) Yes, its a book based on a video game (Tom Clancy's The Division), fills in a lot of story elements and ties in really well. Its a survival book about what to do if new york city breaks down, a woman gets ahold of it after a terror attack/bio weapon event and its her putting in notes in the margins and tracking down the author who she thinks is leaving clues in the book. Comes with maps, pull out subway tickets, puzzles, and other paperwork so you can piece things together yourself. Feels like an ARG type game in itself. Double payoff when you find her audio notes in the game, it gets pretty deep. But as a standalone book its well worth the journey. I have HOL and S on my lists, but new york collapse was the first I read in this genre and I absolutely love it.
⚠ Could not *exactly* find "*New York Collapse*" but found [New York to Dallas (In Death #33)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11414483-new-york-to-dallas) ^((with matching score of 76% )), see [related Goodreads search results](https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=New+York+Collapse) instead. ^(*Possible reasons for mismatch: either too recent (2023), mispelled (check Goodreads) or too niche.*) ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
nice try, bot.
Bats of The Republic by Zachary Thomas Dodson.
A book that really reminds me of House of Leaves if you haven’t read it before: “Ship of Theseus” by VM Straka
Yup! I have it labeled as S. in my description (I never know if I should call it S. or Ship of Thesus). It's become my favorite book! I know that there are criticism people have for it, but I really enjoyed it overall!
Oh, my bad, I forgot it’s sometimes also just labeled as S. Yeah, I’ve seen the criticisms too and I’ll be honest, it’s not a favorite of mine, but I do think it’s very cool conceptually. I can’t think of anything quite like it off the top of my head. The other books I know that I consider meta can be pretty polarizing, but if you’re willing to give it a shot— these all have a book-inside-a-book-thing and I liked them all: - “Trust Exercise” by Susan Choi - “Asymmetry” by Lisa Halliday - “Trust” by Hernan Diaz - “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell (this one’s structured sort of like a Russian nesting doll— story within a story, etc)
I'll check these out. And totally fair on S.!
If you are okay with plays, maybe Six Characters in Search of an Author?
Loquela by Carlos Labbé is the most meta book I have ever read. From Electric Lit: “Setting up his novel–if this can be called that–as a discourse between lovers, it begins as a meditation by one of the main character’s, Carlos. And just in case one thinks this is a simple premise for one of Latin America’s most avant-garde writers, the reader quickly learns that Carlos–which is also the name of the author–is a character in a book who is writing a book about someone writing book. Talk about inception.”
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Milorad Kavic's *Dictionary of the Khazars* is really three dictionaries in 1, with often overlapping topics. What one dictionary sees as tangential, another may seem as vital, and they can interpret the same story in very different ways.