5 Novels That Are More Than Books

City on Fire, by Garth Risk Hallberg
Not officially out until October, Hallberg’s book was famously sold for $2 million a few years ago, and has been a hot topic in insider circles for months. A sprawling, ambitious 900-pager set in New York City around the time of the famous 1977 blackout, it has been compared to Bonfire of the Vanities and other seminal doorstoppers—but Hallberg plays with the form by including elements like emails, official records, and even an entire zine. While the bulk of this tremendous word is words, he expertly litters the pages with these elements to give the universe he’s creating physical heft and visual anchors. You might not want to carry this tome with you on your commute, but you should certainly set aside some time to read it.

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, by Shaun David Hutchinson and Christine Larsen
This affecting young adult novel is the story of Andrew, whose parents and sister die in a car accident that occurred while he was behind the wheel. Andrew refuses to leave the hospital, working in the cafeteria, sleeping in a closet, and “borrowing” what he needs to survive, and hallucinates the social worker trying to help him as Death herself. He also draws a comic about Patient F, who strives to keep his loved ones safe. The prose is strong and the story becomes truly powerful when Rusty, a boy suffering sever burns after a hate crime, checks into the hospital—but the complete graphic novel of Patient F that’s included is more than just a gimmick. It gives Drew’s pain and struggle physical form and shape, adding depth to the story that’s truly compelling.

Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
Pessl’s cheepy novel, about a reporter chasing after a legendary underground filmmaker whose movies may be more than dark entertainment, is filled with creepy details, and hums with a paranoid energy that fans of horror films will recognize instantly. The book includes web links to short videos and other multimedia, and has an associated app to “decode” portions of the text. None of the bells and whistles are necessary to understand and enjoy the novel, but diving in wholeheartedly rewards the reader with an expanded sense of the universe—as well as a deeper sense of unease. Don’t read this book alone at night, that’s for sure.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
Real (and truly bizarre) vintage photographs appear throughout this story of teenage Abe, recovering from the murder of his grandfather (by, he believes, a monster only he can see) on a remote island that once housed the titular home. The pictures lend the novel atmosphere, and the fact that they were found and not staged makes them only more ominous and compelling. Riggs spins awesome stories for the “peculiar children” captured in these still lives of moments long ago. Time travel, mysterious monsters, and Abe’s slow realization that he himself is “peculiar” combine to make this a charming, exciting adventure—but the photos anchor it in reality.

S, by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
S is an ambitious, ultimately astonishing project that is much more than a novel—in fact, it uses a novel as background. It is a recreation of an “aged” copy of a novel called Ship of Theseus, festooned with notes in the margins written by two strangers as they trade back and forth the story by fictional author V.M. Straka about a mysterious man known as “S.” Featuring not just a novel covered in notes, but also photos, postcards, and other exhibits, this is a complicated story told through a variety of means—and a lot of fun for anybody who loves the idea of stumbling onto a mystery.