this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2026
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Let's discuss unique books. What is the first one that comes to your mind? The uniqueness can be about the book's plot, structure, ideas, themes, topics etc.

For me such a book is Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It's been a while since I've read it but I remember how mindblowing it was for me. Every time I thought it couldn't surprise me more, it actually did. There's a bit of everything there: peculiar characters, a substance called ice-nine that can freeze water on contact (as humans are around 60% water, it can instantly kill them), a fictional religion called Bokononism based on the idea that human life has no absolute truth or meaning, a tiny island nation with its own bizarre world. All of these come together to show us a satire of the absurdity of humanity.

As for a unique book structure, I have to say it's Cain's Jawbone by Edward Mathers. It's a kind of puzzle book where pages are not in order and you need to arrange them in order to guess whodunnit. I haven't finished this one yet but it's a cool challenge.

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[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I picked up a copy of a book called Raft by Stephen Baxter a few years back, knowing nothing about it. It was a bizarre story involving a group of humans getting stuck in a universe where gravity is significantly stronger than our own. I remember there was this strange flesh planet made of dead bodies. Interesting concepts but not sure I'd recommend it!

Baxter is a madman, beaten only by the deranged likes of Greg Egan

[–] SirActionSack@aussie.zone 2 points 10 hours ago

Those people eventually get rescued via a throwback telepath...

[–] snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 17 hours ago

Oh it's the first in the xeelee omnibus, I need to get round to reading more of that cause I read raft then stopped in the first bit of timelike infinity