Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. This week’s prompt is Reasons Why I Love Reading, but I’ve decided to do something different this week!
Hello Readers! Today, I’m featuring novels that also contain some form of mixed media—which could include photos, art, maps, poetry, lists, texts, emails, letters, etc. It’s always a nice surprise when a book I expect to be typical contains another element of storytelling.
I’ll be sharing five books I’ve enjoyed and five that are on my TBR. I’m hoping all the ones from my TBR are actually mixed media. I didn’t want to search too deeply in case I ended up coming across spoilers. 😉 If you know of any other novels that contain mixed media, let me know so I can add them to my ever-growing TBR!
(Link to Goodreads synopsis through book title.)
Read and Enjoyed
- We Are Not Free by Traci Chee – This is the book that inspired this list. A beautiful, immersive experience! My Review
- You Were Here by Cory (previously Cori) McCarthy – It’s been several years since I’ve read this YA novel, but I remember being so impressed with it. From my Goodreads review: “Told from alternating characters using a mix of first-person, third-person, graphic novel panels, and word art poetry, this book could have been a hot-mess, but the result was refreshing and inspiring.”
- Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #1) by Ransom Riggs – I didn’t love this one enough to continue with the series, but it is a book that’s stuck with me for years!
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple – From my Goodreads review: “I laughed out loud several times while reading this one. Great characters, a completely unique storyline, set in memorable places.”
- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson – Well-written and layered, this emotional YA novel about artists kept me turning pages.
From my TBR
- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Illuminae by Jay Kristoff
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
- The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Are you a fan of books with mixed media? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
Great list! I’ve heard such good things about We Are Not Free.
I really enjoyed it!
I loved Nelson’s books so much. I am so sad that we didn’t get more stories from her. I just read You Were Here last year (one of my Backlog picks). I liked the infusion of art. And yes! Bernadette was so funny. I listened to the audio though (which was well done), so I have no clue about art/maps/whatnot. Those pictures in the Peculiar Children books were creepy. The Illuminae Files is one of my favorite series. I loved all the formats, and they were used so well. It’s one of the few physical books I have read, but it has to be totally seen to get the full experience.
Oh, has Nelson said she’s done writing? (I had to google her and make sure she hadn’t died. ;)) I think in Bernadette it was just texts and letters?? If I’m remembering correctly. Have you seen the film? I still need to watch it. I hear that about Illuminae all the time. I need to make time to finally read it!
I don’t know if she’s done, but she was supposed to have a book out several years ago, and I have not seen any word on anything since. I have not seen the film for Bernadette, but it is all letters and such. I feel like there were quite a few books in that format during that time period.
I enjoy books with mixed media, but I rarely think to look for them. It’s really helpful to know which books are mixed media, though, so that I don’t get them as audiobooks where I would miss some of the experience.
my TTT this week
I was surprised when I was working on this how hard it was to determine if a book is mixed media. I really had to just go from my memory and other people’s reviews. And I don’t even know if ‘mixed media’ is the right term, but I couldn’t find anything better. 😉
“Mixed media” makes sense as a term, though I don’t know if there’s an official one. I can see where it would be hard to determine sometimes if a book fits the category, though.
I love books that contain mixed media. A Good Girl’s Guide to murder series does this so well!
Oooh, thank you for the recommendation! I’ll check that one out. 🙂
Nice twist Dedra. I have read 2 from your read list, and 2 from your TBR list, which means there is a possibility of adding 6 more books to my TBR.
Haha! I hope you find something you like. <3
I love the sorts of books that you are calling mixed media books. Here are some of my favorites: A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson; anything by Maira Kalman; A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness; Encyclopedia of Ordinary Life by Amy Krause Rosenthal; Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White by Melissa Sweet; Songbook by Nick Hornby; Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton; The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World. For a look at the most unique books I’ve read, take a look at this post: https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2014/04/most-unique-books-ive-read.html.
Oh yay! Thank you for all the recommendations. I do have Songbook. I didn’t even think about that one. 😍
I ADORE mixed media novels! I had no idea Where’d You Go, Bernadette was a mixed media format- I’m going to have to get to it soon! I bought it forever ago on sale at B&N but it’s been sitting unread on my shelf ever since!
If I’m remembering correctly, Bernadette used letters and texts throughout the book. I still need to watch the adaptation. 🙂
I loved Mixed Media novels and I adore that your list is full of new recs and not the same old ones. The only one I’ve read is The Midnight Library, which I enjoyed. Great post!
Thank you Kal! I’m hearing only great things about The Midnight Library. <3