The most recommended avant garde books

Who picked these books? Meet our 24 experts.

24 authors created a book list connected to avant garde, and here are their favorite avant garde books.
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Book cover of The Start of the End of it All: Short Fiction

Karen Haber Author Of That Unfortunate Problem with Grandmother's Head and Other Stories

From my list on science fiction and fantasy books that keep me reading.

Why am I passionate about this?

I began reading science fiction when I was 8 years old and "borrowed" my fatherā€™s library books until, in defense, he got me my own library card. Not only have I spent decades reading SF, Iā€™ve written it as well. As a veteran reader and writer with plenty of kill marks on my fuselage, I'm literally married to the SF mob (Grandmaster Robert Silverberg, is my spouse). I can both walk the walk and talk the talk. And after writing 9 SF novels including a Star Trek Book and reading uncounted SF and F tales, I still think science fiction and fantasy can be a literature of ideas illuminating the human condition.

Karen's book list on science fiction and fantasy books that keep me reading

Karen Haber Why did Karen love this book?

The title story of this brilliant collection is a very funny alien invasion story told from the point of view of a woman who is convinced that the invasion is all about her. The other stories are similarly quirky and delightful.

The late Carol Emshwiller was a groundbreaking visionary writer who began publishing her funny, intriguing, unusual work after she was 30 and had to pry writing time away from the demands of her growing family.

When necessary, she would empty out the playpen in her living room, get into it with her typewriter, and work on her fiction while her preschool children enjoyed the freedom of the apartment. She was known for avant-garde approach, unreliable narrators, quirky humor, and a liberal, feminist outlook. 

Recipient of the Nebula and the  Philip K. Dick Award. The late Ursula K. LeGuin called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one ofā€¦

By Carol Emshwiller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Start of the End of it All as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Eighteen stories deal with alien worlds, extraterrestrial invaders, crossbreeds, animals, and lonely city-dwellers


Book cover of Ghosts

Kevin Brockmeier Author Of The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories

From my list on ghosts.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve written and published one hundred very short ghost stories, plus a handful of longer ones, and have spent a lifetime reading and watching and thinking about stories of ghosts and the afterlife. My expertise, such as it is, involves ghosts as beings of narrative and metaphor. Iā€™ve encountered great numbers of them on the page and on the screenā€”nowhere elseā€”but I confess that I would love someday (though donā€™t expect) to encounter them in the flesh. My flesh, that is to say; their fleshlessness.

Kevin's book list on ghosts

Kevin Brockmeier Why did Kevin love this book?

Aira is one of the most interesting novelists alive today, a writer whose wit, energy, and unfailingly restless imagination ensure that his books never follow a straightforward path, and thus always surprise you. Ghosts, my favorite of those books, presents the story of a half-constructed luxury apartment complex, the ghosts who wander its beams and its floors, and the adolescent girl to whom they call. Recommended if you like your ghosts circumambulating and avant-garde.

By CĆ©sar Aira, Chris Andrews (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ghosts as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"On a building site of a new, luxury apartment building, visitors looked up at the strange, irregular form of the water tank that crowned the edifice, and the big parabolic dish that would supply television images to all the floors. On the edge of the dish, a sharp metallic edge on which no bird would have dared to perch, three completely naked men were sitting, with their faces turned up to the midday sun; no one saw them, of course." - from Ghosts

Ghosts is about a construction worker's family squatting on a building site. They all see large andā€¦


Book cover of XX

Jon Crabb Author Of Graven Images: The Art of the Woodcut

From my list on for any uber-hip, hard to impress bookworms.

Why am I passionate about this?

For as long as I can remember, Iā€™ve been obsessed with cultural curiosities, extraordinary eccentrics, secret societies, decadent dandies, rebels, devils, and anything weird and wonderful. I parlayed a love of Word and Image into a career in the arts and worked for places including Tate, Thames & Hudson and the British Library. But to be honest with you, that was just a ruse so I could spend more time delving through interesting books and prints. Some people see the world a little differently; I think we all benefit by spending a bit of time in the company of their art. "It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through."

Jon's book list on for any uber-hip, hard to impress bookworms

Jon Crabb Why did Jon love this book?

A hugely ambitious mix of text and graphic design, in which typography is used in bold and disarming ways. It is also a genuinely compelling sci-fi novel about very, very, big ideas. Filled with meta-narratives, in-jokes, artistic references, and mixed media, itā€™s an interesting alternative to that other oft-cited cult classic House of Leaves. As someone who has worked as both designer and editor, I was blown away by Hughesā€™s ability to combine a good story with such avant-garde design. The themes communicated will give you much to contemplate ā€“ or ramble on about to any friends you successfully corner. A staggering achievement destined to be a future cult classic.

By Rian Hughes,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked XX as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A boundary pushing, extremely inventive sci-? epic of ?rst contact by world-renowned graphic designer and comics creator Rian Hughes

When a signal of extraterrestrial origin is intercepted by one of Earth s most powerful radio satellites, people worldwide, including a small team of tech outsiders at a software engineering ?rm specializing in arti?cial intelligence, race to interpret the message carried by what could be the ?rst communication from an intergalactic civilization. Has humanity made ?rst contact? Is the signal itself an alien life-form? A threat? If so, how will the people of Earth respond?

Supplemented by redacted NASA reports, magazineā€¦


Book cover of Mount Analogue: A Tale of Non-Euclidean and Symbolically Authentic Mountaineering Adventures

Jean Muenchrath Author Of If I Live Until Morning, A True Story of Adventure, Tragedy and Transformation

From my list on adventure, healing, and growth.

Why am I passionate about this?

Jean Muenchrath wrote down her story to heal herself from the trauma of a life-threatening mountaineering accident, an epic survival incident, and decades of chronic pain. She then published her memoir to inspire readers to follow their dreams and to encourage them to overcome whatever challenges their life presents. Before she became an author, Muenchrath was a park ranger with the National Park Service for over thirty years. Sheā€™s led trekking tours in Nepal and Thailand and worked in Bhutan with the World Wildlife Fund. Jean enjoys traveling to foreign lands, exploring wild places and sitting quietly in meditation.

Jean's book list on adventure, healing, and growth

Jean Muenchrath Why did Jean love this book?

This book is one of my all time favorite reads. Mount Analogue is a short poetic novel. Daumalā€™s rich descriptions and symbolism engaged my imagination and made me think deeply about the storyā€™s meaning. The author takes readers on a journey to a mystical place with an unusual set of characters and strange circumstances. The story revolves around an adventurous sailing and climbing expedition to a mystical mountain hidden from the worldā€™s inhabitants which is believed to link the earth to a higher sphere of reality. Itā€™s full of intrigue and packed with pithy philosophical statements worth pondering. Daumalā€™s words and descriptions are so thought-provoking, that I used a quote from this book as the opening to my memoir, If I Live Until Morning.

By RenƩ Daumal,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mount Analogue as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This pataphysical journey up a mountain whose "summit must be inaccessible, but its base accessible to human beings" depicts an allegorical landscape akin to Alice in Wonderland

A beloved cult classic of surrealism, pataphysics and Gurdjieffian mysticism, RenĆ© Daumalā€™s Mount Analogue is the allegorical tale of an expedition to a mountain whose existence can only be deduced, not observed. As its numerous editions (most now rare) over the decades attest, the book has been highly influential: Alejandro Jodorowsky's visionary 1973 film The Holy Mountain is a loose adaptation of the book, and John Zorn based an eponymous album on it.ā€¦


Book cover of White Jazz

Steven Powell Author Of Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy

From my list on the king of LA noir James Ellroy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by James Ellroyā€™s life and writing since I first discovered it as a lonely teenager on a rainswept family holiday. He went through dark times; the unsolved murder of his mother and his subsequent struggles with addiction. But how he overcame this to become one of Americaā€™s greatest writers is an inspiring story and has inspired me to get through my own personal turmoil. Indeed, many Ellroy readers will attest to how his life story and writing helped them overcome their struggles. Now as Ellroyā€™s biographer, I am continually drawn back to his work. Reading just a few pages allows me to contemplate what Ellroy calls ā€˜the Wonderā€™.

Steven's book list on the king of LA noir James Ellroy

Steven Powell Why did Steven love this book?

Ellroy at his most avant-garde. The plot is familiar territory for Ellroy fans; murder and political corruption in 1950s LA. But the experimental prose style, including the most pared-down clipped sentences, started to alienate some of his readers. Personally, I regard the book as Ellroyā€™s masterpiece and the experimentation is justified as it helps to deliver a lightning-fast pace.

By James Ellroy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked White Jazz as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The internationally acclaimed author of the L.A. Quartet and The Underworld USA Trilogy, James Ellroy, presents another literary noir masterpiece of historical paranoia.

Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns--it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an enforcer--a power in his own small corner of hell. Then the Feds announce a full-out investigation into local police corruption, and everything goes haywire.

Klein's been hung out as bait, "a bad cop to draw the heat," and the heat's coming from all sides: from local politicians, from LAPD brass, from racketeers and drug kingpins--all of themā€¦


Book cover of Slumberland

Loren Mayshark Author Of Inside the Chinese Wine Industry

From Loren's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Comedian Student of history

Loren's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Loren Mayshark Why did Loren love this book?

I have wanted to check out Beattyā€™s work for a long time. He is in a special class of prose authors who started writing poetry like the late great Denis Johnson.

This book is a dazzling display of Beattyā€™s phenomenal vocabulary and ability to use words in novel ways. What truly makes the book special is the expanse of what he covers in a book of just over 250 pages. Not only is it an education on music, but the book touches on numerous important themes.

Beatty brings a freshness to describing the city of Berlin, which feels both unique and accurate. Perhaps most pleasurable is Beattyā€™s quirky sense of humor, which he displays on nearly every page.

I cannot recall reading a book that made me laugh out loud as much as Slumberland. Now that I have read Beatty, Iā€™m hooked, and I plan to read the remainderā€¦

By Paul Beatty,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Slumberland as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The hip break-out novel from 2016 Man Booker Prize winning author, Paul Beatty, about a disaffected Los Angeles DJ who travels to post-Wall Berlin in search of his transatlantic doppelganger.

Hailed by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as one of the best writers of his generation, Paul Beatty turns his creative eye to man's search for meaning and identity in an increasingly chaotic world.

After creating the perfect beat, DJ Darky goes in search of Charles Stone, a little know avant-garde jazzman, to play over his sonic masterpiece. His quest brings him to a recently unifiedā€¦


Book cover of The Moustache

Jeffrey Baumgartner Author Of The Insane Journey

From my list on delightfully absurd works of fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've benefited from (or perhaps been cursed by) a diverse life. I've lived and worked in six countries on three continents. I've been an English teacher, copywriter, magazine columnist, internet entrepreneur (in Bangkok, of all places), author, and creativity consultant. But before that, I was a child with an overactive imagination. I delighted in science fiction, surrealism, and humor. Outlandish ideas inspire me. And I love absurdity when done well. It is easy to come up with nonsense. Creating meaningful nonsense is far more difficult. But when it works, it is brilliant!

Jeffrey's book list on delightfully absurd works of fiction

Jeffrey Baumgartner Why did Jeffrey love this book?

I love the sheer simplicity of this novel's theme and the chaos a simple act can wreck. The novel begins with the main character deciding to shave off the mustache he has had for more than a decade while his wife is out. When she returns, she says nothing about the missing mustache. When he brings it up, she denies he has ever had a mustache. Likewise, friends and colleagues say the main character never had a moustache. 

Things get worse from there. The novel raises questions about identity, trust, and memory.

By Emmanuel Carrere, Lanie Goodman (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Moustache as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE ADVERSARY

One morning, a man shaves off his long-worn moustache, hoping to amuse his wife and friends. But when nobody notices, or pretends not to have noticed, what started out as a simple trick turns to terror. As doubt and denial bristle, and every aspect of his life threatens to topple into madness - a disturbing solution comes into view, taking us on a dramatic flight across the world.

Translated by Lanie Goodman

Elegant, pocket-sized paperbacks, VINTAGE Editions celebrate the audacity and ambition of the written word, transporting readers to wherever in the worldā€¦


Book cover of The Alphabet Man

David David Katzman Author Of A Greater Monster

From my list on shattering the conventions of what a novel can be.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer, artist, and actor throughout my life, Iā€™ve explored and enjoyed many artistic forms. While I appreciate books across many genres, I elevate to the highest level those works that manage to break conventional boundaries and create something original. In my own work, I have always challenged myself to create something unique with a medium that has never been done before. At the same time, I have sought to discover a process and resulting work that inspires readersā€™ own creativity and challenges them to expand their imagination. 

David's book list on shattering the conventions of what a novel can be

David David Katzman Why did David love this book?

Grossman achieves something remarkable in The Alphabet Man. The work manages to weave together visual, avant-garde graphic design, literary poetry, and a suspenseful thrilling plot. The book itself is gorgeous to look at it, and the text layout is designed as a work of art. Grossman seamlessly blends these disparate elements into a unified, unique creation that breaks the boundaries of what a novel can be. 

By Richard Grossman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Alphabet Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"America loves a murder, and I am a murderous American," observes Clyde Wayne Franklin, who is considered by many to be the foremost poet in America. No ordinary killer, he is equal parts writer, obsessive lover, alcoholic, moralist, ex-con, clown, and butcher. The Alphabet Man is the story of his ruthless search for carnal love and spiritual redemption as he moves through the underworld of Washington, D.C., a sadistic landscape peopled by drug dealers, prostitutes, and assassins-for-hire. Part thriller, part psychological and linguistic masterpiece, Grossman's explosive fiction convinces us that if there is a pure poetry in the modern world,ā€¦


Book cover of The Strays

Joanna Horton Author Of Between You and Me

From my list on complex female friendship.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an Australian writer with a passion for literary fiction, especially novels centered on complex and multi-layered power dynamics. To me, relationships between women are particularly ripe for this kind of exploration ā€“ my own friendships with other women have been influential and formative, but not always easy! My interest in these darker and more complex dynamics of close friendship eventually led me to write my own novel on the topic. Iā€™ve also published a range of essays, reviews, criticism, and creative nonfiction. 

Joanna's book list on complex female friendship

Joanna Horton Why did Joanna love this book?

If you like lushly written literary fiction about art, desire, friendship, and ambition, youā€™ll love The Strays.

Lily and Eva meet as children, and Eva ā€“ the daughter of a famous modernist artist ā€“ soon draws solitary Lily into her avant-garde family life. As the years pass and the two begin to leave childhood behind, their relationship makes new demands of them both.

Although The Strays features a large cast of characters in its makeshift family of artists, the connection between Eva and Lily is the beating heart of the novel, and is by turns tender, destructive, and tragic. 

By Emily Bitto,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Strays as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Disturbing and magical....with a grace and eloquence." - NPR Books

"Full of lush, mesmerizing detail and keen insight into the easy intimacy between young girls which disappears with adulthood." -- The New Yorker

"The Strays is a knowing novel, and beautifully done." -- Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings

For readers of Atonement, a hauntingly powerful story about the fierce friendship between three sisters and their friend as they grow up on the outskirts of their parents' wild and bohemian artistic lives.

On her first day at a new school, Lily befriends Eva and her sistersā€¦


Book cover of She Said Destroy

Andy Davidson Author Of The Hollow Kind

From my list on horror writers who arenā€™t Stephen King.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer who grew up on a steady diet of horrorā€”from Dean Koontz to Peter Straub to Stephen Kingā€”I never knew what amazing diversity there actually was in the genre, until I became a horror writer myself! In the last few years, Iā€™ve met an incredible range of talented writers whose books are sometimes overshadowed on the horror shelves by a certain King, and I think itā€™s high time we all knew more about these hardworking, creative, and gifted authors. So if you read horror and are hungry for new books by writers whose work you may not know, here are five incredible voices to whisper tales of terror in your ear.

Andy's book list on horror writers who arenā€™t Stephen King

Andy Davidson Why did Andy love this book?

She Said Destroy is a mind-bending, award-nominated collection of short stories that speak to the horrors of home, childhood, and family. Itā€™s the kind of stuff I wish I could write! Theyā€™re fantastical, haunting, unabashedly political, and heartbreakingly beautiful. Bulkinā€™s among the vanguard of new and emerging voices in horror. In my favorite story from the bunch, a final girl tames a dragon!

By Nadia Bulkin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked She Said Destroy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A dictator craves love--and horrifying sacrifice--from his subjects; a mother raised in a decaying warren fights to reclaim her stolen daughter; a ghost haunts a luxury hotel in a bloodstained land; a new babysitter uncovers a family curse; a final girl confronts a broken-winged monster...

Word Horde presents the debut collection from critically-acclaimed Weird Fiction author Nadia Bulkin. Dreamlike, poignant, and unabashedly socio-political, She Said Destroy includes three stories nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, four included in Year's Best anthologies, and one original tale.


Book cover of The Start of the End of it All: Short Fiction
Book cover of Ghosts
Book cover of XX

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