3 Word-Bending Novels

The first really "absolutely-freaking-weird-as-hell-but-still-pretty-darn-cool-because-I've-never-seen-anything-like-it" book I ever read was House of Leaves. That book is awesome. Of course, you kind of have to approach it with a VERY open mind and at least somewhat know what you're getting yourself into before you attempt to read it. My senior year of high school I recommended it for one of the four books we read for book club, and that turned out to be a pretty big mistake. Those 14, 15, and 16 year-old kids just weren't really prepared for the 700 page mess of wordy sentences, copious footnotes, constantly changing fonts, and the necessary flipping between appendixes, exhibits, and chapters. Very few of them managed to finish it in 9 weeks, and what they did read pretty much went right over their heads. My English teacher didn't care for it much either, probably because it's full of run-on sentences, drug abuse, and unnecessary narrative- but that's part of what makes the book what it is.

Besides, I mostly only recommended it so that I could get my own free copy.