It’s Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and this week we got a FREEBIE! We were supposed to choose a topic near and dear to our hearts and I thought about it for a really long time. In the end I came up with a list of my Favourite Epistolary Novels! Now, some of you may wonder what that even means, right? Those are stories told through documents, letters, mails, diary or newspaper entries. I find books a lot more intriguing and often easier to get through if they are told like that. It just makes them feel more real! So, here are some of my favourite examples, just remember that this is a list and not a ranking!
1. Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer
This is a story especially near to my heart, because it is one of the few books set in my hometown, Vienna, that I actually love! It’s about two strangers who accidentally start a correspondence via mail and then fall in love. It’s such a quick and fun read, I loved it and instantly got the second book as well, which I needed for closure but which wasn’t as good as the first one. From what I heard, David Tennant is supposed to read the English audio book, which is awesome news too! (But I’ve met the actor who has played the part in German and I will forever connect those two!)
2. Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern
I generally like Ahern’s books, but I got really excited to read this one when I heard that it got turned into a movie with Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. In the end that was a little disappointing, because it couldn’t hold up with the emotions of P.S. I Love You, but the book was great! It’s told through DM, letters and notes that are passed on over time. It’s just amazing! The US version of it is called Love, Rosie just in case you were wondering.
3. The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket
Everyone knows that I was obsessed with the Series of Unfortunate Events when I was little and I even called my laptop Lemony, after the author of the books. Now, The Beatrice Letters is a sort of companion to those books, but in the end it tells you absolutely NOTHING new. It’s still fun, but I thought I should mention that little detail.
4. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
One of my absolute favourite Rainbow Rowell books! It’s not all told in mails but they do feel very authentic and organic. I loved reading that book and just flew through it. Also, it has one of the more satisfying ends considering other Rowell novels.
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I wondered if I should mention this book or Letters to the Dead, seen as they are very similar, but The Perks is a real teen classic, so I went with that one. The main character tells his stories through letters to a nameless friend. Admittedly, this definitely didn’t feel as “real” in terms of letter-writing as some other books, but it still gets a place on this list.
6. Cathy’s Book by Jordan Weisman/Sean Stuart/Cathy Brigg
I don’t remember how much I really liked the story itself, I think it got a bit iffy in the middle, however, the effort that was put into this book is freaking amazing and only top by the last one on the list. Written like a diary, Cathy’s Book is actually an interactive story. The phone numbers in the book are all real and if you call them, you’ll get the voice mail of different characters or messages they’ve left behind. Also, there are separate photos and napkins with smooches on them that go with certain scenes. It’s so cool and way more surreal than I thought at the first glimpse of it.
7. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
I had to read Go Ask Alice for school and it was a bit of a tough read. I hadn’t really paid much attention to drug abuse stories beforehand and reading it in form of a diary made it all seem very real and strange. It’s not my favourite school read, but definitely a better pick than what some other teachers bestowed upon us.
8. The Martian by Andy Weir
Yeah, we all knew that I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about that book, right? Mark Watney is stranded on Mars and keeps these logs to document his progress, so basically it’s a diary, at least that’s how I see it. Watney is one of my all time favourite characters with his strong will and humour. The only thing I am going to add to that is that not the entire book is told in these logs and that’s a good thing too!
9. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
We all know I sometimes have my issues with classics, just because I can’t seem to concentrate on them as I should. Well, because of that I haven’t actually finished Frankenstein yet, but it was a pleasant surprise to find out that it is partially written in letters. I never would have guessed that … then again, why wouldn’t it be written like that? It’s very cool!
10. S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING BOOK EVER! I am currently reading it and it will probably take me forever to finish, but this is a piece of art! It looks like a really old library book that people have written in. It’s a gazillion stories in one and you have no idea how to read it and where to look first. Still, it is so much fun and SO. DARN. BEAUTIFUL. on the inside! There are postcards, newspaper clippings, scribbles on the side of the pages in all different sort of colours and there is also a decoder! I don’t even know how to use it, but it feels like a real adventure!
You can click on the covers to get redirected to Goodreads and learn more about these books! Did you like my idea for the freebie? What did you choose for your TTT? Don’t hesitate to leave a link below!
It doesn’t surprise me that you included The Martian 😛
The Perks of Being a Wallflower so it’s great that you have it in your top 10. I read Love Letters to the Dead and while they are similar books I think it’s not that good.
Also S looks amazing and I’ve been interested in that book since I first saw it in one video. I saw it in a bookstore here a few months ago and for some reason it was open. I couldn’t stop looking to that book and all the detail on it
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No one is surprised if I mention The Martian hahaha It’s like my trademark book by now!
I am actually not a huge fan of either The Perks or Love Letters … they just didn’t emotionally get to me and I think that wasn’t due to the story, but more the writing
S IS SO AMAZING! My cousin gave it to me for Christmas and I was just baffled! I just crocheted a little monkey for her and somehow felt bad because she spent so much money on the book. It’s gorgeous! However, I have to say that the actual book itself, like the story of the Ship of Theseus or whatever is a little boring to follow in comparison to the notes on the side of the pages hahaha
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I wanted to buy S but it was really expensive. Your gift might not have been so expensive but crochet takes a lot of work and your cousin probably knows that 🙂 . I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like the actual book but all the annotations and things that come in the books seem so cool
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Yeah … the actual book is something I am still on the fence about. Maybe it will get more gripping in time. It is necessary for the annotations to work after all hahaha
I bet she knew that it took a lot of effort 😀
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It will take you a long time to read it. Do you have a method to read already? Everytime someone talks about S they don’t know they should read it
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I am not even attempting to read it in one sitting. I will read it inbetween books. Yeah, I think I found a method I am comfortable with. All the annotations are noticably made at certain points in the story, so I read the text and stop whenever there are the notes and read those and then continue with the text. Since I am not really that interested in the orig story, it works for me 😊 you also notice that certain colours are for certain timelines, so I am assuming that some stuff will make more sense with time.
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That’s a good method. It might be confusing if you care about the main story but if you don’t it might be the best way to read it 🙂
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Yep, I think it works best for me 😊
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Hey, I learned a new word 🙂 Good topic!
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Hahaha happy to hear it! 🙂
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Am I the only one that had to Google “Epistolary”? I’ve never heard that term before! Great choices, though! I need to add a few of them to my TBR!
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Hahaha don’t stress about it! I didn’t know it existed before today either but it summed everything up so nicely.
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Oh, good! I’m not the only one! 😉
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You’re never alone on the internet hahaha
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So true…and a little scary if you think about it. Lol.
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Yep … I wrote it and clicked “send” and then thought about it and realised it sounds really, really creepy …
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A lot of great Anne Rice novels are written partially or totally as epistolary novels. There’s an art to writing them, I find. I may have to blog about that someday.
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You chose a great topic! I really enjoy reading epistolary novels. They are usually really quick reads. 😀 My favourite are Perks of Being a Wallflower, Dracula, Frankenstein and the Martian. 😀
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I agree! I get through them pretty quickly as well and I think that is also part of the reason why I like them so much.
Dracula is on my TBR for the future 😊
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I love your topic! I’ve read and loved Attachments, The Perks, and I remember reading Cathy’s book a while ago, I loved the form of the book with all the numbers and drawings! 😀 I don’t think I remember reading the end of that series, though…
I really want to read Love Virtually, and Where Rainbow Ends (LOVED the movie!!)
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Thank you 😃
I’ve only read the first book in the Cathy series, but I think it had something to do with the story not being THAT great and the second book not having the extra gimmicks.
I hope you’ll read Love Virtually and Where Rainbows End one day! The book is so much more in depth than the movie!
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I think I actually read the second book, and there was a third, and there, I gave up. Something like that. Since I don’t remember, it must have been…well, not memorable, haha! :p
Ohhh, I NEED to read it, then! 😀
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Hahaha I didn’t even make it to the second one!
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I want to read Attachments! I have heard great things about it! And you already know about The Martian so…
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Attachments is so sweet! I really liked it!
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Your right, I didn’t know what the hell ‘Epistolary’ meant, but thanks for enlightening me! I think I love those kind of novels too and knowing that the Martian is an Epistolary novel makes me more excited to read it!
If you love these kinds of books, you need to read Illuminae! It is so brilliant the way it uses the different formats.
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I didn’t know the word before today either, but it sums up these kind of stories quite nicely ☺ Illuminae is definitely on my TBR! Thanks for the recommendation!
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Great! I hope you like it, it was one of my favourite books of 2015 🙂
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well done :D, you reached 10 easily! And I love that you included Perks and Attachments, you know, the only 2 I read of that list :P. Where Rainbows End and The Martian are on my TBR though. 😉
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Hahaha they are mostly good books,even though Go Ask Alice,Cathy’s Book and Frankenstein are not really recommendations of mine. Love Virtually is awesome though! I have a signed book of that author!
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I might check that one out sometime 🙂
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What a clever take on this subject! I wish I remembered the name of this book I read awhile (years) back where the husband sent his wife a postcard every Friday. Sorry that’s a terrible description. But it was a very endearing book. 🙂
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It does sound nice 🙂 maybe I’ll google it sometime!
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What a fun list! Epistolary novels are some of my favorites – you should check our Dear Committee Members, it’s a fun one!
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Mine too! Thank you for stopping by and for the recommendation!
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Lots of great books on your list! Really loved The Martian, it was one of my favorites from last year.
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Thank you! The Martian was one of my favourites of last year too! I adore that book!
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Ok, I’ve got to read Attachments now! The epistolary format really works for me when it’s used well. I loved reading When Rainbows End, it was just so many emotions in one book but the movie was so disappointing. Not even Sam Claflin could save it for me XD
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Attachments is great!
And I have to agree with you on the Where Rainbows End movie … I love Sam Claflin but that movie fell flat in comparison to the book! Also, it didn’t look like they aged AT ALL, which really bothered me.
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Yeah, omfg, they just stayed at like mid 20s for the whole film! It made it seem like their relationship had a really short time span 😦
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Exactly! And at the same time she got a kid who was like clearly older than 12 by the end of it all.
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[…] Favourite Epistolary Novels […]
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[…] and is told entirely through letters (one of my favourite forms of storytelling if you remember this post), so I just couldn’t […]
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