"The best-looking book I've ever seen. . . . The book is so perfectly realized that it's easy to fall under its spell. . . . If you want to write a romantic mystery meta-novel in which two bibliophiles investigate the conspiracy around an enigmatic Eastern European author, you couldn't choose a better team." --Joshua Rothan, New Yorker"Impressively smart, engaging . . . Filled with secrets and stories that are endlessly beguiling and inviting . . . Reading S., and trying to decode everything [was] an incredibly enjoyable, fun experience, as well as a particularly immersive one. . . . For all its mysteries and intrigues, this is a book about the value of books, and what they can offer us that other storytelling mediums cannot." --Wired"S. is gorgeous, a masterpiece of verisimilitude. . . . The book's spiritual cousin is A.S. Byatt's Possession. . . . The brilliance of S. is less in its showy exterior than the intimate and ingeniously visual way it shows how others' words become pathways to our lives and relationships." --Washington Post"Both as literature and as a physical object, S. is a profound and tremendous work of art. . . . Brilliantly conceived and perfectly executed, the book harkens back to a golden age of storytelling. . . . An audacious literary achievement that calls to mind Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, Chris Ware's Building Stories and even Charles Portis' Masters of Atlantis." --Miami Herald"Reading S. is fun, and the book feels alive . . . Gloriously embroidered with marginalia and jammed with artifacts inserted between its pages . . . A celebration of the book as a physical thing." --Chicago Tribune"Both as literature and as a physical object, S. is a profound and tremendous work of art."The Miami HeraldAbout the AuthorEmmy-Award-winning filmmaker J.J. Abrams has produced, directed, or written films and television shows including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Fringe, Lost, Alias, Felicity, Star Trek, Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible, and more. Doug Dorst teaches writing at Texas State University. He is the author of the PEN/Hemingway-nominated novel Alive in Necropolis and the collection The Surf Guru. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Epoch and elsewhere. Dorst is also a three-time Jeopardy! champion. what are some interesting books to read Ship of Theseus
1029 of 1074 people found the following review helpful. My Review and a Guide to Reading the Book. ***UPDATED***By VeltscrollI read a lot of books, and I often love what I read, but I literally (no pun intended) have not been this excited about reading a book since I was a kid. It's not just the story (or should I say stories), or all the ephemera and the clever, well-produced presentation. It's how it all combines to actually make you feel like you're in on it. That you're trying to figure it all out right along with Jen and Eric. Reading and re-reading The Ship of Theseus for clues and inferences to what's happening in the "real world". The whole time watching as JE's relationship evolves. Then, if you're really adventurous, and you start tapping Google to expand your research, you'll find that the experience goes beyond the book. (Google: Eotvos Wheel) ***I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU DO THIS***I'll admit: when I opened the book for the first time, the second thought that went through my mind (after "How frigging cool is this?") was, "How the heck am I gonna read this?"So, for those of you asking that same question, let me tell you how I went about it:As cool as all the inserts are, trying to keep them from falling out of the book as you're reading is a pain, so take them out and use post-it notes to mark what page they came from, then put them in an envelope that you can easily access.Now, JE's notes are not entirely in chronological order. You can generally go by the color of the ink between them to tell what phase of their story you're at.First, there's Eric's pencil notes to himself about the actual book. Then, the convo between JE begins when Jen picks up Eric's book and sees his notes and begins commenting on them in the margins. He sees this and writes back. Those early messages are Jen: Blue Ink - Eric: Black InkAt some point after they go through the book a first time, they go through again. This time Jen: Orange Ink - Eric: Green Ink.Then a third time Jen: Purple Ink - Eric: Red InkFinally, a fourth time (which seems to be after the denouement, in which they retrospectively discuss what has transpired). These are less frequent, and both Jen and Eric are in Black Ink.***Read each chapter of the main text of SoT, ignoring all of Jen Eric's notes. Upon finishing each chapter, you're going to want to go back and read only the blue/black notes and any referenced inserts. Then, move on to the next chapter. After you finish the whole book, go back and read only the orange/green notes and referenced inserts. Then purple/red, then black/black.***However you choose to approach it, you're in for a treat. Even after finishing it, I'm still going back and looking for anything I may have missed. The journey was fantastic and the the destination was, well you'll see.C.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great concept. Fun to read. Must have imagination and a curious mind to fully enjoy.By Sterling M. SmithI've ordered three copies of this book in the last 2 years. They make a great gift for book-lovers. I've kept one for myself, given one as a gift, and bought another one for a future gift.The book reminds me a little of the old Infocom computer adventure games. It's not as interactive as a computer text adventure, but it has the same "feel" to it. The closest Infocom game to this book is "A Mind Forever Voyaging" which puts you in the position as a protagonist in a very real way--as if you're not playing a game, but actually participating in the process as the story unfolds. This book is very similar, although you're not the protagonist(s), you are viewing them in a way that feels very real.It's hard to describe how it works, but you can consider it something like what they call "breaking the fourth wall" in a play or movie. If you love those little moments, then you will probably like this book.The main story, The Ship of Theseus is interesting in itself, although I don't think it delves into the actual philosophical questions that arise from the Ship of Theseus story. The better story is the relationship that builds slowly through the other two "protagonists" as they leave each other messages in the margins. If you can suspend disbelief of the obviously unwieldy method that these two use to communicate (as well as how long in actual time that it would take for them to communicate in such a way), then you will find yourself pulled into their story as they solve another story involving the author of the story. It has at least four layers of narrative running along (some might say two, but I count the story written by the author, the story *of* the author, and the two people communicating in the margins).Could this book be better? Of course--the critiques of the other reviewers are valid. But, just imagine if this way of creative storytelling were done by . Even so, the author does a fair job given the stories that have to be woven together to make it interesting. This was not actually written by J.J. Abrams, by the way, but an author who J.J. Abrams collaborated with to create this book, but more people know Abrams, so that's why he's listed as author. That's forgivable if you consider that Tom Clancy is still turning out books long after his passing.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Something genuinely specialBy Matthew PratterThe narrative woven by Abrams' author does a brilliant job bringing many characters alive. Eric, and Jen are engaging and exciting, and reading their notes provides a fascinating, if slightly voyeuristic, look into their lives, and Ship of Thesis provides an even more impressive window into its fictional author Straka, no minor feat given our removal from the character.The text is engaging and enjoyable, the notes are exciting and genuinely interesting. The artifacts are extremely convincing, and every time one is reached in reading, is a moment of great excitement and celebration. The fiction is convincing, the props are nearly perfect forgeries, and the over all experience is really something special.House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is, without any doubt, my favorite book ever written in any language by any person at any time in human history. It filled me with fascination and dread, and is full of passages I would gladly have tattooed on my skin.S is the closest any other work has come to impressing me so deeply. I'm fortunate I found S when I did, just when I discovered my disappointment in Danielewski's latest works.