Category: Experimental fiction
READ FOR BOOKERTHON The End of Everything is a speculative novel set in a future where an unexplained crisis has transformed the world, and strange new life forms coexist with humans. Phillip Tennent makes his living collecting artefacts washed ashore from the English Channel,… Continue Reading “The End of Everything – M John Harrison”
Category: Absurdist, Adventure, Booker Prize, Dystopian, Existentialist, Experimental fiction, Faith & Religion, Humour, Literary fiction, Philosophical, Political, Postmodern Literature, Psychological, Satire, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Surreal, UK authorTags: Booker Prize, Free Range Bookclub 2026
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Tessa Set in Dublin, Intermezzo follows two estranged brothers, Peter, a lawyer in his thirties, and Ivan, a younger competitive chess player, as they navigate grief and their complex brotherhood following their father’s death. Through their complicated romantic relationships and… Continue Reading “Intermezzo – Sally Rooney”
Category: Contemporary fiction, Domestic Fiction, Experimental fiction, Family drama, Female Experience, Irish, Literary fiction, Philosophical, Psychological, Realist, Romance, Stream Of ConsciousnessTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Black Bag follows an unemployed actor who accepts a bizarre job participating in a psychology experiment where he spends a term attending university lectures zipped inside a large black leather bag. Inspired by a real experiment from 1967, this absurdist campus… Continue Reading “Black Bag – Luke Kennard”
Category: Absurdist, Art, Booker Prize, Contemporary fiction, Existentialist, Experimental fiction, Humour, Literary fiction, Philosophical, Political, Psychological, Satire, Surreal, UK authorTags: Booker Prize, Free Range Bookclub 2026
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel Described as a radical fusion of feminist theory and experimental horror, Girls Against God is a stream of consciousness narrative on censorship, magic, gender, art and rebellion against power systems. I don’t know why I feel I have to… Continue Reading “Girls Against God – Jenny Hval”
Category: Art, Coming of Age, Experimental fiction, Faith & Religion, Feminism, Horror, Literary fiction, Metafiction, Queer, Surreal, TranslatedTags: Free Range Bookclub 2026
READ FOR BOOKERTHON Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubled, and young. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In Audition, two competing but mirroring narratives… Continue Reading “Audition – Katie Kitamura”
Category: Art, Booker Prize, Domestic Fiction, Experimental fiction, Female Experience, Literary fiction, Metafiction, Philosophical, Postmodern Literature, Psychological, Thriller, Unreliable Narrator, US fiction, Women's PrizeTags: Booker Prize, Free Range Bookclub 2025
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Jodie Three women – a maverick biologist and two sisters embroiled in the Russian bride industry and searching for their missing mother – kidnap 13 hopeful bachelors and race across Ukraine trying to find a mate for a last-of-its-kind Lefty… Continue Reading “Endling – Maria Reva”
Category: Absurdist, Adventure, Booker Prize, Climate Fiction Prize, Environmental fiction, Experimental fiction, Female Experience, Feminism, Humour, Literary fiction, Metafiction, Political, Postmodern Literature, Satire, War storyTags: Booker Prize, Free Range Bookclub 2025
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Thirteen darkly compelling stories look directly into the troubled human heart and draw out what dwells there. The ‘ugly’ of these stories is to do with ‘considering how much a person’s life can bear’. The unease and compassion for… Continue Reading “Pretty Ugly – Kirsty Gunn”
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Jodie Mieczysław, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at the Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen but discovers there are many mysterious goings on, involving deaths, misogyny and the occult. Set in a Polish sanatorium in 1913, The Empusium blends horror,… Continue Reading “The Empusium – Olga Tokarczuk”
Category: Allegory, Experimental fiction, Female Experience, Feminism, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Horror, Humour, Literary fiction, Mthyical/folklore, Philosophical, Political, Psychological, Queer, Satire, Surreal, TranslatedTags: Free Range Bookclub 2025
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS Thea is a veterinarian on maternity leave, called back in just before disaster strikes. Ash has a focus on motherhood, misogyny, female expression, rage and Mother Nature. This novella is presented creatively with prose, poetry, footnotes and unique typesetting.… Continue Reading “Ash – Louise Wallace”
READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel Cryus Shams is an Iranian immigrant and a recently sober poet grappling with addiction, cultural disconnection and the loss of his mother, whose plane was shot down by the US navy. In his exploration of what it means to… Continue Reading “Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar”
Category: Art, Coming of Age, Cultural, Existentialist, Experimental fiction, Faith & Religion, Family drama, Immigrant story, National Book Awards, Political, Psychological, Queer, US fictionTags: Free Range Bookclub 2024
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