It was a dark and stormy night...

 Today I take a little departure from my usual content

Could there be a more cliched opening line? I don't know about you but I read those words in the title and think, ah, a mystery. I love mysteries, definitely one of my favorite genres. The past few years I have done all of my reading (save newspapers and magazines because I find I still enjoy some printed media) on an e-reader. I started with a re-furbed first generation Kindle and never looked back. Being on the road as much as we are, e-readers have been a life saver for me. I no longer have to tote a bunch of books around or store them somewhere. I know I've mentioned this all before. If someone had asked me, I would have sworn I was done with printed books. That is until I read about S. For those of you who don't know, S is a novel by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. Not just a novel, a kind of reading experience.
(Possible mild spoilers ahead due to some pages and inserts being shown)

I was intrigued enough by what I read about S to order a copy. S is a novel within a novel. The novel wrapped around S is a marginalia filled library book titled Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka. The actual novel is in those margins and consists of a series of notes, written volley-style, by the two main characters.

Besides the margin notes the book is literally stuffed with clues in the form of letters, maps, postcards and photos.

 

This is a fun read. If mysteries are your thing you're going to enjoy this book on at least one of its many levels. Depending on how into it you want to get you can read just the novel in the margin notes or you can read the novel that contains them and then go back and read the margin notes or you can read it all at once. (There's even a decoder wheel!) However you do it I think you'll find something to enjoy. Even if it's just the uniqueness of the physical book itself. This one is worth some space on the bookshelf.

Happy reading!