Top Ten Tuesday: Xenofiction I’ve Enjoyed


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The first layer on this picture is a computer screen where dozens of lines of code has been written. This code is overlaid on the face of a robot that looks like a caucasian woman with very short light brown hair. She is staring blankly ahead as if to wait for instructions from the viewer…or perhaps she is reading the code. Xenofiction is written from the perspective of a non-human protagonist.

The protagonist could be all sorts of different things: an animal, a mythological creature, an intelligent robot, an alien, a microbe, or some other living (or robotic but sentient) being.

The possibilities are endless.

I enjoyed all of these stories and would recommend any them to someone who wants to read something from a non-human perspective.

 

Book cover for Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek. The cover is a pretty light purple colour, and it has four large snowflakes, four medium sized snowflakes, and dozens of tiny little snowflakes falling down on what I presume is a night sky on it. It gives the feeling of standing outside and feeling the snow fall onto your face and hands during an early morning or sunset snowstorm.

1.  Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek  (My Review)

The protagonist is a: snowflake.

 

 

Book cover for Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams. Image on cover is a sketch of a little brown bunny sitting in a field of wheat (or some similar ripe yellow grass) with his ears turned back as he solemnly surveys the landscape. You can see a forest in the distance.

 

2. Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams

The protagonist is a: rabbit.

 

Book cover for A Dog's Purpose (A Dog's Purpose, #1) by W. Bruce Cameron. Image on cover shows a black Labrador retriever looking up from the bottom of the cover as he stands against a light blue background. A thought bubble above his head includes the title of the book.

3. A Dog’s Purpose (A Dog’s Purpose, #1) by W. Bruce Cameron

The protagonist is a: dog.

 

Book cover for Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Image on cover shows a drawing of Pinocchio after he’s lied. His nose is about two feet long and two little leaves have sprouted from the tip of it, one yellow and one orange.

 

4. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

 

The protagonist is a: a wooden puppet who is magically brought to life.

 

Book cover for Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. Image on cover shows a repeating pattern of yellow and black lines that fold in on each other at the centre of the cover as if they all originated from that point.

 

5. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott

 

The protagonist is a: a two-dimensional being who travels to three-dimensional, one-dimensional, and no-dimensional worlds and must try to make sense of them.

 

Book cover for Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker. Image on cover shows a raptor and her baby standing on top of a large flat stone where one spindly plant is growing. The setting sun behind the raptors and plant is casting deep shadows on everything, but the raptors appear to be watching the sunset together.

6. Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

The protagonist is a: raptor.

 

If you’ve read xenofiction before, what are some of your favourite books from this genre?

96 Comments

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96 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Xenofiction I’ve Enjoyed

  1. Interesting topic, Lydia. Honestly, I had never heard the expression “xenofiction” but I could probably come up with a few books like that. And I even have read one of them: Watership Down. And everyone knows Pinocchio, right?

    Thanks for visiting my TTT this week.

  2. Great idea for a list. I wonder if you have read and if you’d include the new series by Becky Chambers with a robot main character.

  3. Interesting topic for sure! You might like World Running Down. One of the main characters is AI in an android body.

  4. I didn’t even know there was a name for this type of book! I’ve never read any of these, though I did see the movie for A Dog’s Purpose and omg it was so cute haha

  5. …huh, wow. I didn’t know this was a genre. I’ve read books from animal perspectives before, but mostly as a kid with the exception of Watership Down.

  6. I haven’t read any of these. I’m glad you enjoyed them. I hadn’t heard of this genre before.

  7. Oh, I love that you chose xenofiction to highlight, especially as I’ve read quite a few of these books.

  8. I’d never heard of xenofiction before. I think my favorite would have to be the Feline Wizards series, by Diane Duane

  9. Interesting topic. Have you read any of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series? I think you might enjoy them.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

  10. It seems like I have one or two books on my shelf that deal with alien type characters but since I haven’t read them (yet!), I cannot remember the titles. Either way, hopefully they’ll be good reads and I’m glad you enjoyed these!! Thanks so much for visiting today, Lydia!

  11. What an interesting list! A Dog’s Purpose caught my eye. Happy reading.

  12. Great topic! I had no idea that was the name for this type of book.

  13. This is a very cool topic! I remember reading A Dog’s Purpose so long ago!!

  14. Cool post, very original, Memoirs of a Snowflake sounds interesting.
    Another book is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is about a China rabbit doll, is beautiful children story

  15. Jo

    I did not realise that xenofiction was a thing, but now that I know the term, I can definitely say I’ve read books like it as I was big into animal books as a kid and a few of them were from the perspective of the animal: my personal favourite was Black Beauty.

  16. Great topic! I haven’t read any of these yet. I can’t recall if I read any xenofiction before, but it does sound intriguing so I’ll need to try either way.

  17. #1 – A snowflake as a main chaaracter? I don’t know. It sounds strange but kind of fascinating.

    #5 – What? This one is harder to grasp.

    I didn’t even know there is genre such as xenofiction or rather I just didn’t know that’s the name for such books. I have read from animals point of views before but I’m not a huge fan.

    Have a lovely day.

  18. What a great idea for this week’s TTT! I’ve actually read two of these: Watership Down and Pinocchio. But now I want to check out Memoirs of a Snowflake and Raptor Red. 😀

  19. I’ve never heard the term “xenofiction” but this is such an interesting topic! I guess Animal Farm would fit the bill here as well, so I’ve read at least one book in the genre, right?

  20. Wendy Williams

    My husband and son both love Watership Down. I could add Remarkably Bright Creatures to this list as it’s narrated partially by an octopus.

  21. Interesting topic! I hadn’t heard of this specific term before although I have read a few books that I think would fit.

  22. Great topic! I didn’t know there was a word for this. I just read a book where a tree narrates part of the book, very original. I loved Watership Down.

  23. What a great pick. I always wanted to read Watership down. And the perspective of a raptor too!

  24. Love the topic choice both because it’s unique and because I learned a new word.

  25. What a great topic! I recommend the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. It’s narrated by a ship’s AI stuck in a single body.

  26. Looks like you educated a LOT of us with a new word, xenofiction, though I’m not surprised there is one. And, what a great list. My contribution is Island of Missing Trees in which a tree is a major character, and Remarkably Bright Creatures has the very clever Marcellus, an octopus. Thanks for the visit.
    Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys

  27. What an amazing list – I never really thought of books like this with a non human protagonist. A dog maybe but never come across anything else.

  28. This is a new word to me too! The first book that came to mind for me was The Murderbot series by Martha Wells.

  29. I loved Watership Down! Anne McCaffrey’s Brainship series comes to mind as a good example of xenofiction, as does Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders series. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty involves a sentient space station and a variety of alien lifeforms, although the protagonist is human.

  30. Such a neat take on the topic, Lydia! Pinocchio is on my latest Classics Club list — I’ve never read it! Thanks for stopping by my TTT 🙂

  31. Jessica Baker

    I read Watership Down when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it!!! I’m thinking I need to read it again. I love your take on this TTT!

  32. This is a cool idea for a list! I’ve read Watership Down and loved it.

  33. I think I need to add Memoirs of a Snowflake to my TBR. That looks fun! I read The Dogs of Christmas, by W. Bruce Cameron and that was fun, so I’m sure the one your list is too. Happy Reading! 🙂

  34. Watership Down is one of my favorites too. I also recently read Remarkably Bright Creatures, a wonderful book where one of the protagonists was an octopus.

  35. I had to look up xenofiction… and I found a great article about it.

    I am sure I must have read something that applies. The only thing that comes to mind immediately is the Murderbot series by Martha Wells with a robot with AI as the main character. But I also have The Humans by Matt Haig, from the perspective of an extraterrestrial visitor to Earth.

    Thanks for your comments my list.
    TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery

  36. This is an interesting and fun genre topic! I guess I never thought about how many books are told from non-human POVs. Great idea 🙂

  37. The Culture books by Iain M. Banks!

  38. Great topic choice, Lydia! I haven’t read any of these, but I did enjoy the first Murderbot, All Systems Red, and I have Hollow Kingdom on my kindle, which is from the perspective of a crow during the apocalypse. Happy reading!

  39. Oh that’s a fun take on this week’s freebie topic. I may have to check some of these books out. Have a great weekend.

  40. vidya

    Love your theme for this genre freebie. And I learned my new word for the day.. I am sure I have heard this term before but didn’t pay attention to it. As for books in this genre, I have read many and will keep it in mind for the next freebie. Thanks for visiting and commenting as always

  41. RS @ Literary Loot

    I’m very bad at replying to comments on my own blog when I skip a TTT week, but sometimes I remember to visit others!

    Great genre pick — I read a ton of books from animal perspectives, usually wildlife, but I never like the ones where the animals seem to think/talk more like humans than real animals (11-year-old Me was OUTRAGED about how Not An Animal Book! Watership Down is). That said, as far as adult xenofiction goes, Hunter’s Moon by Garry Kilworth was fantastic.

    Also, I’ve never heard of Raptor Red but that sounds FASCINATING, and certainly like it would meet my “act more like the animals they are than humans” criteria, adding to my TBR.

    • No worries, RS!

      I think you’d like Raptor Red. It’s been a while since I read it, but I believe the raptors in it don’t think like humans at all. It was super unique.

      I’m looking up Hunter’s Moon now. 🙂

  42. What a fun list! I love all of Katherine Applegate’s MG xenofiction (The One and Only Ivan, The One and Only Bob, The One and Only Ruby). I think the most interesting adult xenofiction novel I ever read was the scifi novel Semiosis by Sue Burke! I’ll never look at bamboo the same way. 😆

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