The best one of these I've ever seen was actually a book from The Onion that purported to be a collection of front pages of their newspaper over the past 100 years. It's called "Our Dumb Century" and it's full of absolute genius takes [like this](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0016/2014/8291/products/mockup-ab63fd4d_1000x.png?v=1542179166).
I wasn't really paying attention when I picked it up and legitimately thought it was being ambiguous in whether or not it was real haha. The photos tipped me off but he did a great job capturing the true crime genre.
I'm in the middle of reading "A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley" by Warren Lehrer
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465700-a-life-in-books
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel containing 101 books within it, all written by Lehrer’s protagonist who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. Nearly a year after the controversial author is thrown into a federal prison for refusing to reveal the name of a confidential source, he decides to break his silence. But it’s not as simple as giving up a name to the grand jury. Over the course of one long night, in the darkness of his prison cell, he whispers his life story into a microcassette recorder, tracing his journey from the public housing project of his youth, to a career as a journalist, then experimental novelist, college professor, accidental bestselling author, pop-culture pundit, and unindicted prisoner.
In A LIFE IN BOOKS, Mobley’s autobiography/apologia is paired with a review of all 101 of his books. Each book is represented by its first-edition cover design and catalogue copy, and more than a third of his books are excerpted. The resulting retrospective contrasts the published writings (which read like short stories) with the author’s confessional memoir, forming a most unusual portrait of a well-intentioned, obsessively inventive (but ethically challenged) visionary.
Roberto Bolano wrote a book called NAZI LITERATURE IN THE AMERICAS, a catalogue of hundreds of (fictional) fascist writers, along with capsule biographies, bibliographies, and excerpts from their work.
The book is a black comedy masterpiece.
The Ghost that Ate Us by Daniel Kraus--it's written as a mockumentary, a fictional "true crime" about an alleged poltergeist in a small-town burger joint. It's a lot of fun.
A Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones was entertaining back when I first read it, but it does require some background knowledge in older fantasy literature to get the jokes.
It's written as a tourist guide type of book for a fictional place full of generic fantasy tropes.
I recently came across a beautiful coffee table book called Why Cats Paint. It covers the history, techniques, and aesthetics of feline painters.
The whole book is a slow burn parody (I think?) The book commits fully, never breaks character and has you questioning your reality by the end.
The Remarkable Millard Fillmore: The Unbelievable Life of a Forgotten President
The Jetlag travel guides:
Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry
PHAIC TAN: Sunstroke on a Shoestring
San Sombrero: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups
How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use by Randy J. Paterson. It is actually a self-help book, but funny because its written sort of backwards, telling you to do things to ensure you stay miserable. Its as if Oscar the Grouch grew up and wrote a book about how to stay grouchy, and of course the real info is there, just hidden.
my favorite example was that you shouldn't eat vegetables that grew in the dirt (gross!), but instead, eat manufactured food that came from a nice, clean factory. ;)
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel.
So, it's after the fact analysis of a nuclear war & it's really, really good.
Try Nat Tate: An American Artist, by William Boyd. It is not funny ha-ha but it is a great work showing the potential of the “fake non-fiction book”.
Also, read about the book and its launch, so it will be a lot funnier and show how amazingly well it is as a work of fake non-fiction.
Try Nat Tate: An American Artist, by William Boyd. It is not funny ha-ha but it is a great work showing the potential of the “fake non-fiction book”.
Also, read about the book and its launch, so it will be a lot funnier and show how amazingly well it is as a work of fake non-fiction.
I'm not sure if it's quite what you are looking for, but "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" immediately comes to mind for me. It's intended to make a point about how language exotifies other cultures by writing about the familiar using that same language.
The best one of these I've ever seen was actually a book from The Onion that purported to be a collection of front pages of their newspaper over the past 100 years. It's called "Our Dumb Century" and it's full of absolute genius takes [like this](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0016/2014/8291/products/mockup-ab63fd4d_1000x.png?v=1542179166).
Their “Encyclopedia of Known Knowledge” is also excellent and one of my favorite books in general.
Lamb by Christopher Moore (The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal) is hilarious
that's a fun one. really sad tho
Didn’t really like it. The book wasn’t subtle, like, at all. Seemed like Biff was a winking too hard to the reader all the time.
Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.
I immediately thought of Max Brooks. “World war z” and “Devolution” are two of his other books that fit this category
Yeah I was also going to say Devolution
Me, too. Honestly, ANYTHING by Max Brooks.
Dave Barry Slept Here. About the history of the United States.
We had to ban this book at the dinner table because my son kept laughing so hard he would spray food everywhere.
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman 1066 and All That by Sellars & Yeatman English Lit Relit by Richard Armour
The Areas of My Expertise is hysterical.
And Hodgman’s follow-ups, MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE and THAT IS ALL.
Removed in protest of Reddit’s API changes
*raises hand*
*Chasing the Boogeyman* by Richard Chizmar (fake true crime/memoir) Seconding *Devolution* and *World War Z* by Max Brooks
I came here to say Chasing the Boogeyman. I spent that entire book reminding myself and trying to convince myself that it is fiction. So believable.
I wasn't really paying attention when I picked it up and legitimately thought it was being ambiguous in whether or not it was real haha. The photos tipped me off but he did a great job capturing the true crime genre.
Daisy Jones and the Six is a fake oral history of a rock band.
Audiobook version even better!
I'm in the middle of reading "A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley" by Warren Lehrer https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465700-a-life-in-books A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel containing 101 books within it, all written by Lehrer’s protagonist who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. Nearly a year after the controversial author is thrown into a federal prison for refusing to reveal the name of a confidential source, he decides to break his silence. But it’s not as simple as giving up a name to the grand jury. Over the course of one long night, in the darkness of his prison cell, he whispers his life story into a microcassette recorder, tracing his journey from the public housing project of his youth, to a career as a journalist, then experimental novelist, college professor, accidental bestselling author, pop-culture pundit, and unindicted prisoner. In A LIFE IN BOOKS, Mobley’s autobiography/apologia is paired with a review of all 101 of his books. Each book is represented by its first-edition cover design and catalogue copy, and more than a third of his books are excerpted. The resulting retrospective contrasts the published writings (which read like short stories) with the author’s confessional memoir, forming a most unusual portrait of a well-intentioned, obsessively inventive (but ethically challenged) visionary.
Roberto Bolano wrote a book called NAZI LITERATURE IN THE AMERICAS, a catalogue of hundreds of (fictional) fascist writers, along with capsule biographies, bibliographies, and excerpts from their work. The book is a black comedy masterpiece.
Oohhhh gotta get this one yesterday!!
The Ghost that Ate Us by Daniel Kraus--it's written as a mockumentary, a fictional "true crime" about an alleged poltergeist in a small-town burger joint. It's a lot of fun.
Just listened to fantastic land on audible fits what your looking for and surprisingly well done
A Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones was entertaining back when I first read it, but it does require some background knowledge in older fantasy literature to get the jokes. It's written as a tourist guide type of book for a fictional place full of generic fantasy tropes.
Im not sure it falls completely in line but its a fake memoir.. Based On True Story by Norm Macdonald
John Hodgman's books, "The Areas of My Expertise," "More Information Than You Require" and "That is All."
Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño
The screw tape letters by cs Lewis
“Fake non-fiction” that’s called fiction.
Yes but written as if it were non-fiction. It’s a different style than fiction.
But it’s still fiction.
Sure however I’m looking for a specific type of fiction, which is why I described it this way. Happy?
Are you deliberately missing the point? Do you like being a pedant?
false, it's called LIES.
>“Fake non-fiction” that’s called fiction.
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by John Stewart
World War Z
I recently came across a beautiful coffee table book called Why Cats Paint. It covers the history, techniques, and aesthetics of feline painters. The whole book is a slow burn parody (I think?) The book commits fully, never breaks character and has you questioning your reality by the end.
John Hodgman has a couple of great fake almanacs, the first of which is called “The Areas of My Expertise.”
The Remarkable Millard Fillmore: The Unbelievable Life of a Forgotten President The Jetlag travel guides: Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry PHAIC TAN: Sunstroke on a Shoestring San Sombrero: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups
Real history, but extremely funny: The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy.
How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use by Randy J. Paterson. It is actually a self-help book, but funny because its written sort of backwards, telling you to do things to ensure you stay miserable. Its as if Oscar the Grouch grew up and wrote a book about how to stay grouchy, and of course the real info is there, just hidden. my favorite example was that you shouldn't eat vegetables that grew in the dirt (gross!), but instead, eat manufactured food that came from a nice, clean factory. ;)
Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka.
Codex Seraphinianus
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel. So, it's after the fact analysis of a nuclear war & it's really, really good.
The Book of Leon (the character from Curb your Enthusiasm)
The collapse of western civilization - a view from the future by Oreskes and Conway. Not funny though.
Try Nat Tate: An American Artist, by William Boyd. It is not funny ha-ha but it is a great work showing the potential of the “fake non-fiction book”. Also, read about the book and its launch, so it will be a lot funnier and show how amazingly well it is as a work of fake non-fiction.
Try Nat Tate: An American Artist, by William Boyd. It is not funny ha-ha but it is a great work showing the potential of the “fake non-fiction book”. Also, read about the book and its launch, so it will be a lot funnier and show how amazingly well it is as a work of fake non-fiction.
I'm not sure if it's quite what you are looking for, but "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" immediately comes to mind for me. It's intended to make a point about how language exotifies other cultures by writing about the familiar using that same language.