The items in this collection aren't just united by their quirkiness; one of the authors, Jonathan Safran Foer, describes his work as "a book that remembers it has a body" -and that's just what these books are; each one experiments with the physical book-form in order to create a story that is narrated as much through the reader's interaction with the book itself as through the words on its pages.

While these works are fascinating, during my research I often found myself thinking, 'why?'. Why tell a story by cutting-up someone else's words, as in Foer's Tree of Codes? Why tell a story that can be shuffled and read in random order, like Marc Saporta's Composition No. 1?

It is tempting to just dismiss these texts as gimmicks or novelties. However, viewed as a collection, their purpose seems clear; together, these experimental works challenge our usual expectations of the written narrative, revealing just how ingrained and invisible the conventional book-form has become.

And, of course, each offers an innovative and often remarkable story that is intriguingly bound to the paper (or toilet paper) on which it is printed.

The collection includes 31 books spanning the 14th century to the present decade. Explore these unique works for yourself through the Fryer Library's new online exhibition, Unconventional Narration.

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Sarah Boothroyd is a writer with a weakness for quirky stories. She recently graduated from UQ with a Bachelor of Arts, and curated Unconventional Narration with the supervision and assistance of Dr Chris Tiffin at UQ.

Unconventional Narration, the latest Fryer Library online exhibition, is available to view online. It is best viewed with a Firefox, Chrome, or Safari Browser. (Previous online exhibitions are also available on our website.)