Choose Your Own Disaster

"Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz is an example of an innovatively-structured book that particularly benefits from the ebook format. It’s a sharp and entertaining memoir of the author’s misspent twenties in the form of a personality test cum choose-your-own-adventure book. Rather than turning to page 264, then page 45, then page 178, one can simply click on the links and be whisked on to the next stage; it lends the reading experience a computer-game feel. It’s a lot of fun. Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City is Chinese author Fang Fang’s chronicle of her daily life as Covid-19 emerged in her home city in early 2020. Her daily posts—made originally via Chinese social media—were rapidly translated into English and turned into a ebook. In November 2020, a print version of Wuhan Diary appeared, but as is often the case with time-sensitive subjects, ebooks are quicker to turn around, so you can be reading months earlier if you’re happy with the digital format."