"Invisible Cities" (1972) by Italo Calvino is an interesting read.
Book presents itself as a conversation between explorer (called Marco Polo) and emperor (called Kublai Khan). Emperor asks explorer to talk about different cities, and explorer tells about them - however, those cities are not real. In fact, they are imaginary. However, through the stories of these imaginary cities, themes and reflections on culture, language, life, time, memory etc. are explored and discussed.
It's a wonderful book if you like symbolism or oeuvres that bring "food to thought".
There is nice essay about it written by Isaac Yuen, if you are curious. Also, obviously, Invisible Cities is pretty influential, so there was an opera inspired by it, and a ballet performance with dedicated music album. Of course, there are drawings and fan-art based on it, as well.