#weird books

[figcatlists]

Contemporary weird fiction reading list

A chart of New Weird books and other bizarre, unsettling, and uncanny literature published in the last 30 years or so. This is a follow-up to my previous chart of classic weird fiction and another selection from my list of over 200 works of weird literature.

[arconinternet]

A Visual Guide To Alien Beings (Book, David W. Chace, 1996)

You can read it here. It's huge.

[frontlinetltties]

If a book doesn't come with a warning of "weirdest fucking thing you've ever read" i don't want to read it.

I'll even settle for a "the characters do not understand anything that's going on and neither will you"

[uh-oh-its-trinity]

One of my Top 5 Favorite Books!

You could definitely read this in one sitting. And read it again. And again. And again…

I love to read books during the seasons the books are set in. So, when you’re ready for a gut-wrenching roller coaster in winter, pick this one up!

(but never watch the movie…)

[rotten-whispers]

Check out a silly sci fi novel that is the embodiment of chaos!

The 22nd century offers the latest thrills and crazes of consumerism at the Fresh Malls, the world's most innovative market center!

Fill your body with extensions, your pockets with gadgets, and consider picking up a new bubblegum spitting pet for your office! But be sure to mind the zombies on the way out

(see p1nned for details)

[tomegnome]

☠️My most vile reads of 2022☠️

Any old book can make you feel good. It takes a special book to make you feel BAD. But still be like, "yeah that was pretty good actually". Did I enjoy these books? Yes. Do I recommend these books? Not really. For the morbidly curious, please check out the content warnings in the linked TheStoryGraphy pages if you want to read but are worried about triggers.

🐝Slug and Other Stories by Megan Milks🪲 This anthology is strange and gross and off-putting. I thought many times about not finishing it. What happened instead, however, was that I completely devoured it in one sitting. If you're feeling a lot of fuckery over sex and gender and instead of attempting to package those feelings away with a sweet little bow, you want to dump those feelings into a pile of wet garbage and writhe around in them...this is a great read.

🩸The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht🔪 Horrible queer people deserve representation too! These two gay Victorian weirdos LOVE three things: being miserable, doing a murder, and exchanging sassy little quips. That’s about the sum of it.

🐬Made for Love by Alissa Nutting🌺 Woman lives with dying father in a trailer full of sex dolls while escaping from narcissist tech billionaire husband who can track her every move. I read this because of the HBO adaptation, and there is an extremely uncomfortable element that was left out of the series for VERY apparent reasons. Funny, dark, and strangely relatable. But disturbing. Don’t read this probably.

💄Codename Villanelle Series by Luke Jennings💣 Horrible queer people part 2! A MI6 operative and an international assassin make goo goo eyes at each other over a pile of mangled corpses. I love that the author takes the sexy killer concept and shows how fucked that relationship would actually be. This series just gets progressively more bonkers, and me? Here for it. Present and accounted for.

[setinjade]

INTRO POST

username is a play on words. my name is jade! i like the quote “set in stone”. jade is a stone. here i am, set in jade.

hi my name is jade and my pronouns are she/he (pls use both) im majoring in film and minoring in secondary education! some of my favorite things are fungi, bacteria, and sharks. i enjoy weird books like Earthlings by Sayaka Murata and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. here’s my letterboxd, pinterest, and goodreads !

[anotheruserwithnoname]

If you told me a week ago that there was a Little Golden Book for children adapting the 1975 thriller, Jaws, I’d have laughed at you. But I found this in a children’s book section today. (Meaning this isn’t a case of “written for adult” parodies like the recent Ladybird Books; it’s a genuine LBG.) The character designs are based on the Funko Pop figures.

It follows the movie relatively closely, focusing on the boat trip, though with a distinct lack of people being eaten. And the title is based on the famous like “You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat.”

The story goes up to the point where Hooper, Quint and Brody sing their “I’m Tired and I Wanna Go to Bed” song, which apparently is enough to make Bruce tired ... but as the final page which recreates the famous poster warns: “The shark comes back - da-dum.” 

Maybe it was a gag aimed at adults - like some of the Sesame Street videos made for Youtube that are not made for kids - but it still ended up next to copies of The Poky Little Puppy where I found it.

There’s also a Stranger Things book, too. Can’t wait to see their versions of Silence of the Lambs and The Exorcist.

[figcatlists]

Classic weird fiction reading list

A chart of recommended strange, disturbing, and unsettling books published before 1990. This is a selection from my list of over 200 works of weird literature that I published on my website.

[arconinternet]

Beep Beep the Road Runner (Book, Cecily Ruth Hoga and Fred and Jill Daunno, 1977)

A 1970's storybook-ification of the Road Runner mythos. You can digitally borrow it here.

[essiesmutantbiz]

I’ve done a new thing! My new weird metafictional novella (totally standalone yay) is now out in the world. It’s a murder and a mystery, a love story, it’s a pack of lies, a kiss blown to the waning moon.

You can check it out here:

[theweirdladynextdoor]

Not for Everyone: A grand list of 143 weird books

This is my meticulously curated list of 143 of the weirdest books I’ve ever read.  Weird here can mean subject matter, the way it was written, or just that it’s off the beaten path.  It certainly does not include every weird book out there.  But it is a start if you are interested in reading weird lit yet have no idea where to begin.  I encourage you to dig in... if you dare.

 1.      Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl, (2010)

2.      Ghost Story by Peter Straub, (1989)

3.      My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg, (2004)

4.      The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, (1977)

5.      Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist by Sophie Crumb, (2010)

6.      The Farm: Life Inside a Women's Prison by Andi Rierden, (1997)

7.      On the Bus: The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of Counterculture by Paul Perry, (1997)

8.      The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, (1959)

9.      Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club by Anne Allison, (1994)

10.  The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Harold Schechter, (1996)

11.  Not Without my Daughter by Betty Mahmoody, (1987)

12.  Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, (1915)

13.  Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities by Flora Rheta Schreiber, (1973)

14.  Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman, (2002)

15.  You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs, (2009)

16.  Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, (2008)

17.  Pimp: The Story of my Life by Iceberg Slim, (1967)

18.  Black Hole by Charles Burns, (2005)

19.  My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming, (2007)

20.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, (2006)

21.  Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson, (1966)

22.  The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, (1968)

23.  Hardcore Mother by Maxon Crumb, (2001)

24.  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick,  (2000)

25.  House of Leaves and The Whalestoe Letters by Mark Z. Danielewski, (2000)

26.  Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff, (2008)

27.  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson, (1971)

28.  I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, (2006)

29.  Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk, (2004)

30.  SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris, (1998)

31.  Trout Fishing in America/ The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster/ In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, (1989)

32.  The Long, Hard Road out of Hell by Marilyn Manson, (1998)

33.  Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, (1959)

34.  She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, (1992)

35.  Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris, (2010)

36.  Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin by Norah Vincent, (2008)

37.  The Cannibals of Candyland by Carlton Mellick III, (2009)

38.  The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Lyn Pickman, (2010)

39.  The Demonologist by Gerard Brittle, (1980)

40.  Off Season (Dead River #1) by Jack Ketchum, (1980)

41.  Room by Emma Donoghue, (2010)

42.  The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, (1989)

43.  The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson, (1949)

44.  When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase, (1987)

45.  Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, (1981)

46.  Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, (2009)

47.  The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley, (1992)

48.  Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, (1989)

49.  Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt, (2002)

50.  The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo, (2006)

51.  The Complete Grimm’s Fairytales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, (1812)

52.  Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson, (2012)

53.  Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson, (2001)

54.  The Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson, (2011)

55.  Life After Death by Damien Echols, (2012)

56.  The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain, (2005)

57.  Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, (2011)

58.  Party Monster: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland by James St. James, (1999)

59.  What Cops Know by Connie Fletcher, (1990)

60.  Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford, (1978)

61.  I’m Down Mishna Wolf, (2009)

62.  Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres, (2005)

63.  Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert, (2007)

64.  Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory, (2003)

65.  Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover, (1999)

66.  Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis, (2001)

67.  Napalm & Silly Putty by George Carlin, (2001)

68.  Crimson Stain by Jim Fisher, (2000)

69.  Are you my Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel, (2012)

70.  The Complete Persepolis by Satrapi Marjane, (2003)

71.  Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, (1962)

72.  Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, (2015)

73.  Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz, (2010)

74.  Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges, (2013)

75.  The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White, (2006)

76.  Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan, (2014)

77.  American Splendor Presents: Bob and Harv’s Comics by Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb, (1996)

78.  My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, (2012)

79.  Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes go Hilariously Wrong

80.  Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters, (2011)

81.  Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent by David Henry Sterry, (2002)

82.  Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh, (2013)

83.  You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from A Prison Fish by Jimmy A. Lerner, (2002)

84.  Over Easy by Mimi Pond, (2014)

85.  Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney, (2012)

86.  SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, (1967)

87.  The Gallery of Regrettable Food: Highlights from Classic American Recipe Books by James Lileks, (2001)

88.  Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, (2014)

89.  My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, (2016)

90.  A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, (2015)

91.  This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair, (1980)

92.  The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan, (2015)

93.  Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan, (2013)

94.  The Black Hope Horror: The True Story of a Haunting by Ben and Jean Williams, (1991)

95.  $2.00 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, (2015)

96.  The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel, (2017)

97.  True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner, (2016)

98.  The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple by Jeff Guinn, (2017)

99.  Conversations with Ed and Lorraine Warren by T. Sealyham, (2011)

100.  Educated by Tara Westover, (2018) 

101.  North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Cea Sunrise Person, (2014)

102.  I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, (2018)

103.  Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America: A Memoir By The Other Son by Kent Walker and Mark Schone, (2001)

104.  Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood, (2016)

105.  The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger, (2002)

106.  Selp-Helf by Miranda Sings, (2015)

107.  The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving by John Hoffman and Bruce Sterling, (1992)

108.  Strays: A Lost Cat, a Homeless Man, and Their Journey Across America by Britt Collins, (2017)

109.  My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2018)

110.   A Father’s Story by Lionel Dahmer, (1994)

111.  The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis by Ian Brady, (2001)

112.  Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2015)

113.  IT’S ME Edward Wayne Edwards: The Serial Killer You’ve Never Heard of by John A. Cameron, (2014)

114.  We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, (2018)

115.  The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein, (2017)

116.  The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon, (2013)

117. Rising out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow, (2018)

118.  Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych E.R. by Julie Holland, (2009)

119.  The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy by Elizabeth Kendall, (1981)

120.  High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips, (2009)

121.  Hell’s Gate: Terror at Bobby Mackey’s Music World by Douglas Hensley, (1993)

122.  From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children by Joyce Egginton, (1989)

123.  In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, (2019)

124.  Love as Always, Mum xxx by Mae West, (2018)

125.  Solutions and other Problems by Allie Brosh, (2020)

126.  The Serial Killer Cookbook: True Crime Trivia and Disturbingly Delicious Last Meals from Death Row's Most Infamous Killers and Murderers by Ashley Lecker, (2020)

127.  Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood by Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamolodchikova, (2020)

128.  American Animals: A True Crime Memoir by Eric Borsuk, (2018)

129.  The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, (2020)

130.  Couple Found Slain: After a Family Murder by Mikita Brottman, (2021)

131.  Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson, (2021)

132. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin, (2021)

133.  Yearbook by Seth Rogen, (2021)

134.  Today a Woman went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer, (2021)

135.  Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, (2021)

136.  Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar, (2021)

137.  A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind by Ann Burgess, (2021)

138.  Tiger King: The Official Tell-all Memoir by Joe Exotic, (2021)

139.  The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, (1981)

140.  Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Christine Montross, (2020)

141.  The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison, (2014)

142.  Murder Book: A Graphic Novel of a True Crime Obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, (2021)

143.  Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, (2019)

[axle-hates-zucchini]

I was reading this book for book club and like *what*

[captainwaffles]

The program by Suzanne young is a 6 book series I’ve never talked about. It was split into three parts if I remember correctly. You had present past and future. It’s a weird dystopian future book where suicide is even worse than it is now that even if you are a little depressed you get shipped away (spoilers ahead) and basically brainwashed (they erase your memory) and drug you to hell and back.

And it was really interesting and confusing. It brought up, I think, important ideas and ethical issues we should talk about. But it was also really weird and for being so much about suicide and depression I feel like it occasionally didn’t handle the subjects well. (I could be wrong I read them like 4 years ago.

But I was just curious if anyone else has read them