Whats the strangest book you've ever read?
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Not strange, just random. My mind can cope with them easily. It's all very simple really.MaxTheReaper said:
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth_And_I_Must_Scream]
What you wish for. Some story about a sculptor who sculpts a statue and it comes to life and blah blah blah blah.
Can't pick one.
Has to be between:
Mort
Illuminatus Trilogy
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster
Naked Lunch
Has to be between:
Mort
Illuminatus Trilogy
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster
Naked Lunch
Well, I guess anything by Poe or Lovecraft. Love that weird stuff. But I found the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz even more strange. So full of obscure symbolism and references to both alchemy and the occult, it´s bewildering. Great book.
I wouldn't really say Lovecraft is strange. He's horror, and his stories are often very similar to each other in terms of content.
Weirdest Book I have yet to read is House of Leaves. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.
I'd have to say that One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez is pretty damned out there, at least without belaboring the point of being strange.
Weirdest Book I have yet to read is House of Leaves. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.
I'd have to say that One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez is pretty damned out there, at least without belaboring the point of being strange.
The book Saint by Ted Dekker. The man's a decent writer, but here's his idea of a plot twist.
"You are the world's most lethal killing machine. go kill a man who wants to disarm isreal. OKAY, my bad, your supposed to kill the president. oh, and your the messiah."
Seriously, search Ted Dekker in the forums, and you'll find at least one comment of me bitching about it.
"You are the world's most lethal killing machine. go kill a man who wants to disarm isreal. OKAY, my bad, your supposed to kill the president. oh, and your the messiah."
Seriously, search Ted Dekker in the forums, and you'll find at least one comment of me bitching about it.
Of course you may ask.kailsar said:
I read it because it was considered to be the most difficult book to read by people like authors and suchlike. Sort of like the K2 of literature.
It's also interesting to know that James Joyce spend something like 17 years on this "book". tweaking and twiddling until he thought it good enough to publish.
I'd say go to a book store, or your library and pick up this book, open it at random and read for a couple of minutes. And then decide for yourself if you like to one day finish it (if it were even possible considering the nature of the book) or if it's all gibberish and a waste of time to you.
I would also point out that I read Ulysses twice, first a translated copy in Dutch when I was 17, but I didn't think at the time I was doing the author justice. So I bought it in English when I was 18 and read it the way it was supposed to be read.
Then at 19 I've read almost everything by James Joyce and finally bought Finnegan's Wake, tried to read it, but wasn't able to. This happened sort of every three months till I was 21 and finally was able to read it.
My vocabulary has probably doubled since I finished Finnegans Wake, So I think it's about time for a second run.
But first I have to finish the Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay.
Toss up between The Sound and the Fury, and Beloved. Oh stream of consciousness writing, how I utterly, utterly loathe your existence.
House of Leaves and Naked Lunch. If I remember correctly, Burroughs claimed that he didn't even remember writing the book.
Slaughterhouse Five is plenty fucking weird! It starts out as a person talking about the war and just randomly develops into a....I think the word "clusterfumble" is appropriate here. I'm sure there's some really obvious point its making, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.
One of my favourite books is called The Raw Sharks Texts* by Steven Hall. Absolutely brilliant, but absolutely completely batshit crazy. About a bloke from Derby (England, he's an English author) being chased by the concept of a fish. Yes, its as ridiculous as it sounds, but is one of the most brilliantly inventive novels I've ever read. I've read it three times now and I still can't figure out the ending. Highly recommended.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is pretty weird as well, mainly because its narrated by death. Very very good though.
Thing is, I like books to be a little weird, but if a book is weird it needs to be especially good, because you aren't going to put up with that sort of thing from an average book are you?
I've never read it, but isn't it the Life and Times of Tristam Shandy that is a man's autobiography where he never manages to get beyond his own birth? That sounds weird!
*You see, its a pun on Rorschach tests.
One of my favourite books is called The Raw Sharks Texts* by Steven Hall. Absolutely brilliant, but absolutely completely batshit crazy. About a bloke from Derby (England, he's an English author) being chased by the concept of a fish. Yes, its as ridiculous as it sounds, but is one of the most brilliantly inventive novels I've ever read. I've read it three times now and I still can't figure out the ending. Highly recommended.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is pretty weird as well, mainly because its narrated by death. Very very good though.
Thing is, I like books to be a little weird, but if a book is weird it needs to be especially good, because you aren't going to put up with that sort of thing from an average book are you?
I've never read it, but isn't it the Life and Times of Tristam Shandy that is a man's autobiography where he never manages to get beyond his own birth? That sounds weird!
*You see, its a pun on Rorschach tests.
Shelf Monkey, it would have been fine relativley normal, if not for it going into an entire paragraph long description of how the main charecters freind Warren was testing a male fertility drug for a company and its... succes... that lasted 2 weeks