I’m a fan of thrillers, mysteries, horror and all that fun stuff, but I also love books that are just so weird they make you question reality. I want there to be surrialism and total absurdity, something like Kafka or those novels where the main character is aware that they’re just a character in a story. So if you read something that made you think wtf I’d love to hear your suggestions!
by Child-of-nature_
19 Comments
Redshirts by John Scalzi immediately comes to mind.
The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
Anything by Philip K Dick (The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch possibly his best/weirdest)
A lot of brilliant satirical absurdity in Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse 5/Cats Cradle/Sirens of Titan etc…)
Vurt by Jeff Noon
Edit: also The Man in the High Castle for PKD’s reality questioning
Chouette is pretty weird
if on a winter’s night a traveler
The **Illuminatus! Trilogy** by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson is a wild satire of conspiracy theories. It was written in the ’70s so some of its cultural touchstones may not be readily apparent to younger readers.
Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill
Bunny by M. Awad 😂
Probably the one book with the highest number of comments “what the f*** did I just read?” 😂
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have great thrillers with a supernatural thread running through them. You’ll be weirded out by some of the unexpected things that happen in the books. The main character is Pendergast. He is smart and funny and just a little too good at things.
Tristram Shandy – an eighteenth century novel by Lawrence Sterne. Very weird. There are entire short chapters in latin, chapters on gynaecology, clocks, military sieges and relationships, all linked to a man waiting for his son to be born/the future son having an accidental circumcision through an open window coming down on it when he’s peeing out of it, and having his nose deformed by the midwife. Actually quite fun.
{{Temporary by Hilary Leichter}}
Snow Crash
The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. These are short stories – very surreal, very creative!
I also recommend Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. Also short stories, most of them are out there, kinda disturbing and will make you question your morality.
“Geek Love” is pretty weird and awesome . “Skinny Legs and All”, “Jitterbug Perfume” and “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues” by Tom Robbin’s are weird AND some of my favorite books. I had to replace them so many times.
Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk.
Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy. Short books. Super weird.
Bourne by Jeff Vandermeer
The Scar, The Iron Council and Perdito Street Station by China Mieville
EmbassyTown by China Mieville
The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville
Story of the Eye by Georges Batille
Blood and Guts in High School by KAthy Acker
Antkind by Charlie Kauffman
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins