Give me some good, weird books to read.

Post date: 2019-11-17 09:59:29

I've been having trouble finding books that interest me lately, until I realized that I'm really looking for weird, spooky books. The one that really scratched that itch was Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. What should I read next?

My obsession got rolling with this when Jezebel's annual scary story contest was posted, but I quickly tired of the real life stories and related creepypasta. What I want are tales with beautiful prose, quirky characters, and the right amount of weirdness.

In general, I like lit fic, magical realism, and dystopian novels. The most similar book that hits these themes has been Carmen Maria Machado's short stories. Others that I've read lately that I have liked (but don't quite fit the creepiness quote) include Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police, Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth, and most Murakami, but especially Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (although I hate how he writes his women characters). I've been having an easier time finding weird rather than the creepy side, so I'd be especially interested in anything which fits that bill.

What I'm not looking for: straight-up fantasy, or straight-up realism, or things that are scary because they are awful (e.g. I did not go nuts over The Feminist). I'm okay with bad shit happening, but content warnings appreciated. I didn't find House of Leaves as scary as everyone else seemed to, maybe because the writing in the first few chapters seemed too faux-academic to pull me in. I've read plenty of Stephen King and I don't think that's what I'm after.

Hit me up with your recommendations! Thanks all!

Please click Here to read the full story.