Books

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson was the one that did it for me.

Short stories:

• Flowers for Algernon
• I have no mouth and I must scream

Short-ish:

• Of mice and men
• Brave new world

Turkish elementary-school books.

Wanna read about a small girl getting beat up by her dad and kicked out before freezing to death as she vividly imagines her dead grandma and lighting matchsticks to prolong her suffering for 20 pages?

I think author was either Russian or Danish. Still no clue why that was a required read at age of 7 in my school.

Oh man, let's talk about short stories that defined my taste in literature!

• To Build A Fire: definitely built a fascination in me of the morbid and got me way more into survivalism than quick sand ever did. I live in a cold place too and that put it well into perspective how dangerous that can be.

• The Sniper: This was my start into war literature, and what a good start. I keep coming back to this one when I hear people talk about a civil war in the US. It's more unsettling now than ever before.

• The Lottery. How couldn't that be on the list?

• Cask of Amontillado: big vibes. Poe made me goth-brained no doubt.

Our school also had us read Robert Frost. Really great way to introduce kids to the idea that 'some folks just kinda wanna die all the time'. That and why child labor laws are good and important.

"The Long Rain" by Bradbury was the one that stuck with me.

It was not in English... But we had to read the golden egg. Story about a guy who s girl is missing. He keeps looking for her. Has driems about them being close together but not seeing the other. . At the end he finds a guy who sais he can do the same to him as he did to the girlfriend. Last you know he is like burried..

"Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon Dickson. Guy gets shipped the wrong book by a book club, tries to return it, gets sent to a collections agency, and things spiral completely out of control from there. It's lived rent-free in my head since I read it years ago. (apologies for the mobile-unfriendly format, this is the only source I know for this story) https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc2/showpage.php?page=133

"Unauthorized Bread" by Cory Doctorow is a more up-to-date discussion of the same kind of power dynamics though. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. If comics count, The Enigma of Amigara Fault.

Of mice and men

Guts by chuck palahniuk.

"Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch" still haunts me...

I don't know about scary, but I would assign Teddy by J. D. Salinger.

Also, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.

Another one I really like that I feel like nobody else has ever read is: After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned by Dave Eggers (it's written from a dog's POV)

I guess this is more "short stories that I like" lol

We had to read 'Der Vorleser' in which a 15 year old boy gets into a relationship with a 36 year old woman. A strange choice to force kids about that age to read (we were a bit older than 15, I think. But still...)

Random shitposts on the internet have wiped away all the trauma I got from anything I read in school.

Maybe not disturbing enough, but the short story that really stuck with me was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_to_the_Slaughter

I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier

High school teacher had us read Survivor Type - thus began my love for stephen king

Asimov's Breeds There a Man ...?

A suicidal genius figures out the relationship between his brilliance and his mental health.

The Dweller in the Gulf by Clark Ashton Smith.

Recommend me one fellas

guy maupassant? e.g. the necklace