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I can’t find any other book that touches these. Not sure if the picture loaded but the books are “American Psycho” (gotta love that urinal cake dipped in Godiva chocolate Patrick gifted to Evelyn on a date).
Other book is “Dead Inside”.
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. Most palahniuk is pretty wtf actually.
That was the first author that came to my mind lol
I’ll check it out. I’ve heard of “Haunted”
I was just about to suggest Haunted.
You never forget Guts.
Read Guts two decades ago
Still haunts me
Yeah. I think it was probably about that long ago for me too.
Pool vacuums still make me nervous.
Oof. That one has been on my list. Thank you for the reminder
Survivor was going to be my pick but yes invisible monsters is certainly twisted.
Blood Meridian
The Judge is one of the greatest villains ever written.
Absolutely true. Has some of the best quotes ever too.
Shit. That one is on my list. Any others?
Fiction~Exquisite Corpse... there's tons more but I'd recommend these nonfictions first.
Nonfiction~ empire of the summer moon, the gulag archipelago, the blood never dried, bury my heart at wounded knee, bloodlands, mao's great famin, king Leopolds ghost, alive, the great terror, the rape of nanking, ordinary men and man's search for meaning.
Classic.
That final sentence is embedded deeply into my core. No words for it.
First one that comes to mind is Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin (using the pseudonym Murray Constantine).
It's a "What if the Nazis Won the War?" story, set 900 years in the future. However, it was written in 1937, two years before WW2 even started.
It's kind of like 1984, and much of it is quite talky and philosophical, but there are also some bits that are really, really messed up. It's excellent.
There is a book community where you might get better recommendations. And also if you explained more of what you mean by "wtf". If you mean like messed up people doing messed up things, well I've got nothing, but if you mean books that make you scratch you head and just say "wtf" because it makes no sense, but is good, then either the Southern Reach Trilogy or House of Leaves
Thank you. I’ll post it there with more detail on the title.
My english teacher told us about The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks back in the 8th grade and I checked it out of the school library.
The main character is a very eccentric and disturbed teenager who kives on a island with his weirdo father and who built a clock device for ritualized insect deaths, that involves a lot of urination. He gets a call from his brother who escaped the mental hospital and is on his way home, and then things start to get really fucked up.
Kill Your Friends by John Niven is sometimes compared unfavourably in reviews to American Psycho (probably due to the ruthless, callous, murderous businessman main character Stelfox, a record label A&R man) but i prefer it, mainly because it's very funny. it also has a spinoff, The Second Coming, in which Jesus enters and wins a pop idol type competition run by Stelfox and uses the winnings to set up a Waco style commune, and a sequel, Kill 'Em All, where Stelfox, after becoming an established Simon Cowell type mogul, gets up to further grotty business.
But if you want severely wtf material, The Bighead by Edward Lee will satisfy
Thank you! And The Second Coming sounds hilarious off the bat
it is, if you try them i hope you enjoy
A Scanner Darkly or Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick.
Thank you!
If you like Sci-Fi and are open to something less extreme than Bret Easton Ellis I'd also recommend "Roadside Picknick" by Strugatsky bros. Or if you want something in a more similar direction but with a lot more cynicism "Post Office" by Charles Bukowsky.
"Road Side Picknick" is more existencial wtf. There is also an excellent film about it called "Stalker".
Lesabendio by Paul Scheerbart comes to mind. But It's not wtf in a disturbing sense like these books. More like 'wtf am I reading?' - it's a really unique and imaginative early sci-fi book.
Thanks, I’ll check it out. Only sci-fi (sorta) was Ghost Land
Nice, enjoy!
If you're newer to Sci Fi and want to try something really quick that's a bit more disturbing, I'd also highly recommend 'I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream' by Harlan Ellison. It's a short story, you could probably knock it out in like 30 minutes, but I love it.
That one as well has been on my list. I think they’re making a show on it and I hope the hype of the book is real. Like tender is the flesh. Thanks for the reminder
Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
Just heard about this through Man Carry Thing. Sounds like it should win based on his description of it
Fight Club, Guts, etc.
R Scott Bakker's books if you're feeling like questioning your free will. Beautifully bleak and philosophical. Imagine if Tolkien had his heart broken instead of marriage and wrote on that.
We make a sad couple,” she said, as though making a casual observation.
“Why would you say that?”
“A sorcerer and a harlot . . . There’s something sad about that.”
He grasped her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “There’s something sad about all couples,” he said.”
Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti
or
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
I was about to post this one :)
I read it many years ago because it was supposed to be Bjork's favorite book.
Trout Fishing in America
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
Crazy read
Assisted Living by Nikanor Teratologen. (Original title Äldreomsorgen i Övre Kågedalen for Swedish lemmings). Don't read up on it. Go in blind for a pristine experience.
What The Hell Did I Just Read
I Shall Spit on Your Graves - Boris Vian
The Five Fingers by Gayle Rivers. Might be one of the goriest books I've ever read.
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
This book rewrote my view of humanity in a dark way
Anything by William S Burroughs
Last exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
Anything by Charles Bukowski
On a lighter note, the Dancers at the end of times by Michael Moorcock, and any other tome involving Jerry Cornelius, its multiple avatars, or Karl Glogauer.
'In the Miso Soup' by Murakami Ryu might do what you are looking for. Found it by accident looking at Murakami Haruki. Japanese guy is a local guide for an unusual american.
I didn't finish it but there is also 'Baby Jesus Buttplug' by Carlton Mellick. Been meaning to get back to it at some point. WTF is his whole schtick.
The works of Cormack McCarthy are also wtf books, but less in the 'WHAT THE FUCK!' more in the vein of 'Oh, god. What... the fuck...'
The diceman, Luke Rhineheart.
Homunculus manga. Check it out!
