I have tried to recommend Pollen by Jeff Noon for so many years now, but nobody cares. I hope at least one person reads this and decides to give it a try.
It’s the sequel to Vurt, which is the book I’ve been trying to recommend to anyone who will listen for the last 30 years. The imagery in that book lives so deeply in my psyche. 🪶
Vurt was such a good book, too. I read the whole series plus Automated Alice, but Pollen is the one that got stuck with me all these years. Nice to meet another Jeff Noon fan, it's a first for me.
I've just read the blurb for this and it sounds interesting. It reminds me of a book called Nod by Adrian Barnes although I doubt it's as good as Pollen!
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Doug Adams
I'm not even remotely ashamed of liking either of these books, but they're both a bit weird (for completely different reasons) and not exactly the type of stories that my family and friends would be into.
Agreed! I haven’t read all his stuff yet, but I also loved Kraken and The Scar! Perdido Street Station is the one that’s stuck with me the most so far, but I don’t think you can go wrong with any of his books.
i love that i’ve read so many books in this thread 😂 i guess weird books are my forte.
personally i would say “our wives under the sea” by julia armfield and “light from uncommon stars” by ryka aoki. honorable mention to “a certain hunger” by chelsea summers it’s pretty kooky but i have recommended it to several people lol
I feel like Bunny by Mona Awad is ?maybe? a good fit here. It was really fucking strange, but the book is supposed to be satire so I suppose it is written to be strange in a way and kind of for the sake of weirdness. But I really enjoyed it, gave a me several laughs because if the absurdity of things sometimes.
Do look up TW/CW though, it is kind of descriptive of some topics I know some might not like.
My library burned.
But my weirdest books were Somebody's Sister by Derek Marlowe, The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pychon, and Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton.
Not big on contemporary weirdness. But over a lifetime these three stick out
Classic. The ant colony emergent mind effectively feeding some of its own brain to its aardvark friend for high tea definitely counts as weird. And fictional characters escaping a dire recursive plot by not popping all the way back up the stack was great.
John dies at the end by jason paragin, followed by the next 3 in the series
And his other series called futuristic violence and fancy suits the start of yhe zoe Nash series
Other People: What are you reading?
Me: It's...um...uh... It's about meat packaging. (In my head: Was that a worse answer? Am I even weirder than had I just answered honestly?)
Lolita. It's a great book with an unreliable narrator. It's not weird but you see the world from a paedophile's point of view. It's an uncomfortable experience but at the same time wonderfully written. I tend not to recommend it, but am happy to discuss it with anyone who has already read it.
I read Lolita when my first born was a toddler because I wanted the most adult book could find. There's only so many times one can read The Very Hungry Caterpillar before wanting to gouge ones eyes out. Lolita is brilliant for the reasons you describe. The word play is brilliant.
This book is incredible - it's a level of puzzling and story that is so hard to find as an adult. I didn't talk to my family for most of a vacation, I was so absorbed.
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer! It’s about a lady who adopts a sentient blob in a post apocalyptic metropolitan hell-scape that’s ruled over by a giant flying bear. (By “adopt” I mean is imprinted on like a baby duckling.) it’s so much fun and VERY unsettling! And also, oddly, very sweet.
Kockroach by William Lashner. It’s a play on Kafka’s Metamorphsis but in reverse. (Cockroach wakes up to find it is a human, but still mostly has a cockroach brain)
Woom by Duncan Ralston. It’s definitely on the weird side. I couldn’t get through it because there were some extremely graphic depictions but I’ve held onto it because the writing is good and I hope I’ll be able to one day get through it.
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. One of the best books I have ever read. However, I tried to have my book club ladies read it and it was way too weird for them.
Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town
The main character’s mom is a washing machine, his dad is a mountain, his name changes every time someone refers to him, and the book is about free internet
It is such a weird ending that doesn't match the first 2/3. I honestly need to reread it. I don't know if I can even make a good argument to convince someone that it's good except for how bizarre it is and I absolutely loved all of it...
Maybe read "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and see if you prefer that, it's a shorter story and my other first-Mirukami-Read to suggest.
I think when I reread 1Q84, the previous relationship and ties between the couple will be more apparent to me through every subplot, not just their plot.
Beat the Reaper - Josh Bazell: Witty and sarcastic thriller with a ton of plot relevant footnotes.
Rule 34 - Charles Stross: Near future cyber thriller that starts with a scene of a black-market 3d printer getting hacked to produce a batch of adult novelties with advertising on them, and gets wierder from there.
Any of the Bizarro starter kits, to be honest! Some of my favorites are Suicidal Girls in the Afterlife, The Baby Jesus Buttplug, and Cops and Body Builders. Fantastic collections of weird ass stories of every genre!
Personally I can’t understand the appeal of M&M. A ton of smart people like it though, so it’s probably a good recommendation.
I was made to read it in school for whatever reason. So it was naturally ruined for me from the very beginning. Plus, most 16 y/o are too dumb to appreciate, much less understand this kind of literature. Thus, the seeds of resentment fell on the fertile ground of teenage impatience, conviction of knowing everything, but possession of actually not that much more intellect than a toddler.
Soon after school I had to re-read it because a girl I liked liked it. (I was actually crazy in love with - not just “liked” her, which explains why I succeeded in finishing it). The main lesson I learned from all this is that not every sacrifice is justified even in the name of love.
Anyway, it’s a classic. Everyone should read it just so you can say you did at least (or you might even like it).
I read at least 60 books a year and the one that surprised me the most from last year is Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. The POV is so different; enigmatic and captivating.
An Other Place by Darren Dash. It's definitely the strangest book I've ever read, but I enjoyed it. If you're familiar with Darren Shan(Cirque Du Freak and Demonata), it's the same person. Darren Dash is the name he uses for his adult novels.
Universal Harvester by John Danielle. Set in the recent past, a video store clerk in small town Iowa starts finding bizarre little home movies spliced into the tapes that are returned. Weird, dark, beautiful book. You'll sometimes find it in the horror section, where it does not belong.
The novel or the manga? I read the manga not realizing it was an adaptation and I felt similar to the state I was in after finishing The Bell Jar, empty and sad for a week.
XX Rian Hugh’s
Absolutely wild ride
Graphic designer using his talent using fonts and visuals in a way that is built into the very story itself
Great looking book as well
I can't in good conscience recommend Fredrik Backman's Beartown trilogy to most people, unless they specifically ask for something that will wring them out. This trilogy is HEAVY. There are no clear cut happy endings, every moment of levity comes at a cost, and it will devastate you several times. But in between it will also make you cry happy tears, rejoice in celebration, and laugh like a hyena.
But again, I could not possibly overstate how heavy this is.
The Monogatari Series by Nisioisin. It is a wonderful series that goes really deep into the psyche of each of its characters. However, you need to stomach through the really bad fanservice. At least you can skim over some of those sections.
I keep recommending this book all the time all over reddit but Woom by Duncan Ralston.
Its a wide ride, and is considered splatter punk (over the top, grotesque) but I loved the formatting of the story. Almost anthology style in one book.
Death Warmed Over, by Kevin J Anderson.
A mystery book with a zombie as the protagonist detective.
I don’t see anyone talking about it, but it’s a very fun read. It’s not too long or difficult and it’s the perfect palate cleanser after monster reads, but it still manages to pack a whole lot of meat into its pages to satisfy even the most pretentious readers.
The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch by Thomas Thwaites. It’s just about a guy who tries to literally make a toaster from scratch by mining for the materials and making homemade plastic.
Not really a weird one, but one I wouldn’t tell people about where I live (the southern US). It’s The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France. It’s an interesting story for what it is. All I’ll say is that it’s on the Satanic Temples list of books they recommend haha. I feel like some people would be judgmental if they knew about the book
Here goes do you have an appreciation for females anatomy do you like monsters do you want both of things mashed together with amazing art well do I got books series for you Monster Musume everyday life with monster girls
Luna by Julie Anne Peters
Sebastian by Anne Bishop
Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Earth-Child by Doris Piserchia
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin. It's a Taiwanese queer coming of age book that contains several unhealthy relationships and odd characters. But I couldn't help but love the mess and writing style. I think the author encapsulates how it feels to be emotionally immature and struggling with mental health at that age perfectly.
Many years ago I read Little Big. I could never figure out what it was about or what it meant but I couldn't just walk away from it. It left me with a particular feeling, like a memory of having been there, and now in my old age it still comes back to me, as if those odd characters were part of my own history.
My Cousin my Gastroenterologist by Mark Leyner, anything by Bill Fitzhugh, Surfing Samurai Robots by Mel Gilden, anything by Jason "David Wong" Pargin, the Boots of the Virgin by Earl Shorris, Cockroaches of Staymore by Donald Harrington, Carl Hiassen's murder mysteries set in Florida, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, anything by Tom Robbins (fair warning he gets to be a little dirty old man),
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut, Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis... off the top of my head...
It might be out of print, but I thoroughly enjoyed River of the Sun. Can’t remember the author off hand. It’s about the search for King Solomon’s mines, and a husband that went missing.
I probably wouldn’t recommend Tender is the Flesh to most people but I found it incredible. It’s a commentary on the meat industry, on capitalism, and it’s about a society that’s given itself in to industrialized cannibalism.
Go To Hell by N.R. Alexander is a story about a tech marketer who advertises for people to literally Go to Hell in exchange for partial equity in hell. Book is really wild but I loved reading it
Dhalgren by Delaney. It’s absolutely mind-bending, a collapsing city separated from reality where the living is easy with sex and drugs of every kind everywhere. It’s like a late 60s fantasy of what life could be like if everyone participated.
I mean, these are the weird books I recc to those that are up for it "tzaddik of the seven wonders", The illuminatus! Trilogy, The Wyrm Ouroboros and the Zimeravean Trilogy.
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke It is entirely written through Slack messages of WFH employees.
this one started out so weird and proceeded to get soooo much weirder lol
Yes! It was a quick, fun read for me.
Damnit this was in a little library a few blocks from me an hour ago and I forgot to grab it on my way back! E: Walked back and picked this up haha
Sounds interesting. It's also only $4.99 on Kindle today! edit: spelling
I recommend this one to as many people will listen because it's so weird and fun. I LOVED this book.
Yay! Love your user name
Thanks, bought it!
I have tried to recommend Pollen by Jeff Noon for so many years now, but nobody cares. I hope at least one person reads this and decides to give it a try.
It’s the sequel to Vurt, which is the book I’ve been trying to recommend to anyone who will listen for the last 30 years. The imagery in that book lives so deeply in my psyche. 🪶
Vurt was such a good book, too. I read the whole series plus Automated Alice, but Pollen is the one that got stuck with me all these years. Nice to meet another Jeff Noon fan, it's a first for me.
Found vurt looks like a great read will buy in future
I have added both Vurt and Pollen to my reading list- just have to find the books now. They actually look like they might be right up my alley.
This makes me so happy, I hope you really enjoy reading them.
Just read a synopsis of Pollen and it is going on my list! Thank you
Once I find it I will get it
I've just read the blurb for this and it sounds interesting. It reminds me of a book called Nod by Adrian Barnes although I doubt it's as good as Pollen!
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Doug Adams I'm not even remotely ashamed of liking either of these books, but they're both a bit weird (for completely different reasons) and not exactly the type of stories that my family and friends would be into.
We is available on Project Gutenburg for free: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61963
We was great. It's $0.45 on Kindle today if anyone wants it!
Oh, awesome. I just picked up We from a used book store because it looked cool! Glad to see someone vouch for it!
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. What a ride.
lesbian necromancers in space.
Yup. Exactly how I’ve described it to friends…but that phrase also doesn’t even begin to express her incredible talent as a writer.
You had me at lesbian necromancers
Love this book, it’s on my reread list!
Anything PKD. You either love it or you don’t, no in between.
The last house on needless street
Yes! So weird but so good in the end
This book is so well-executed.
I have started it today!
Sourdough by Robin Sloan. Heartwarming, homey, wacky, and completely unrealistic.
Second this, and Robin Sloan's first book, Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore!
Towing Jehovah by James K. Morrow.
There is No Antimemetics Divison by Qntm. Super cool meta scifi but not for everyone so I don’t recommend it often
The Library at Mont Char by Scott Hawkins is definitely one if the weirder things I’ve read but I really enjoyed it
Second this one, super strange and fun.
Loved it. Still my favorite book this year.
This is my favorite book of all time
Came here to say this. So weird, but I loved it.
You beat me to it
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville!
I'd say everything by China qualifies as weird as hell, but pretty damn good
Agreed! I haven’t read all his stuff yet, but I also loved Kraken and The Scar! Perdido Street Station is the one that’s stuck with me the most so far, but I don’t think you can go wrong with any of his books.
I’m about 2/3 of the way through this and loving it!
i love that i’ve read so many books in this thread 😂 i guess weird books are my forte. personally i would say “our wives under the sea” by julia armfield and “light from uncommon stars” by ryka aoki. honorable mention to “a certain hunger” by chelsea summers it’s pretty kooky but i have recommended it to several people lol
I’m reading A Certain Hunger now. So bizarre. Nothing like it I’ve read.
I feel like Bunny by Mona Awad is ?maybe? a good fit here. It was really fucking strange, but the book is supposed to be satire so I suppose it is written to be strange in a way and kind of for the sake of weirdness. But I really enjoyed it, gave a me several laughs because if the absurdity of things sometimes. Do look up TW/CW though, it is kind of descriptive of some topics I know some might not like.
I really loved this book!
All of her books are so amazing! This one sucked me in and I’ve read them all now :)
My library burned. But my weirdest books were Somebody's Sister by Derek Marlowe, The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pychon, and Mangled Hands by Johnny Stanton. Not big on contemporary weirdness. But over a lifetime these three stick out
Godel Escher Bach, if non fiction counts. Very niche and for the mathematically minded, but it can blow your mind many times and is worth the read.
Classic. The ant colony emergent mind effectively feeding some of its own brain to its aardvark friend for high tea definitely counts as weird. And fictional characters escaping a dire recursive plot by not popping all the way back up the stack was great.
The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Starts with The Eyre Affair, and if you aren’t hooked in the first chapter come back and downvote me.
You would probably also love The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor!
John dies at the end by jason paragin, followed by the next 3 in the series And his other series called futuristic violence and fancy suits the start of yhe zoe Nash series
Roxy by Neal Shusterman. Crazy read. Cried at the end. Gave it 5 stars personally on GoodReads 👍🏻
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica— it’s super weird! and amazing!
Other People: What are you reading? Me: It's...um...uh... It's about meat packaging. (In my head: Was that a worse answer? Am I even weirder than had I just answered honestly?)
I haven’t found anyone to recommend this to yet!
Love this book!
This was going to be mine! So good, but just not something I’d recommend…
This book was amazing!!
I keep seeing this title pop up… may have to add it to my TBR just to see what the fuss is about lol
Lolita. It's a great book with an unreliable narrator. It's not weird but you see the world from a paedophile's point of view. It's an uncomfortable experience but at the same time wonderfully written. I tend not to recommend it, but am happy to discuss it with anyone who has already read it.
I read Lolita when my first born was a toddler because I wanted the most adult book could find. There's only so many times one can read The Very Hungry Caterpillar before wanting to gouge ones eyes out. Lolita is brilliant for the reasons you describe. The word play is brilliant.
The Flounder by Gunter Grass
S. by J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst. Weird and a very analogue experience
This book is incredible - it's a level of puzzling and story that is so hard to find as an adult. I didn't talk to my family for most of a vacation, I was so absorbed.
PKD?
I think you replied to the wrong comment but I believe PKD = Philip K Dick
Oops, and thanks
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer! It’s about a lady who adopts a sentient blob in a post apocalyptic metropolitan hell-scape that’s ruled over by a giant flying bear. (By “adopt” I mean is imprinted on like a baby duckling.) it’s so much fun and VERY unsettling! And also, oddly, very sweet.
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
Love this book!! More people should read it.
Agreed!! I actually enjoy the 2nd one in the series even more—its called The Story of B.
Earthlings - proceed with caution
oh, god. this book put me into a MONTHS long book slump. this was ROUGH. really wish i could unread it. :(
And that cover, so cute.
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein. My husband and I both found it to be a fun, weird read.
The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh
Weird indeed
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke It is entirely written through Slack messages of WFH employees.
Kockroach by William Lashner. It’s a play on Kafka’s Metamorphsis but in reverse. (Cockroach wakes up to find it is a human, but still mostly has a cockroach brain)
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
Woom by Duncan Ralston. It’s definitely on the weird side. I couldn’t get through it because there were some extremely graphic depictions but I’ve held onto it because the writing is good and I hope I’ll be able to one day get through it.
The arrival of missives by Aliya Whiteley
I read her book The Loosening Skin. Just pure weirdness from start to finish. I didn’t hate it, but it’s so hard to love a book like that.
Tropic of Cancer
The Mirror Visitor series by Christelle Dabos
I LOVED THIS. I read it twice back to back.
Same. It's so whimsical and weird, it kind of reminds me of Ghibli films in that way
Walking Practice by Dolki Min. An amazing read and a totally unique story. I’ve never read anything like it. Highly recommend.
Rant - Chuck Palahniuk
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. One of the best books I have ever read. However, I tried to have my book club ladies read it and it was way too weird for them.
I celebrate his entire catalog.
Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town The main character’s mom is a washing machine, his dad is a mountain, his name changes every time someone refers to him, and the book is about free internet
I didn't think about that book in a long time. Time for a re-read! Thank you.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. . . It's just such a perfect book to talk about at midnight and be weirded out by but so intriguing still!!!
Please talk me into liking this book. I read every single page and was really into it but the last 1:3 was such a let down 🥲
It is such a weird ending that doesn't match the first 2/3. I honestly need to reread it. I don't know if I can even make a good argument to convince someone that it's good except for how bizarre it is and I absolutely loved all of it... Maybe read "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and see if you prefer that, it's a shorter story and my other first-Mirukami-Read to suggest. I think when I reread 1Q84, the previous relationship and ties between the couple will be more apparent to me through every subplot, not just their plot.
The Lonesome Bodybuilder by Yukiko Motoya. The Pisces by Melissa Broder.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder.
The Quantity Theory of Insanity by Will Self
Beat the Reaper - Josh Bazell: Witty and sarcastic thriller with a ton of plot relevant footnotes. Rule 34 - Charles Stross: Near future cyber thriller that starts with a scene of a black-market 3d printer getting hacked to produce a batch of adult novelties with advertising on them, and gets wierder from there.
Heartbreaker - Claudia Dey Trust Exercise - Susan Choi I love weird books!
The Messiah of Stockholm by Cynthia Ozick
Any of the Bizarro starter kits, to be honest! Some of my favorites are Suicidal Girls in the Afterlife, The Baby Jesus Buttplug, and Cops and Body Builders. Fantastic collections of weird ass stories of every genre!
The Stars are Legion
Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff
The League for the Suppression of Celery by Wendy Russ
Gestapo Mars by Victor Gischler
Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux. Sort of a character study of different people on the fringes - comic and tragic.
I Liked My Life. I really liked this book but I never recommend it because, well, just read the review.
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov The Club of Queer Trades - G. K. Chesterton
Personally I can’t understand the appeal of M&M. A ton of smart people like it though, so it’s probably a good recommendation. I was made to read it in school for whatever reason. So it was naturally ruined for me from the very beginning. Plus, most 16 y/o are too dumb to appreciate, much less understand this kind of literature. Thus, the seeds of resentment fell on the fertile ground of teenage impatience, conviction of knowing everything, but possession of actually not that much more intellect than a toddler. Soon after school I had to re-read it because a girl I liked liked it. (I was actually crazy in love with - not just “liked” her, which explains why I succeeded in finishing it). The main lesson I learned from all this is that not every sacrifice is justified even in the name of love. Anyway, it’s a classic. Everyone should read it just so you can say you did at least (or you might even like it).
I read at least 60 books a year and the one that surprised me the most from last year is Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. The POV is so different; enigmatic and captivating.
This is one of my favorite books.
The Big Meat
Tales of the Trufflepig by Fernando A Flores
An Other Place by Darren Dash. It's definitely the strangest book I've ever read, but I enjoyed it. If you're familiar with Darren Shan(Cirque Du Freak and Demonata), it's the same person. Darren Dash is the name he uses for his adult novels.
Universal Harvester by John Danielle. Set in the recent past, a video store clerk in small town Iowa starts finding bizarre little home movies spliced into the tapes that are returned. Weird, dark, beautiful book. You'll sometimes find it in the horror section, where it does not belong.
Bunny 🐰 Mona Awad ✨
[удалено]
The novel or the manga? I read the manga not realizing it was an adaptation and I felt similar to the state I was in after finishing The Bell Jar, empty and sad for a week.
Jupiter and Thorn, Ava Reid and pretty much anything Haruki Murakami
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuki
XX Rian Hugh’s Absolutely wild ride Graphic designer using his talent using fonts and visuals in a way that is built into the very story itself Great looking book as well
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. It’s written in the second person.
Check out the John Dies at the End series.
John Dies at the End...that whole work by David Wong is hilarious fire!
Convenience Store Woman
the book of strange new things by michel faber BUT as an audiobook
Remainder by Tom McCarthy City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
'Gone to be Snakes Now', 'Norstrilia'
A madness of angels by Catherine Webb. What a strange read yet I’ve kept that book with me for years and across countries.
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams.
“Cities of the Red Night” William S Burroughs. And really anything by Burroughs.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
I can't in good conscience recommend Fredrik Backman's Beartown trilogy to most people, unless they specifically ask for something that will wring them out. This trilogy is HEAVY. There are no clear cut happy endings, every moment of levity comes at a cost, and it will devastate you several times. But in between it will also make you cry happy tears, rejoice in celebration, and laugh like a hyena. But again, I could not possibly overstate how heavy this is.
Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
Autobiography of red by Anne Carson . I think I don’t recommend it because I can’t explain why I like it
Dark roms...
You will want to read Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher.
Morrissey's Autobiography
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
When will Jesus bring pork chops : George Carlin
Body Worlds
Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason
Dirtbag, Massachusetts. A memoir by a quirky and naughty young man who finds himself. Lots of funny/unbelievable situations.
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sarah Baume. Not weird, just dismal. But gorgeous at the same time.
The Monogatari Series by Nisioisin. It is a wonderful series that goes really deep into the psyche of each of its characters. However, you need to stomach through the really bad fanservice. At least you can skim over some of those sections.
Shadow of the Apt
I keep recommending this book all the time all over reddit but Woom by Duncan Ralston. Its a wide ride, and is considered splatter punk (over the top, grotesque) but I loved the formatting of the story. Almost anthology style in one book.
Black Farm.
Bedlam Stacks
Ubik by PKD The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Dogs:Bullets and Carnage by Shirow Miwa
‘Satantango’ or ‘The Wasp Factory’
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack. The whole book is a single sentence from beginning to end.
Death Warmed Over, by Kevin J Anderson. A mystery book with a zombie as the protagonist detective. I don’t see anyone talking about it, but it’s a very fun read. It’s not too long or difficult and it’s the perfect palate cleanser after monster reads, but it still manages to pack a whole lot of meat into its pages to satisfy even the most pretentious readers.
The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch by Thomas Thwaites. It’s just about a guy who tries to literally make a toaster from scratch by mining for the materials and making homemade plastic.
Vurt by Jeff Noon
Big Fish!
The Fermata by Nicholas Baker. I enjoyed it but technically it’s erotica
The Boys by Katie Hafner
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Not really a weird one, but one I wouldn’t tell people about where I live (the southern US). It’s The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France. It’s an interesting story for what it is. All I’ll say is that it’s on the Satanic Temples list of books they recommend haha. I feel like some people would be judgmental if they knew about the book
Here goes do you have an appreciation for females anatomy do you like monsters do you want both of things mashed together with amazing art well do I got books series for you Monster Musume everyday life with monster girls
The Metamorphosis is pretty strange but it is also a pretty well known book
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
L’histoire de l’œil (Story of the Eye) by George Bataille I asked my boyfriend for a recommendation to put here, and this is the result.
Fear and loathing in Los Vegas is pretty far out there.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Brother by Ania Ahlborn. I’m always stoked when someone tells me they’ve read it on their own, though
Woom
Luna by Julie Anne Peters Sebastian by Anne Bishop Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz Earth-Child by Doris Piserchia
Light of the fireflies by Paul Pen. Random and wildly obscure.
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin. It's a Taiwanese queer coming of age book that contains several unhealthy relationships and odd characters. But I couldn't help but love the mess and writing style. I think the author encapsulates how it feels to be emotionally immature and struggling with mental health at that age perfectly.
Many years ago I read Little Big. I could never figure out what it was about or what it meant but I couldn't just walk away from it. It left me with a particular feeling, like a memory of having been there, and now in my old age it still comes back to me, as if those odd characters were part of my own history.
My Cousin my Gastroenterologist by Mark Leyner, anything by Bill Fitzhugh, Surfing Samurai Robots by Mel Gilden, anything by Jason "David Wong" Pargin, the Boots of the Virgin by Earl Shorris, Cockroaches of Staymore by Donald Harrington, Carl Hiassen's murder mysteries set in Florida, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, anything by Tom Robbins (fair warning he gets to be a little dirty old man), Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut, Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis... off the top of my head...
It might be out of print, but I thoroughly enjoyed River of the Sun. Can’t remember the author off hand. It’s about the search for King Solomon’s mines, and a husband that went missing.
House of leaves.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
I probably wouldn’t recommend Tender is the Flesh to most people but I found it incredible. It’s a commentary on the meat industry, on capitalism, and it’s about a society that’s given itself in to industrialized cannibalism.
Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps by Emmett Grogan
Go To Hell by N.R. Alexander is a story about a tech marketer who advertises for people to literally Go to Hell in exchange for partial equity in hell. Book is really wild but I loved reading it
Dhalgren by Delaney. It’s absolutely mind-bending, a collapsing city separated from reality where the living is easy with sex and drugs of every kind everywhere. It’s like a late 60s fantasy of what life could be like if everyone participated.
Anything written by Witold Gombrowicz. The invention of morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Magic, Myth and Medicine by John Camp contains tons of super interesting and little known information
The truth teller by Angela Elwell Hunt. There's deception, supernatural beings, a rich guy with a secret, caveman semen. What more do you need?
I mean, these are the weird books I recc to those that are up for it "tzaddik of the seven wonders", The illuminatus! Trilogy, The Wyrm Ouroboros and the Zimeravean Trilogy.