this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)

Books

1 readers
1 users here now

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I'll start, so as a teen I stumbled across a book called," Someone comes to town, someone leaves town." The synopsis caught me as it's about a man with a mountain as a fathera washing machine as a mother and one brother that is dead and trying to harm him. I'll admit some of the technical terms were too much for my developing mind but it has stuck with me all these years.

What is the wackiest / craziest book you've read and did you enjoy the ride?

(page 6) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] tikhonjelvis@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably The Third Policeman. I had totally forgotten why it was on my to-read list, so I thought it was just a generic mystery novel coming in... it wasn't that. It actually did start out like a crime novel with some slightly weird undertones, but then it just took a sharp left turn and went totally off the rails. Completely wild book—it's complete nonsense that makes sense in a dream-logic sort of way. I've read a lot of books that try to read like dreams, but they're always either too internally consistent or fall apart completely; The Third Policeman is a rare book that actually pulls it off.

What really pulls it together is the language. The language is the internal logic that keeps the book flowing: nothing in the book makes sense if you think about it conceptually, but it's kept together through what I can best describe as a sort of language association game. At one, point, for example, the main character has forgotten his name, so he makes up with a list of names he might have had:

Hugh Murray. Constantin Petrie. Signor Beniamino Bari. The Honourable Alex O'Brannigan, Bart. Kurt Freund. Mr John P. deSalis, M.A. Dr Solway Garr. Bonaparte Gosworth. Legs O'Hagan.

Then his conscience—named Joe—goes off on a tangent about the just-made-up Signor Beniamino Bari:

Signor Beniamino Bari, Joe said, the eminent tenor. Three baton-charges outside La Scala at great tenor's preimere. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed outside La Scala Opera House when a crowd of some ten thousand devotees, incensed by the management's statement that no more standing-room was available, attempted to rush the barriers. Thousands were injured...

This random story about a totally made-up name goes on for a couple more paragraphs. Then there's another one about Dr Solway Garr, until the main character—still nameless—has had enough:

I think that is quite enough, I said.

...and then none of the names or stories ever come up again. Almost everything in the book is like that: here for a moment, gradually transforms into something totally different and then never comes back. It's something between watching improv and dreaming.

And sometimes the language is just hilarious on its own. Random phrases just totally got me on occasion:

It is nearly an insoluble pancake, a conundrum of inscrutable potentialities, a snorter.

Not a bad descrption for the whole book, really!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] gilmatic@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Sugar Frosted Nutsack by Mark Leyner

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] thedarkugus@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea & Wilson read at a relatively impressionable age of 22 was a mind altering experience that permanently changed my look on what fiction can be. Read it a couple of times since, and it holds up.

[–] BetterThanHorus@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] fF1sh@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, and yes.

[–] steveshairyvag@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s literally on my bedside table waiting for me to read it. Very excited even though all I know about it, is that it’s a trip!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] dronkykrong@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I recently read “The House Across the Lake” by Riley Sager. I’m not sure why I picked it, except that it felt like it might fit the “Woman in the Window” vibe.

Book was totally normal and built decent enough suspense around the disappearance of the model wife in the house across the lake. Obviously the tech husband is suspected because violence had been witnessed by the recent widow. She had turned to drink after her husband was found to have drowned while fishing on that lake.

Spoiler: the lake consumed the soul of the drown husband after the drunk widow figured out he was a serial killer and killed him making it look like a fishing accident. The serial killer husband’s soul then entered the body of the model wife as she swam across the lake one day and nearly drowned. Technically she did drown which allowed for the soul swap. Drunk widow has to redrown the model wife in order to swap the souls back.

[–] leagueValjester@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you like it?

I read it and well... I hated it. The big reveal, that you mention in your comment, was so forced and felt meaningless.

!Why oh why introduce a magical solution to a story that doesn't point towards magic besides a few descriptions of the lake (that MIGHT be hinting) and an old man talking about some ancient people living at the lake or something along those lines.!<

I mostly hated it because I got the author recommended as "the best at mindfucks and plot twists" and the plot twist was just so booooring.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] 13curseyoukhan@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Love someone comes to town! Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is my choice.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] boywithapplesauce@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (12 children)

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, still one of my all-time favorite reads. A beautiful, crazy dream/nightmare story about the absurdity of human existence.

The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is also way up there. I might place his other work, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, slightly ahead of it.

A few more "crazy" books to check out:

  • Vurt by Jeff Noon
  • Quicksand by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
  • The World According to Garp by John Irving
  • Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
[–] plumbbbob@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm a simple man, I see Italo Calvino, I upvote

Nice list, I should give The Master and Margarita another try. I've bounced off it twice now, even though it seems like something I'd like.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Lvrchfahnder@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino

Another example of a really great idea that got watered down in the second half of the book.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Icaruswes@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nice to see Hard Boiled Wonderland represented. Usually Murakami recommendations are Wind Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore. Which are both awesome, but have a conspicuous lack of unicorns.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Bazz27@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The Library at Mount Char was insane

[–] Raff57@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That looks like something I might be interested in. Thanks for recco.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Mdork_universe@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good old Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. No actual plot. Just mental ramblings by a homosexual heroin addict.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] bsteckler@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Gravity's Rainbow. It's got everything from war to BDSM to explicit coprophilia.

[–] SierraDL123@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My coworker is reading this book and ever since he’s brought it in, I’ve seen it mentioned at least 15 times in this sub! Its crazy how things like that time out

[–] Basic-Effort-552@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or the ‘frequency illusion’ where something you recently learned seems to appear everywhere

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Goose-Suit@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s a lie. Nobody has read Gravity’s Rainbow. But I like the title.

[–] ksarlathotep@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I've been working on it for more than 6 months. I read one chapter, read it again, then give up on the book for 3 weeks. Then I come back to it and read another chapter. It's a hell of a difficult read.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Bl00dbird@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

In both cases, I had no idea what was going on and realized I just had to go with it and see what happens. Both of them were totally worth sticking with. Non-linear, unique, weird and ultimately satisfying.

Honorable mention to The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie because it’s the only book I’ve ever read that is narrated by a rock!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Whitealroker1@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It. Stephen King book recently made into the two movies.

THE MOVIES LEFT OUT A LOT OF SHIT.

RIGHTFULLY SO.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] DaedalusRaistlin@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

American Psycho. The movie is excellent. The book is fucking disturbing. Wasn't prepared for the necrophilia or cannibalism.

I think the movie got it right, just disturbing enough to see how nuts he is, but keeping things in normal horror movie realm.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] EmotionalAccounting@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perfume by Patrick Süskind was assigned during one of my lit classes. It was a weird read that I remember somewhat enjoying though it was 10+ years ago and I don’t remember what stood out to me.

Then a girlfriend at the time a few years later recommended Johnny Got His Gun and that was a tough read. I don’t think I enjoyed it much but was happy to have read it I suppose.

I’m a much more boring reader outside of these examples and maybe even those examples show that

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HorseGrenade@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Bible. The Old Testament, when read purely as a piece of literature, is completely insane.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] voivoivoi183@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I attempted to read Modelland by Tyra Banks as I’d heard it was a hot mess. I had to nope out after a couple of chapters. Absolutely bananas. Turns out trying to read bad books isn’t as fun as watching bad movies, folks.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] eeksie-peeksie@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Peculiar Sadness of Lemon Cake (or something like that). I thought I was enjoying it for most of it, then it kept getting weirder and weirder. Did not understand that book

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sufferin_sassafras@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Lincoln in the Bardo

'Lincoln in the Bardo' by George Saunders tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's grief-stricken visit to the crypt of his young son, Willie, who has recently died. Set in a graveyard that is populated by spirits stuck in the "bardo," the book explores themes of love, loss, and the search for redemption.

I’ll tell you. It was one of the most enjoyable, yet truly weird beyond reads I’ve ever experienced. 10/10 would recommend. Incredible though provoking and not in a way that you would ever expect.

[–] Electrical_Jaguar596@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I found it really tedious and obtuse. I know I didn’t give it the attention it deserved but I was soured on it almost from the start. I loved his short stories but this didn’t do it for me.

[–] zaftigquilter@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

LOVED the audiobook version!

[–] Fun-Commercial2827@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really?! I felt it was like listening to someone read a pile of cereal boxes! I had to abandon. (Had you previously read the print book? Most people who recommended this audiobook to me were already familiar with the print book.)

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] lizzie1hoops@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Curio Shop by William Kotzwinkle, it's a collection of short stories. I dare anyone to read it and imagine that I got it from the library at 11 years old.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] boston120@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Aztec by Garry Jennings, it's historical fiction chronicling a man's life at the height of the Aztec Empire. He is in his 60s when the Spanish arrive. It's an absolute mind boggling adventure full of graphic depictions of his less than kosher life experiences. Drugs, sex, war, slavery, human sacrifice, and so much more it is not for the faint of heart. It's actually the first of a trilogy but it's sequels pale in comparison. Besides The Yahweh's Breath Bible (which makes most modern English Bibles look watered down if not out and out lies) Aztec is the coolest story I've ever read by a wide margin. But if you want to read a book that will change your world view then The Yahweh's Breath Bible will rock your world. Genesis 2:1" Completed was the lofty sky visible as an arch in which the clouds move and the firm Earth with all the masses of creation were ready like an army for the war of Hardship and worship" All the Gods are real and Yahweh is fighting a war against them all where people are the chess pieces.

[–] graemereaperbc@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you liked that you will probably enjoy the "War God" trilogy by Graham Hancock

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Ninja_Pollito@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (14 children)

I have read several Philip K. Dick books lately. They are all crazy in their own way, but Ubik might have been the craziest so far of what I read. I look forward to more of his books. Oh, and I also read a really weird classic sci fi recently—Hothouse, by Brian Aldiss. I am discovering I really like crazy and weird books.

[–] spacetime9@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

have u read "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch"? Craziest PKD in my opinion, and one of his best.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] gekkobob@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For me the craziest one was VALIS, no contest.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (12 replies)
[–] MerryMermaid@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks The Bad Place by Dean Koontz

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] TJAtech@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] TotallyVCreativeName@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] 42n8@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy cow - going for it!! Yes, I will definetly upvote you- and also say that 50 Shades of Grey is a pathetic plagiarism of it!

[–] TotallyVCreativeName@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Omg finally someone recognizes it! Anytime someone asks for any specific kind of recs or something like this, I just casually drop it and no one has ever recognized or responded to it until today. Is it Rex manning day?

The book had me in the first half, I’m not gonna lie. But then it was like, woah, I was not expecting it to go thaaat far.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] StEvE19095@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m 2/3 of the way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and it’s a pretty wild ride. Definitely a book that you won’t know what’s going to happen next

[–] facktoetum@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (6 children)

This was my introduction to Murakami. I've read almost all his books by now, save for some of his earlier, less developed works. As you get through them, you see that he's sort of making the same soup with slightly different ingredients. I really enjoyed Killing Commemdatore and 1Q84. My least favorite was probably Colorless Tzukuru. His short story books, particularly The Elephant Vanishes, is really good, as are his two nonfiction books about running and Writing as a Vocation.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] TheGrumpyre@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A Short Stay In Hell. About a book-lover sent to hell's library, miles and miles of shelves that contain every single book that could ever be printed. Literally every assortment of letters and punctuation that you could fit on a printing press exists somewhere in this building. The prisoners are told they can go free if they find the book that contains their own life's story. The moral of the story is that eternity is a really long time!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] menglie3000@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Ihavefluffycats@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I picked up a book called "Triggerfish Twist" by Tim Dorsey.

Had never heard of this guy, had never read any of his books, didn't know the book was in the middle of the series (I do this a lot finding new authors), but I liked the cover art, so I bought it. I read it in 1 day on a 4 hr. car trip. I couldn't put it down! It's the only book I've ever read that fast.

It's about a serial killer names Serge, and all the weird and crafty ways/reasons he comes up with to kill people. It is so damn funny, I had to go and get all the other books of series. I don't want to give anything away, but there is a side plot with a bunch of crooked old ladies called the E-Team. They have some of the best exploits of the book.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Sanfransaintsfan@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] OneLoneClone@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›