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Apologies for the title, but I couldn't think of a better term for the books I wanted to describe. :p I love to read books which disturb, or which concern disturbed minds. For example,
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Anything by Chuck Palahniuk
Etc.
I've just ordered 120 Days Of Sodom because I heard it's of a similar nature - does anyone else have any recommendations? Thank you in advance.
120 days of sodomy is definatly a messed up book, and yet it's fairly well written (ah, Sade, you crazy Marquis). It gets a bit wordy at times - until you et to the list.
probably a bad suggestion but - gone with the wind? it's the only book i've ever read which makes you like and hate the main character at the same time. or the Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - if that's what it's called - and Flowers for Algernon, which is a short story that's sort of about a disturbed mind, and an amazing piece in itself. Catcher in the Rye might be good, too . . .
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Originally Posted by Marmaduke
I also love to watch the movie version (if any) as well. But I think the movie version of American Psycho is not as good as the book version .
Look into the short stories of Flannery O'Connor. (Shudder ooooo shudder.)
William Faulkner can also provide you with the degradation that you seek. These two authors have a definite grasp on true human cruelty.
The 120 Days of Sodom surely ranks at the top of the list, perhaps the uppermost. Sade seems to have covered every sexual aberration the human mind can conceive.
Maldoror by Lautreamont - Perhaps the first Surrealist masterpiece, the author gives free rein to his imagination and delves in the beauteous as well as the most horrible aspects of man's nature.
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs - The tales of a homosexual drug addict are certainly something that would worry your mother if she finds out your reading such.
Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Black humor at it's peak and one of a kind, but Dr. Destouches' vulgarity and his relentless and unyielding pessimism would be too much for a member of the Jane Austen Book Club.
Notes of a Dirty Old Man, Tales of Ordinary Madness, and The Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories by Charles Bukowski - This trilogy of below the radar classics is akin to a guilty peek at the wrong side of town: you don't mind seeing it, but you're glad you aren't there.
The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll - Basketball, drug addiction, gay hustling, juvenile crime; all experienced from the eyes of a talented and precocious teen in the Big Apple during the 1960's.
The Poems of Catullus - His woman treated him like crap but he couldn't think of anything better to do so he let it go on way longer than any reasonable person should.
The Poems of Propertius - This one upped the ante: his woman violated him literally, and he loved it.
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille - Sex involving murder, eggs, and urine. Yummy!
The Decadent Reader ( Anthology ) - Fetishisms, gender reversal, deviance, woman as ultimate corruptor, incurable illnesses, etc., in late 19th-Century France.
These are books that I haven't read yet but would certainly qualify as "disturbing" reads:
Hunger by Knut Hamsun - The day to day travails of a down and out individual in 19th-Century Scandinavia.
Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch - Male submission to female dominance at it's most extreme. The author who's name gave us the word masochism.
Story of O by Pauline Reage - Same as above, with the roles reversed.
The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau - Evil femme fatales playing host in exotic locales thriving on depraved lust and calculated suffering.
A good selection to read to your little nephews and nieces by the fireplace when they come over to visit.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. I'll be maxing out my card on Amazon haha.
The Poems and Art of Adolf Wolfli - Admiring the work of this mental institution patient and pedophile is like ingesting lethal amounts of acid without having to do so. For the mind-bending and consciousness-altering-stretching connoisseur, this stuff is hard to beat.
Even the mere thought of Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs still unsettles me; anyone who has read it knows of what I speak. Though a far less disturbing film remake, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty had some really seemingly 'messed up' parts, if that interests you.
Unfortunately, I cannot think of much more, though I will likely recall during another visit to the forum; as Nightwalk mentioned the poetry of Charles Bukowski, however, I also felt reminded of the other earlier beat poets, like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Keruoac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Richard Brautigan.
I say you should read The End Of Alice...by AM Homes, methinks. 'Tis a veddy twisted book, so I think you will like it :D It's good to know that I'm not the only one into disturbing books! You could also give the True Crime section a look. I know I loved Helter Skelter!
And looking at the Vladimir Nabokov section, I suppose you can put Lolita into this category, as well.
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Originally Posted by mono
I saw it online today and after reading the synopsis (again), I included in my cart. Already read/heard so much about this book.
More people should appreciate the contributions of the bad boys and bad girls of literature. They truly are one of a kind.Quote:
It's good to know that I'm not the only one into disturbing books!
I was just wandering ... did you read Venus in Furs? I am reading it right now and i would like to hear another opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marmaduke
Also Bitter moon by Pascal Brukner is disturbing and soooo different.
Oh, I have collected yet another list of must reads. If you want messed up literature that's majorly screwed and FUBARed try anything by Carlton Mellick III or Bighead by Edward Lee (the latter has gone straight into the horror genre and hasn't delivered anything up to par since).
I have books packed away in boxes,
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. Available in mmpb. Inspired by a true kidnapping. Shocking!
The Collector by Fowles - Story of a kidnapping (One of the best books I have read)
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - story of a disturbed teen - the line between the reality and fantasy is often blurred.