# what are your favorite weird books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866 "2004-05-19T00:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/21 "2004-05-19T20:17:27Z")
[House of Leaves](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375703764/qid=1084997565/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-7960906-8238449?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Mark Z. Danielewski. On the surface it’s simple but original horror story, but it’s so much more complicated than is usual for the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/22 "2004-05-19T20:25:43Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Another bizzare allegory is _The Man Who Was Thursday_ by Chesterton. A dectective novel about anarchist terrorism - at least, at first. It just keeps getting more and more bizzare … a masterpiece. A fine pick. I can’t remember reading a chase/suspense/mystery/fantasy that was more flat-out entertaining than Man Who Was Thursday. And the wit! Was not remotely prepared for just how funny Chesterton is. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/23 "2004-05-19T20:43:46Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > A fine pick. I can’t remember reading a chase/suspense/mystery/fantasy that was more flat-out entertaining than Man Who Was Thursday. And the wit! Was not remotely prepared for just how funny Chesterton is. I had a fun time explaining to one of my best friends exactly why a religious allegory written by a Christian apologist was one of my favorite books - when I’m not a Christian. 🙂 Oddly enough, yet _another_ of my favorite books also deals with explicitly Christian themes - _The Master and Margarita_ by Bugalikov. I highly recommend it - and, it is also very funny in parts. 😃 As for wierdness, I have too further pics: - _Invisible Cities_ by Italo Calvino, which simply cannot easily be described; and - _Eunoia_ by Christian Bok - a book in which each chapter is written using words with a single vowel only. Gimmicky but surprisingly good! ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/24 "2004-05-19T20:59:08Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > My favorite bit? When our friendly Square, taken on a tour of the dimensions, meets the inhabitant of zero-dimension-land, and can’t convine him(?) that anything exists outside himself. 😃 Conversely, I loved the part where A. Square is finally persuaded by his teacher, the Sphere who has deigned to educate a mere Flatlander, that there is a 3rd dimension imperceptible to two-dimensional beings. He asks the Sphere whether this implies that there is are 4th and 5th and nth dimensions which the three-dimensional Sphere is unable to percieve. The Sphere finds this notion utterly preposterous. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/25 "2004-05-19T21:06:15Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > _The Master and Margarita_ by Bugalikov > _Invisible Cities_ by Italo Calvino Both of these have been on my to-read list for a while now. We must gravitate toward the same types of works! ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/26 "2004-05-19T21:10:02Z")
Gojiro, by Mark Jacobson. Alternative autobiograpghy of one Godzilla (Gojira was the original Japanese name for said movie monster), a 500 foot tall monitor lizard living on a radioactive island with Coma Boy, amnesiac Hiroshima survivor and the Atoms, mutant radioactive castaways. Told from Gojiro’s point of view, he’s lonely and tortured as only a freak atomic monster can be, with only Coma Boy as a friend and confidant. He still stars in sequels to his movies, but he’s obsessed with confronting the inventor of the “Heater” (the A-bomb), an Oppenheimer-like figure who he blames for his torment. Goijiro and Coma boy travel to New Mexico for a final confrontation. He slips past customs and imigration by shrinking himself down to tiny size and disguising himself as an Izod logo on Coma Boy’s sweater. (Don’t think this through too much, okay. It’s highly metaphorical.) I love this book - I’ve read it several times, but can’t get ANYONE I know to try it out ☹ . ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/27 "2004-05-19T21:14:44Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Another bizzare allegory is _The Man Who Was Thursday_ by Chesterton. A dectective novel about anarchist terrorism - at least, at first. It just keeps getting more and more bizzare … a masterpiece. I read this a year ago after reading bits of it in _Deus Ex_ and fortunatly was not dissapointed. A strange book, but very entertaining. Now if I could just describe to people what it’s about. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/28 "2004-05-19T21:18:16Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > \*Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas > \* Crap. That’s the first thing that came to mind. I thought the film adaptation was pretty good as well. I have yet to read the Campaign trail one, but I sensed bits of it in “Where the Buffalo Roam” Does “Hell’s Angels” have the same wierdness? ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/29 "2004-05-19T21:44:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _Sarah_ by J.T. Leroy- a book about messianicism and gourmet cooking in the modern world of truck stop prostitution (aka “lot lizards”). Ah, I thought I was the only one who’d ever read that wonderful book. I had to special-order it from from our gay bookstore (when we had a gay bookstore). The prose is gorgeous, and it’s amazing how his comic approach makes such disturbing subject matter palatable. My other entry for this list is Poppy Z. Brite’s **Drawing Blood** – homoerotic pulp horror at its best, far more imaginative than Anne Rice. I strongly suspect that if any of my graduate professors discovered I owned this book, they’d revoke my bachelor’s degree 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/30 "2004-05-19T21:47:17Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Crap. That’s the first thing that came to mind. I thought the film adaptation was pretty good as well. > > I have yet to read the Campaign trail one, but I sensed bits of it in “Where the Buffalo Roam” > > Does “Hell’s Angels” have the same wierdness? _Hell’s Angels_ has an edge to it, but it falls slightly short of weird. Good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/31 "2004-05-19T23:24:57Z")
Steve Rogers’ **Samauri Cat Goes to Hell** is very bizarre. Think enormous nazi Tyrannosaurs chasing after Alice in Wonderland characters while Satan wears pink panties. It’s also incredibly funny. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/32 "2004-05-20T04:46:23Z")
I have a lot of these books – von Daniken, Robert Anton Wilson (my favorite is “Prometheus Rising”), the Subgenius books, a bunch of Lem, Philip K. Dick and Italo Calvino (I like “The Cloven Viscount” personally). The Subgenius ones are amongst my favorite, and I kept the “Book of the Subgenius” in the bathroom for a long time (it is a perfect bathroom read…). “High Weirdness By Mail” was fun in its day, but now with the interweb, all of those guys are a dime a dozen and it has become a lot less interesting. Here are some nominees for my favorite fringe literature, though: “Uri” by Andrija Puharich. A biography of Uri Geller written by this dude who traveled with him. It is totally wacked out – space aliens, faith healings, crazy stuff. All written as true and in a biography style. “Image of the Beast” and “Blown” by Philip Jose Farmer – two snuff space alien vampire porn mystery books by a pretty well known sci-fi writer (even though I don’t really like his other stuff that much) Anybody ever read “Stand on Zanzibar” and “The Sheep Look Up” by John Brunner? They are great prophetic underrated set of sci-fi books. Rate up there on my underrated sci-fi with Julian May’s Pliocene series. And the most famous weird book, that everybody should try to get through at least once: “Gravity’s Rainbow” by Pynchon of course and the companion guide. Don’t try it without the companion guide. It is famous enough that it probably is out of the league of most of the books in this thread, but this book has it all – psychics battling giant adenoids consuming London, an intelligent octopus, Malcom X, Kabbalah, coprophagia, rocket science, and a backhand commentary on US society in the 1960s. Another weird book that doesn’t really qualify for the thread but is a helluvan interesting read is “FM 21-76: The US Army Survival Manual.” It is nice to be told how to kill a woodchuck (chase it until it turns to defend itself, don’t stop running and kick it as hard as possible) or make African bird traps or seawater stills. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/33 "2004-05-20T22:46:11Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Conversely, I loved the part where A. Square is finally persuaded by his teacher, the Sphere who has deigned to educate a mere Flatlander, that there is a 3rd dimension imperceptible to two-dimensional beings. He asks the Sphere whether this implies that there is are 4th and 5th and nth dimensions which the three-dimensional Sphere is unable to percieve. > > The Sphere finds this notion utterly preposterous. 😃 If you love this book, you will be amused to know that someone wrote a Scientific American article all about designing stuff that would work in flatland. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/34 "2004-05-20T22:56:43Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > Both of these have been on my to-read list for a while now. We must gravitate toward the same types of works! Read 'em. They be good, guaranteed. 🙂 If you like this sort of thing, you will probably also like “Ficciones” by J.L. Borghes - indescribably cool short stories (my favorite: “Death and the Compass”, an Argentinian gangster - Jewish cabballa murder mystery, which is sheer perfection; or maybe it is “the garden of the forking paths” or “The Babylon Lottery” - both simply mind-boggling; shit, they are _all_ good). Or another great work - “The Periodic Table” by Primo Levy - on its surface the (true) memoirs of an Italian chemist who survives WW2, but so much more than it seems. Another favorite is “The Futorological Congress” by Stanislaw Lem. Also by Lem, “The Cyberiad” - fairy tales for robots; very good and very funny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/35 "2004-05-20T22:59:22Z")
> [@edwino](#): > > Anybody ever read “Stand on Zanzibar” and “The Sheep Look Up” by John Brunner? They are great prophetic underrated set of sci-fi books. Rate up there on my underrated sci-fi with Julian May’s Pliocene series. Yup - a tad dated these days, but still very, very good. Anyone ever read “Starmaker” by Olaf Stapelton? The only example I know of, of actual _theological_ science fiction - a classic, too (I think it was written before WW2). ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/36 "2004-05-20T23:07:11Z")
I can highly recommend Italo Calvino’s works too. In addition to the aforementioned _The Cloven Viscount_ and _Invisible Cities_, I can add _The Climbing Baron_ and _The Non-Existing Knight_. I am glad Borges was mentioned. Borges, like Calvino, is not just weird, he’s actually an excellent writer. A complete collection of his short stories is a must for any literature lover. ---
**Author:** ![AuGratin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e95f7d/32.png) [@AuGratin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuGratin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/37 "2004-05-20T23:15:16Z")
The first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title is a book I accidentally acquired by not sending my QPBC card back in time, and it’s one of the few times I’m glad that happened. I ended up with a copy of Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, which I found bizarre and compelling and despairing and triumphant and horrifying and entertaining all at the same time. I find it hard to describe this book in any kind of brief, coherent fashion. There are elements of the story that would definitely be disturbing for some, so I’d suggest checking out some of the reviews on Amazon before you decide to read it. I really liked it, and re-read it from time to time; not sure what that says about me, not sure I want to know. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/38 "2004-05-20T23:45:59Z")
[**The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed,**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446380512?v=glance) by [RACTER.](http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2395) Hey, it’s the first book ever written by a computer; that’s got to count for something, eh? The fact that his writings are pretty far out merely add to the weirdness. \*Slowly I dream of flying. I observe turnpikes and streets studded with bushes. Coldly my soaring widens my awareness. To guide myself I determinedly start to kill my pleasure during the time that hours and miliseconds pass away. Aid me in this and soaring is formidable, do not and singing is unhinged. \* ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/39 "2004-05-21T11:54:30Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > [**The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed,**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446380512?v=glance) by [RACTER.](http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2395) Hey, it’s the first book ever written by a computer; that’s got to count for something, eh? The fact that his writings are pretty far out merely add to the weirdness. > > \*Slowly I dream of flying. I observe turnpikes and streets studded with bushes. Coldly my soaring widens my awareness. To guide myself I determinedly start to kill my pleasure during the time that hours and miliseconds pass away. Aid me in this and soaring is formidable, do not and singing is unhinged. \* Amazon Linky-Link now work for Baby **Bosda**. WAAaaa!!! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866/40 "2004-05-21T12:05:00Z")
All this talk of Policemen reminds me of Flann O’Brien’s _The Third Policeman_, featuring a character slowly turning into a bicycle among other strange happenings. Other weirdness: _Amaryllis Night and Day_ by Russell Hoban. One of my favourite books, weird of otherwise. Anythings by China Mieville, self described “strange fiction” author. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-weird-books/245866.md?page=3)