Weird/Creepy/Horror Book Recommendations?

[Patamon]

I'm starting to read books again and want to know your recommendations for anything weird and/or creepy! I have come to find out that I like books that disturb me, so anything along those lines I will take into consideration and add to my "to-be-read" list. Would love some underground recommendations or anything underrated!

It's been such a long time since I've last been into reading, so I'm pretty excited to see what the people of cK have for me.

[Rebel_Minx]

Since I started graduate school, the only reading I have done has been because of my classes. lol. I miss reading though, for leisure. I have sooooooo many books too! So it will be nice to get a book shelf for my living room. I actually think I am going to get floating shelves for my books.

Anyways, check out the book: I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. It's definitely one of those books you can't really describe to people because it will spoil things. It will definitely take you away from real life.

[kittyray]

I feel like House Of Leaves, esp the full color version, is the ultimate weird/creepy book because the format is so captivating. Unfortunately not at all accessible if you want to use an e-reader/audiobook/braille/anything other than print. This is definitely not at all underground (unless you count the plot (ba-dum tsh)), but would be remiss to not mention it.

I also really enjoyed Plain Bad Heroines. Spooky, two different timelines, lesbians, all around a good ride. It's not, like...the greatest book ever written, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think this one ever really took off? At least I can't recall people discussing it much.

It's been a very very long time since I read them, but I remember enjoying John Dies At The End and the sequel This Book Is Full Of Spiders way back when. Again, this one is pretty popular, esp back when Cracked was still properly around, but again worth checking out if you haven't!

[RadLapras]

If you want something incredibly disturbing you might like Playground by Aron Beauregard. I personally have not read it, but I have read some excerpts and it is extremely messed up. The book starts with an insane list of trigger warnings. It's about this person that pays low-income families to send there children to play on a playground that is basically a bunch of saw traps.

[Toodaloo]

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is one I read years ago and is definitely weird. It goes in a very unexpected direction so looking it up with any detail will likely spoil it unfortunately. I just tried that and while most google entries are spoiler free, there is one guardian review that gives away the story immediately with just the heading and thumbnail :/. Anyway, recommended for the bizarre

I am also partway into House of Leaves which already was mentioned. Finding it a bit difficult but I'm determined to get through it.

[Alister]

I've never read House of Leaves but I highly recommend the album Haunted by the artist Poe to people who are interested in the book. Poe is the author's sister and the album is a companion piece to his novel. Also just a really cool music album in general.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn is weird and upsetting. It's about a family that owns and maintains a traveling circus, where the mother and father of the family deliberately used dangerous substances while pregnant to try and ensure their kids were born as physically deformed as possible so they could be part of the circus exhibits.

If you've never read any Hubert Selby Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn and the Room are some deeply unpleasant, violent books. For context, Selby also wrote Requiem for a Dream. If you've read or seen the movie, you'll know what you're getting into with Selby's writing.

Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem is a blend of science fiction dystopia + detective black noir and it's pretty far out there too. It's nowhere near the level of violence and sadism as Geek Love or the Selby books, but it's sufficiently weird enough to deserve a shout out I feel.

I'm also reading a book right now a friend gave me called This is How You Lose the Time War. Everything about it is so bizarre and interesting. She only gave it to me yesterday and I'm a few chapters in so I can't fully recommend it, but it's really good so far.

[Rebel_Minx]

Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews is also a great read for this genra! I read it and watched the movie. Movie doesn't quite do the book justice, but ot many movies do. So, read the book and then watch the movie!

[John Cena]

I think this one is pretty popular so you may have read it, but I loved Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazzterica.
Also +1 to Playground if you don't mind the trigger warnings

[kittyray]

Oh, another one I really liked was Let The Right One In!

[Patamon]

Seriously loving all of the recommendations I'm getting already ;-; Making note of each one, and it looks like I'm definitely reading House of Leaves as it has been mentioned a few times!

To those that mentioned Playground - I actually got the audiobook version a while ago and yes. It is WILD. I put it down for a bit but may start listening again on my commutes to work