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Weirdest Books I've Ever Read
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items Love books that mess with your mind, break the rules, or feel like dreams (or nightmares)? These strange, brilliant reads will totally pull you in.
A horror novel within a novel, printed like a visual puzzle. Margins, fonts, footnotes—it breaks the rules and your brain. Read if: You love haunted houses, meta-narratives, and solving mysteries with a flashlight.
House of Leaves (Remastered Full-Color Edition) by Mark Z. Danielewski, ...
Grotesque, nonlinear, drug-fueled surrealism with no clear plot but endless hallucinatory vignettes. Read if: You want to feel like you're hallucinating in prose form.
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text by William S. Burroughs, Paperback
Existential absurdity involving bicycles, time loops, and a deeply Irish sense of humor. Read if: You like dark comedy that breaks reality.
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, Paperback
Two lovers narrate their story in mirrored text on opposite pages. You literally flip the book upside down every few pages. Read if: You want poetry, punk energy, and a challenge.
Only Revolutions: A Novel by Mark Z. Danielewski, Paperback
It’s English… sort of. Dream-logic, puns, and invented words rule this chaotic text. Read if: You want to decode a book for the rest of your life.
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, Paperback
A conceptual shark made of ideas stalks a man who’s lost his memory. Postmodern and eerie. Read if: You want "Jaws" as written by Borges and Philip K. Dick.
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, Paperback
A poetic, gothic novel soaked in doomed love and gender fluidity. Ethereal and strange. Read if: You enjoy decadent prose and queer existentialism.
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, Paperback
A post-apocalyptic novel written in a warped future English dialect. Read if: You want to struggle and be rewarded.
Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition / Edition 2 by Russell Hoban
Part science fiction, part autobiography, part gnostic gospel. Possibly insane, possibly genius. Read if: You're okay being unsure what's real.
Valis by Philip K. Dick | eBook
A student writes a novel where characters rebel against their author. Brilliantly bizarre metafiction. Read if: You like stories within stories with snarky wit.
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien, Paperback
A woman slowly loses her identity to a corporate cult. Haunting, uncanny, and consumerist satire. Read if: You fear becoming part of the system.
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman, Paperback
An old woman enters a bizarre retirement home that turns into an apocalyptic adventure. Read if: You love surrealism and feminist anarchy.
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, Paperback
You, the Reader, keep starting new books but never finish them. Playful and mind-bending. Read if: You want a novel about reading novels.
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino, Paperback
A novel carved out of another novel by cutting holes into its pages. Yes, literally. Read if: You want a sculptural reading experience.
List of Books by Jonathan Safran Foer
Fragmented reflections of a fictional assistant bookkeeper. Melancholy and strangely addictive. Read if: You enjoy introspection to the point of existential drowning.
The Book of Disquiet: The Complete Edition by Fernando Pessoa, Hardcover
A massive, nonlinear sci-fi novel that questions race, identity, and perception in a shifting city. Read if: You're ready for literary jazz in book form.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, Paperback
A book-in-a-box with unbound chapters to be read in random order. Read if: You want your novel to be an art project.
The Unfortunates by B.S. Johnson