Horror Aficionados discussion
Lists & Reading Challenges
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Reading Challenge: The Ten Most Disturbing Books of All Time
You know, I think I could come up with some more disturbing books than American Psycho and The Road. Both have their darker bits but neither are as horrific as The Girl Next Door. I haven't read some of the others so I can't say much on their contents.
I started reading The 120 Days of Sodom....all I can say is yuck. I will finish it, but ew.
I thought the same thing, Amanda. Of course this list is just a person's opinion. Guess these books resonated with him/her. Jenn, tell us all the gooshy details.
Tressa - There is a lot of sex stuff in the book about how they swap partners, but it gets a lot worse than that....there is incest and child stuff too but as of right now the author is describing each man and they just seem dirty.
Ah, I'm eating my macaroni & cheese. Poor hygiene makes me want to puke. Why would anyone want to read a book like this?
I found Sade's bio more interresting than his fiction. :) If you understand his motivations, the period he lived in and his conditions when he wrote his books, they are actually more interesting.
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That's the only one on this list I've read other than We Need to Talk About Kevin.
I've only read Kevin, American Psycho, and Girl Next Door. I've heard of Johnny Got His Gun, though. We should do a reading challenge where we read all the books on the list, like good little sadomasochists.
Provided I can get these at the library, I'd be all about that reading challenge.
Sounds like a good idea to me, too. We should do it. Read a book, write a brief summary of what you thought of the book on this thread. You may have to get some of the books through ILL, if you're lucky enough that your library offers that service.
I saw Dalton Trumbo's movie, Johnny Got His Gun, in film class years ago, that was disturbing but a great movie/story. And quite the triumph considering how long Dalton tried to get it made and his blacklisting and all. But I never read the book, that would have to be really disturbing. I'd be happy have get a book on this list. Disturbing means that it made people think, consider things outside their normal, comfortable range of living.
I can get at least Blindness through ILL. Figured I'd start at the bottom & work my way to #1. I'll try to remember to request it tonight or tomorrow. Using my mom's library card since I'm between houses and it's really wreaking havoc with her suggested authors list. :-D
Does it count if we've seen the movie? I saw Requiem for a Dream.
Tressa wrote: "Does it count if we've seen the movie? I saw Requiem for a Dream."My brother has told me that no it doesn't count to have seen the movie. The book has a lot more in it.
Not sure I can handle a lot more of that.
I think for this challenge, movies are ok as long as you've already seen them. No running out & renting them because you want to breeze through or whatever. And of course, you'd have to remember enough for it to count.Running out & renting...I just saw what I said there. Heh.
Yeah, I really don't think seeing the movies counts. lol
Oh, J.Z., must you burst my bubble? Pop my balloon?
The only ones I have read are The Road and The Girl Next Door. I think both are pretty deserving to be on the list.
I can't believe The Exorcist isn't on the list! I just started reading it and I'm definitely disturbed by it. I ordered The Girl Next Door and if the movie is anywhere close to the book, then I'm not sure that I'll be able to handle it. I actually have Blindness on my bookshelf, but I've never read it.
Teawench wrote: "Provided I can get these at the library, I'd be all about that reading challenge."I could not get The 120 Days of Sodom at the library. BUT I did get it on my nook for free as it is a classic.
This sounds like a great challenge!
jennbunny wrote: "Teawench wrote: "Provided I can get these at the library, I'd be all about that reading challenge."I could not get The 120 Days of Sodom at the library. BUT I did get it on my nook for free as i..."
Good to know. I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the info!
Can I suggest 50 shades of Grey? Its badly written with incredibly unlikeable people doing disgusting things to each other.
From this list, I've only read Naked Lunch and American Psycho but I have The Girl Next Door waiting to be read. I recently saw the movie version of The Girl Next Door and it was pretty disturbing, so I can imagine the book is probably worse. I should look up the others on the list.
Blindness was very difficult to read. It was supposed to be some kind of post-modern masterpiece in writing but I like punctuation and paragraphs in my prose. Call me old fashioned.I won't spoil 120 of Sodom but I checked out the movie and it was almost the only movie I ever found to be too disgusting to watch.
Was Blindness the one they based the Mark Rufalo movie on? I liked that movie a lot
I'll have to check out that movie. My problem with the book wasn't the story, it was the maddening prose.
I did not know there was a movie for Sodom....I will now have to find it.
Renee wrote: "Can I suggest 50 shades of Grey? Its badly written with incredibly unlikeable people doing disgusting things to each other."For anyone that doesn't know by now. 50 Shades of Grey was originally MOTU (Master of the universe) a Twilight fanfiction. The author took alot of prompting and advice from her readers and fellow authors. And the fucked them all over and fellow authors when she pulled the story so she could change the names. The story is exactly the same only the names have changed. I am truly pissed that she has gained the base she has only due to her massive ff fans. The writing is bad, the characters are unbelievable and as far as the BDSM.. it is a joke.
You must read Requiem! It is haunting. It really is a sadly disturbing look at what people do for their addictions.
I highly agree on The Painted Bird and Girl Next Door. Excellent choices! -- By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens.
-- The M.D. by Thomas Disch,
-- Koko by Peter Straub
-- Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
-- Cipher by Kathe Koja
-- Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.
--Twinkle Twinkle, Killer Kane (9th Configuration)
-- Legion (Exorcist 3)both by William Peter Blatty.
-- The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
-- The The Red Riding quartet by David Peace. (On Netflix as well but cockney is so deep you need subtitles if American.)
-- (I would toss in Blue Rose by Straub but that is barely a novella, I guess.)
I am eager to hear others' thoughts.
And, I would like to add (if you can go back in a time machine as if you had not seen the movie or sequels 80 times) Silence of the Lambs, though may seem tame by sheer desensitization of sequels and knock-offs.
Started reading Blindness and ugh. It's a translation and is so hard to read. It's like one huge run on sentence. The premise is interesting enough but I doubt I'll finish it.
Jeff Strands "Pressure"Super Disturbing!
I agree with Jeremy - The Cipher by Kathe Koja should be on the list. Great book. Another good Kathe Koja novel is Skin.
I would love to do the challenge...I have only read We Need to Talk About Kevin. I do own Blindness, American Psycho, The Road and 120 Days of Sodom. I just haven't read them yet :-)I also just ordered Survivor which someone else told me is VERY disturbing.
Julissa wrote: "I also just ordered Survivor which someone else told me is VERY disturbing. "Really enjoyed that, got me reading more books from J F Gonzalez :)
Paula wrote: "My intro to horror a few years ago was Survivor by Gonzalez and Succulent Prey by Wrath James White recommended by Del at Dark Delicacies in Burbank CA. Very disturbing but also good reading! "Succulent Prey was my first Wrath book as well and got me hooked. I still love his novel The Resurrectionist
My vote definitely goes to "The Ruins" by Scott Smith. Dark, bleak, unforgiving and visceral. And a real page-turner.
I agree with Zombie and The Girl Next Door.Surprised The End of Alice hasn't been mentioned yet. It's definitely on my list of most disturbing reads.
David, I love The Ruins.I read The End of Alice but the opposite of what was supposed to happen to the reader happened with me, and I had a disconnect with Alice. Didn't like the ending either.
Tressa wrote: "http://www.popcrunch.com/the-10-most-...What do you think?
10. Blindness
9. Requiem for a Dream
8. Naked Lunch
7. We Need to Talk About Kevin
6. The Road
5. Americ..."
I really like your inclusions of The Road and The Girl Next Door. What both of those novels prove, to me, is that emotional investment opens the door for true horror and real emotional disturbance. There's not a whole lot of violence in either of those books (compared to extreme horror, for example), but when the violence does occur, it's like a punch to the gut. McCarthy and Ketchum both understand the importance of building characters and bringing the audience into their emotional lives. Only then can truly disturbing scenes happen.
I'll say this. With any book if it interests you and draws you in your gonna read it but if it's so deathly and horrifyingly disturbing that your scared s**tless as your reading it chances are if your one of those people..your not gonna want to put it down your gonna keep reading cause you want more! And bless you if you are one of these sick people haha, of course i'm joking but seriously we do that..it scares us yet we find ourselves drawn to it strangely enough.
Jon Recluse wrote: "The Painted Bird"Oh God, yes, that was very disturbing. Well written, but oh my gosh, the poor protagonist.
Charlene wrote: "I loved Johnny Got His Gun. I read it in high school. I still remember this book vividly and the ending still resounds in my head."Same here. A powerful book (and movie).
Jeremy wrote: "I highly agree on The Painted Bird and Girl Next Door. Excellent choices! -- By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens.
-- The M.D. by Thomas Disch,
-- Koko by Peter Straub
-- Zombie by Joyce Carol..."
I totally agree that the Wasp Factory should be on the list! And what about The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe?
Just finished Johnny Got His Gun. I wasn't impressed. I think the stream of consciousness writing was a big part of it but ultimately it read more like a partial memoir than anything else. The beginning, when he was finding out what happened to him, was a little disturbing and the end was all of sudden 'happy'.
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (other topics)The Summer I Died (other topics)
The Girls He Adored (other topics)
Off Season (other topics)
American Psycho (other topics)
More...
What do you think?
10. Blindness
9. Requiem for a Dream
8. Naked Lunch
7. We Need to Talk About Kevin
6. The Road
5. American Psycho
4. Johnny Got His Gun
3. The 120 Days of Sodom
2. The Turner Diaries
1. The Girl Next Door
What? No Cows?!
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ETA: I'm going to challenge myself to read the books on this list. If you're interested, mark your spot here and then mark them off the list when you've read them.