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theweirdladynextdoor · 2 years ago

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Not for Everyone: A grand list of 143 weird books

This is my meticulously curated list of 143 of the weirdest books I’ve ever read. Weird here can mean subject matter, the way it was written, or just that it’s off the beaten path. It certainly does not include every weird book out there. But it is a start if you are interested in reading weird lit yet have no idea where to begin. I encourage you to dig in... if you dare.

1. Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl, (2010)

2. Ghost Story by Peter Straub, (1989)

3. My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg, (2004)

4. The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, (1977)

5. Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist by Sophie Crumb, (2010)

6. The Farm: Life Inside a Women's Prison by Andi Rierden, (1997)

7. On the Bus: The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of Counterculture by Paul Perry, (1997)

8. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, (1959)

9. Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club by Anne Allison, (1994)

10. The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Harold Schechter, (1996)

11. Not Without my Daughter by Betty Mahmoody, (1987)

12. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, (1915)

13. Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities by Flora Rheta Schreiber, (1973)

14. Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman, (2002)

15. You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs, (2009)

16. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, (2008)

17. Pimp: The Story of my Life by Iceberg Slim, (1967)

18. Black Hole by Charles Burns, (2005)

19. My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming, (2007)

20. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, (2006)

21. Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson, (1966)

22. The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, (1968)

23. Hardcore Mother by Maxon Crumb, (2001)

24. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, (2000)

25. House of Leaves and The Whalestoe Letters by Mark Z. Danielewski, (2000)

26. Tweak: Growing up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff, (2008)

27. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson, (1971)

28. I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, (2006)

29. Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk, (2004)

30. SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris, (1998)

31. Trout Fishing in America/ The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster/ In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, (1989)

32. The Long, Hard Road out of Hell by Marilyn Manson, (1998)

33. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, (1959)

34. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, (1992)

35. Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris, (2010)

36. Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin by Norah Vincent, (2008)

37. The Cannibals of Candyland by Carlton Mellick III, (2009)

38. The Sallie House Haunting by Debra Lyn Pickman, (2010)

39. The Demonologist by Gerard Brittle, (1980)

40. Off Season (Dead River #1) by Jack Ketchum, (1980)

41. Room by Emma Donoghue, (2010)

42. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, (1989)

43. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson, (1949)

44. When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase, (1987)

45. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, (1981)

46. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, (2009)

47. The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley, (1992)

48. Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, (1989)

49. Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt, (2002)

50. The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo, (2006)

51. The Complete Grimm’s Fairytales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, (1812)

52. Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson, (2012)

53. Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson, (2001)

54. The Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson, (2011)

55. Life After Death by Damien Echols, (2012)

56. The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain, (2005)

57. Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, (2011)

58. Party Monster: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland by James St. James, (1999)

59. What Cops Know by Connie Fletcher, (1990)

60. Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford, (1978)

61. I’m Down Mishna Wolf, (2009)

62. Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres, (2005)

63. Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert, (2007)

64. Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory, (2003)

65. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover, (1999)

66. Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis, (2001)

67. Napalm & Silly Putty by George Carlin, (2001)

68. Crimson Stain by Jim Fisher, (2000)

69. Are you my Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel, (2012)

70. The Complete Persepolis by Satrapi Marjane, (2003)

71. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, (1962)

72. Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, (2015)

73. Drinking at the Movies by Julia Wertz, (2010)

74. Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges, (2013)

75. The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White, (2006)

76. Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan, (2014)

77. American Splendor Presents: Bob and Harv’s Comics by Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb, (1996)

78. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, (2012)

79. Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes go Hilariously Wrong

80. Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters, (2011)

81. Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent by David Henry Sterry, (2002)

82. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh, (2013)

83. You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from A Prison Fish by Jimmy A. Lerner, (2002)

84. Over Easy by Mimi Pond, (2014)

85. Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney, (2012)

86. SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, (1967)

87. The Gallery of Regrettable Food: Highlights from Classic American Recipe Books by James Lileks, (2001)

88. Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, (2014)

89. My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, (2016)

90. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, (2015)

91. This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair, (1980)

92. The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan, (2015)

93. Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan, (2013)

94. The Black Hope Horror: The True Story of a Haunting by Ben and Jean Williams, (1991)

95. $2.00 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, (2015)

96. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel, (2017)

97. True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner, (2016)

98. The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People’s Temple by Jeff Guinn, (2017)

99. Conversations with Ed and Lorraine Warren by T. Sealyham, (2011)

100. Educated by Tara Westover, (2018)

101. North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Cea Sunrise Person, (2014)

102. I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, (2018)

103. Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America: A Memoir By The Other Son by Kent Walker and Mark Schone, (2001)

104. Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood, (2016)

105. The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger, (2002)

106. Selp-Helf by Miranda Sings, (2015)

107. The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving by John Hoffman and Bruce Sterling, (1992)

108. Strays: A Lost Cat, a Homeless Man, and Their Journey Across America by Britt Collins, (2017)

109. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2018)

110. A Father’s Story by Lionel Dahmer, (1994)

111. The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis by Ian Brady, (2001)

112. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, (2015)

113. IT’S ME Edward Wayne Edwards: The Serial Killer You’ve Never Heard of by John A. Cameron, (2014)

114. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix, (2018)

115. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein, (2017)

116. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain by James Fallon, (2013)

117. Rising out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow, (2018)

118. Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych E.R. by Julie Holland, (2009)

119. The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy by Elizabeth Kendall, (1981)

120. High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips, (2009)

121. Hell’s Gate: Terror at Bobby Mackey’s Music World by Douglas Hensley, (1993)

122. From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children by Joyce Egginton, (1989)

123. In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, (2019)

124. Love as Always, Mum xxx by Mae West, (2018)

125. Solutions and other Problems by Allie Brosh, (2020)

126. The Serial Killer Cookbook: True Crime Trivia and Disturbingly Delicious Last Meals from Death Row's Most Infamous Killers and Murderers by Ashley Lecker, (2020)

127. Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood by Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamolodchikova, (2020)

128. American Animals: A True Crime Memoir by Eric Borsuk, (2018)

129. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, (2020)

130. Couple Found Slain: After a Family Murder by Mikita Brottman, (2021)

131. Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson, (2021)

132. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin, (2021)

133. Yearbook by Seth Rogen, (2021)

134. Today a Woman went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer, (2021)

135. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, (2021)

136. Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar, (2021)

137. A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind by Ann Burgess, (2021)

138. Tiger King: The Official Tell-all Memoir by Joe Exotic, (2021)

139. The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes, (1981)

140. Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Christine Montross, (2020)

141. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison, (2014)

142. Murder Book: A Graphic Novel of a True Crime Obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, (2021)

143. Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, (2019)

#weird books

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