Weirdest Books I've Read on Booktube || Horror & Sci-Fi Book Recommendations 2020
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- Dear Booktube... I'm back with some more book recommendations for 2020! This time I wanted to talk to you about the weirdest books I've read on Booktube! Mostly horror and sci-fi books that you need to read!
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" Sometimes I'm in the mood to be very confused"
I felt that
I really appreciate these kinds of videos you've been doing where you're talking about books that aren't necessarily your favorites but still have interesting concepts. I've added several books onto my TBR that sound like they'd be right up my alley because of them. Thank you so much!
Yes Yes Yes! Give me all of the weird books!!
The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engle
I LOVED Annhilation (the whole series). For me, it points out how overly confident our usual fiction and fantasy and sci-fi stories are. How our "common sense" uses of language, our limited math, and our senses to try explain all possible realities fail if we actually push the idea of "all possible" in this use of the multiverse amd multiple dimensions which has become a common sci-fantasy trope. I study linguistics and am a pop science and sci fi fan and this series plows head on into humanity's linguistic, scientific and philosophical blind spots. Loved this brand of weird and unusual lit.
Oooh the Dark Tower is weird and just gets weirder, but you sort of get some explanations? I'm someone in the middle of the road on that series
Tracy i haven’t read annhilation, but i saw the movie and i found it so disturbing that i bought the book and honestly the movie has stuck with me for some reason since you liked it i might read it sooner then anticipated
@@maellegosselin7803 oooh I haven't seen the movie yet! At your recommendation I'll check it out sooner rather than later! If you're in the mood for a reading experience that's gonna probably hurt the brain I definitely recommend!
Maelle Gosselin I haven’t seen the movie but the book will stick with you and disturb as well. I loved it!!!
Ok, the follow up books are good!!! Excellent.
@@Iggystar71 Agreed!
It really speaks to my character that I came here for recommendations and found out I've already read most of them. Love weird books!
I liked Annihilation. I liked the movie. That part with the bear, damn... It was awesome.
The library at mount char, Annihilation, are some of my favorite books. I really love "weird" books. House of Leaves fits this kind of style perfectly.
I just finished reading all of the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation) and I really enjoyed all three books! I think if you are able to reframe it as both an environmental disaster/science and first contact with aliens, it can help make it more enjoyable because Vandermeer really puts extra effort into beautifying the horror of the ooky spooky stuff in Area X and when he can't do that, he leans into his characters to do that work through their thoughts and reactions. I have no idea if that made sense but yeehaw!
Also, if you're looking for another first contact with aliens, a book just came out called Axiom's End and it is written by Lindsay Ellis (love supporting female sci-fi writers; especially supporting debut authors). When I heard the plot, I thought of you!
Im so glad you've read "Solaris". I feel like Lem is not getting enough recognition
Library at mountain Char is one of my favourite books ever! I've reread it recently and had a blast🥰
Wow, 2 videos at the same time!! Just watched your Maybelline video) Thank you for your content. Love you!)
Read Book 2 of "The Dark Tower" - that one is great. Even King himself says he was getting footing with the first one.
"BORNE" by Jeff VanderMeer - it's weird, sweet and just one of the best. I am sure you'll like it.
This was such a fun video! I’ve only read I’m thinking of ending things and Behind her eyes and loved both! Definitely adding more to my TBR!
I looooved "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". That creepy stuff with a dash of existentialism is my jam, but I can't see how they'd make that into a movie. 🤔
Not a book, but if you’re in a mood for something else then def recommend watching movie “mother”. I can guarantee you can’t predict where the story goes
... Mother is only confusing if you don't pick up on the allegory to be honest, but I still believe it's a movie worth watching.
yes!! that movie is so confusing until you figure out the metaphor they're going for, which for me, wasnt until after it was over lol. Definitely be cautious tho if you have problems with anxiety, that movie was one long anxiety attack for me
Some weird books I've read:
Bunny- mona Awad (💚)
The Regulators- Richard Bachman (👎🏻)
Things to Do in the Woods When You're Goth- Chavisa Woods (💚)
Mexican Gothic- Silvia moreno Garcia 💚
Horrorstor- Grady Hendrix💚
Borne-Jeff Vandermeer 💚
The Ancestor- Danielle Trussoni (👎🏻)
The Twisted Ones- T. Kingfisher 💚
I started an audiobook but had to put it down for Jeff Vandermeer's Dead Astronauts because I couldn't follow since it was so weird
i loved mexica gothic so much. i recommend you the cabin at the end of the world its a great weird book for me
@@gerardinebetancourt1246 oh I forgot to add that one to my list! I really lo iked that one too!
Ohhh thanks! I just screen shotted your comment (too lazy to write it down) and will add the books to my tbr.
Love it so much when you do these kinds of videos. So interesting!
some super weird books i’ve read:
the midwich cuckoos by john wyndham
bunny by mona awad
the strange library by haruki murakami
the cabin at the end of the world by paul tremblay
slade house by david mitchell
the wind-up bird chronicle by haruki murakami (^my favorite book of all time)
authority by jeff vandermeer (annihilation #2)
the fifth child by doris lessing
haunted by chuck palahniuk
lullaby by chuck palahniuk
Damn, I’ve either read a bunch of these, or have the rest on my shelves that I haven’t read yet 😂 weird books are my favourite.
i hated the fifth child but it was definitely weird!
omg I love the Library at Mount Char!! so good weird horrifying creative and yes that ending!!
Picked up Behind her eyes on your recommendation and liked it, and in a million chances could not have guessed the ending. I m surprised no one is mentioning Murakami, I have only read Kafka on the shore and it has weirded me out so much that I promised myself never to touch another of his works.
House of leaves would probably rank top here😂
Also I always recommend the year of the hare by arto paasilinna. It is weird but I love it :)
Childhood's End tends towards 'new age' sci-fi and is my favorite by Clarke. Walking to Aldebaran is great too.
SyFy channel did a surprisingly good mini-series adaptation a few years ago.
Tbh, you sold me on picking up all of them !
But The library at mount Char seems right in my alley:) so fingers crossed 😀
I loved all the giggling during this video. You were just making me smile. :) I love how you can do these reviews that are spoiler-free yet really let me know if I want to read the book or not. There are several of these that you peaked my interest with, especially the Childhood's End, The Time War and Behind Her Eyes. Have you ever read IQ84 or Cloud Atlas (by David Mitchell)? Those 2 are the books that came to mind first when I thought of "WTF" books I have read. I remember in middle school I was really into Stephen King and Dean Koontz (that was the late 1980s) and I used to see the Gunslinger at the used bookstore. I knew from the cover art and the synopsis blurb on the dust jacket that the book wasn't for me and 30 years later I still think it's not for me, haha.
I read The Library at Mount Char based on your recommendation & it’s now one of my favorite books. Really great book.
I love The Library at Mount Char, I just got my dad and sister to read it and they loved it too! It’s soo good!
I read I’m Thinking of Ending Things and listened to it on audiobook and woah was it chilling with the voices like the twist at the end with the voices was bone chilling.
yeaah!! samee
This is the kind of recommendation video I didn't know I needed! I love weird books and I've added so many of these to my TBR. One weird book that I would recommend is Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol. It's not quite as confusing as some of the books on your list but it definitely made me feel very uncomfortable while reading it, but in a good way.
My OCD LOVES the fact that your books are sorted by color. It hates that they aren't sorted by height. After I got over my craziness, I enjoyed most of these books, and will read the ones I haven't
The Library at Mount Char and This is How You Lose the Time War sound wonderful! Definitely adding to my TBR. I really enjoyed More Than This. :)
I'm a big fan of the Night Vale universe - you've probably heard of it. The podcast us of course amazing, but their books are surprisingly fun to read as well! Especially "It Devours" was weird in the best way possible imo 😊
I loved this video!! If you want a weird speculative fiction id recommend Sourdough by Robin Sloan. I'm not saying that the sourdough starter is a monster...but is it?? It's also a fun and short audiobook!
I actually read The Library at Mount Char based on one of your videos and LOVED it. So weird, creative, and awesome! I unfortunately ruined I’m Thinking of Ending Things for myself by looking into it, but I really want to read More Than This (or anything else by Patrick Ness really). I recommend A Scanner Darkly and Valis by Philip K Dick, both are some of his weirdest, but also fairly emotional.
I've just finished I'm Thinking of Ending Things, picked it up after watching this video. I really liked it, and I'm intrigued about the film that's being released next September.
Yasssss love me some weird books (annihilation is a fave!) but totally agree about the gunslinger. I read the second book in dark tower and it’s less weird but still super confusing, apparently it gets amazing?? But it’s such a long series I dunno if it’s worth the effort 😂
You need to read the Hike. I’m pretty sure you have it on your shelf. It’s like a choose your own adventure book where you don’t choose and the person that does is really freaking weird. I loved it. It was strange as hell.
Last week I listened to William Gibson's Agency & The Jackpot Trilogy (book 2) might not be weird, but the tech speaks to me. It's high tech speculative fiction, trending twards speculative forecasting. I'm 75% into The Peripheral (book 1) & I need book 3 to be labeled The Jackpot when it's published.
About 02:47 : I am also reading Jeff Vandermeer's Wonderbook. As a writer it's a fun time as I jumped in immediately after finishing Save The Cat Writes A Novel!
I really liked "I keep my worries in my teeth" because it wasn't really scifi or anything, nothing supernatural or impossible happened, and it still felt like a super surreal dream.
The dark tower gets so much better with the next books! I did not like the gunslinger at all, but the others are definitely weird in a good way 😆
The library at mount char is one of the most interesting and innovative books I’ve ever read. I recommend Vita Nostra, strong competition in weirdness.
I really enjoyed Library at Mountain Char, too. A weird book I also liked is The Rook, it kind of reminds me of Library of Mount Char in terms of weirdness, but without the gore/violence and the plot is much more easy to follow. It may be categorized as adult but it reads more YA to me.
On that's great! I bought The Rook but I didn't know it was *that* weird. It's also a TV show now :)
Like you mentioned, it's worth it to both read and listen to the audiobook for "This is How You Lose the Time War." Each format is a really interesting, different experience.
Annihilation was suspenseful, but I just had the biggest eye roll at the alien reveal at the end. Same thing with a Lovecraft book I read. "Cosmic octopi" just pulled me right out of it, I can't....
thank you for this list. i needed this 😂❤
I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but a super weird book I read is Midwinterblood. I picked up that book without knowing anything about it, and I still, to this day, don't know what the hell I read. I don't know if you'd call it SF or Fantasy, but it involves this island of people where they live, die, and then reincarnate again, all on the same island, but all in different roles. I don't even know if that summary makes sense. Anyways, love your videos! You're my go-to for scifi recs.
I’m thinking of ending things was such a wild ride I loved it especially rereading some parts I was just like wow! Behind her eyes was such a wtf moment at the end! I loved both of those books they definitely kept me entertained!
Oh and The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. Amazing!
OMG!!! I didn’t know there was a book for Childhood’s End but I did watch the miniseries! I watched it like 3 or 4 times! I’m going to check out the book and maybe you should check out the show. It’s only 3 episodes and each an hour long. I enjoyed it immensely!!!
Two of us in my book club figured out I'm Thinking of Ending Things at the exact same spot (page 20, IIRC) and felt it was kinda cheap. I also thought it didn't work with its own internal logic. He's really damn good at writing creepy af scenes, though.
I didn't know what to think of Annihilation, but the movie confirmed some of my impressions from the book, so I guess I generally liked it.
For weird that I think you might like, I'm going to recommend Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett. It's one you have to just let the story kinda flow into you and coalesce into meaning.
A fantastically weird book you should check out is The Bus On Thursday by Shirley Barrett. It’s kind of a horror thriller about a teacher who moves to a small town after the only teacher in town mysteriously disappears. It’s super strange but so fun. I highly recommend listening to it on audiobook too, at 2x the speed to get the feel for how frantic and spazzy the main character is!
Annihilation...I read it in one day!!! So bizarre, lyrical, dreamy, I totally understood it and didn’t get it at all. The weirdest book I’ve ever read. I think I loved it.🤣🤣
I LOVED Behind Her Eyes!!! The ending was CRAZY!!!
I feel like both Wolf in White Van and Universal Harvester by John Darnielle fit the Weird Vague Thriller vibe and I love them both
I really want to read this first one you mention. Sounds like my type of book.
Edit: I loved Childhood's End.
Solaris has been my favorite book ever since I first read it, about 4 years ago. I recently reread it and it was just as good as I remembered. Also, you have the Kilmartin and Cox version, which is garbage (Lem's words, not mine)
Weird books are my thing! They are like life, as you said I had no idea where it was going and I was ok with it.
Some weird books are The ones who walk away from Omelas(it's a short story) and Under the skin.
I'm thinking of ending things is so weird. That was definitely one that I didn't have any clue about the ending. It is very vague.
Very much in sync with you re: ANNIHILATION, though I found the discomfort brought the book to life as a vital experience in truly feeling what a contact with true "alien-ness" might be like, physically AND emotionally. I felt it well worth the discomfort...or whatever it was that I/we feel about that section in particular.
I'm thinking of ending things was on my radar for some time! Gonna read it quicker~
It really is one of the most uncomfortable books I've read, in a good way! At one point I couldn't continue reading it night lol
If you're looking for "weird", anything by Michael Cisco would work. I think his most accessible titles are The Traitor and The Divinity Student. Less weird but weirder than the books you mention: Kelly Link, M. John Harrison (The Course of the Heart is one of my favs), The New Crobuzon books by Mieville; The Etched City by K. J. Bishop.
Childhood's End is a book?! :o
I remember when it came out as a TV series. Yes, it was very odd. I know the twist you're talking about with the "alien" lol.
I don't remember if it got cancelled after that twist was revealed or if I just stopped watching it. Now I want to know how it go weird lol
And I agree with your review of a lot of these books.
It was a mini-series and I thought it was a surprisingly good adaptation of the book. 😊
I liked all of the books you mentioned that I also read!
Library on Mount Char
Behind Her Eyes
Annilation (the sequels were complete let down after that one though)
I'm thinking of ending Things
Yeah, the first one of The Dark Tower is really weird but, trust me, the next books are sooo GOOOD
I just read Behind Her Eyes a couple months ago and I agree with you. Weird book, but I also gave it 4 stars. I heard other people talk about the huge twist ending which is why I picked it up in the first place. Even knowing something big was coming, there was no way I would have ever guessed THAT.
If you want a strange book suggestion you should try The Pen Name by David Jacob Knight. I gave this book 5 stars, but . . . some of the scenes . . . Read it.
I think I understood what happened in I'm Thinking of Ending Things and I loved it.
Lmfao this video was great... and a bit uncomfortable 😅 awesome content. Love your channel! Keep it up😊
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall is so weird and fabulous!
Weird book recommendations: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi and Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell (both are short story collections) and The Dinner by Herman Koch. The collections were mostly good weird for me (with a few exceptions) and The Dinner is honestly just... weird weird.
Oh and I forgot number9dream by David Mitchell. That was also just... WEIRD.
I loved this video idea ! (And I knew the first one would be there haha)
If you want to read something weird, read anything by Philip K. Dick xD but I can recommend Ubik. It's the most enjoyable of his books I've read so far, but felt like being on drugs (I imagine)
I started it a while ago but didn't go far lol
I absolutely loved annihilation. I told my bf to read it and he was so obsessed he finished the entire series! I have yet to read the others, but he says they are really good. Oh so gunslinger is no where near as good as book 2 and 3. Book 2 was so insane and amazing. Book 1 honestly sucked lol. I still need to continue the dark tower series. I've read the first 5.
Emily, have you watched Annihilation movie? I remember being confused by the book, but for some reason the movie is one of faves now. It's strange, but it actually relax me. I often rewatch it to get into calm mood😅
I recommend picking up Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn. Great scifi and sorta first contact with aliens. It is the first scifi book that I have read where the aliens felt truly ALIEN to me. It was super uncomfortable but fascinating at the same time. Haven’t gotten around to continuing the series, but I do have them in my audible library.
makashuu I strongly second this!! I think of those aliens all the time, and I did continue in the series... I'd almost say it gets weirder!
Definitely try The City & the City by China Mieville. A inspector is investigating a death, in a city that is partly merged with another city. Think 2 cities being teleported together.
First contact with aliens - Roadside Picnic! The concept is amazing!
I definitely have it on me TBR (maybe even a physical copy on my shelf?) I'll get around to it at one point lol
@@BookswithEmilyFox can't wait to hear your thoughts on it 😁
Honestly, any Murakami book is weird af and I love them. If you want to read more of him maybe start with Sputnik Sweatheart, because it's weird but not too much and it's a short book. So if you end up liking it, pick any other one of his books and enjoy. Super weird, no actual plot, strange characters, little bit of magical realism...
I haven't read Annihilation, but I read Borne which is by the same author and it was super strange but really good as well.
I suggest The Annunciate by Severna Park. Its weird. Its sci fi. I read it over 15 years ago when I was in High School and it still comes to mind randomly.
Never heard of Library at Mount Char and I want to read it nowww
omg i LOVED behind her eyes i think i listened to the last 3 chapters with my mouth agape lol. The weirdest book of all weird books that i highly recommend is definitely John Dies at the End.
Keep the weird good memories from Annihilation and don't read the rest of the trilogy. Not worth it, in my opinion and terribly boring.
100% agree
I LOVE Library at Mount Char!
I recommend trying out The Chrysalids and The Memory Police. Good and weird imho.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman. DNF’d it years ago when it first came out cause I had zero idea of what was going on. Pretty sure I only had like 20 pages left... I just couldn’t take it anymore.
Imagine the level of weirdness that comes with the genre called (you guessed it): “weird”. I love it so much. H. P. Lovecraft and friends were pioneers in this, however modern weird is a bit different. You usually have no idea what is about to happen, it feels like a mix of fantasy/scifi+horror or magical realism+horror. Gore is not the point, although it tends to have some body horror sometimes. It likes to explore the power of nature, the unkown size and qualities of the universe and other dimensions, possible old gods and entities that exist but do not care even a little bit about humanity. How vulnerable and small humanity is from the universe’s perspective is a common theme. Annihilation was partly inspired by Lovecraft’s “The colour out of space”, which explains why the whole concept is weird and terrifying.
To mention a few authors in the modern weird genre: Karin Tidbeck, China Miéville, Carmen Maria Machado, Victor LaValle (there might be many more) - I believe, Emily, you have already talked about The Ballad of black Tom.
My all time favorite is a Hungarian author, Attila Veres, his novel and short stories blew my mind. One of his short stories will be released this year in the US, in the anthology “The Valancourt book of world horror stories”, I highly recommend to check him out :)
Never will stop repiting that the Gunslinger is horrible but the rest of the series is amazing (still weird but really good). I kept reading because I couldn't believe there was seven books about the nonsense of the first and I did not regreted it at all.
The Library at Mount Char sounds really interesting, I'll add it to my tbr right now^^
If you're looking for a "weird, but in a good way" book, I would recommend The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach. It's a sci-fi and relatively short, but worth the read for sure!
I loved I'm thinking of ending things. given how the book is, i have no idea how they're going to do the movie!!!
I'm sure it will be weird and scary haha
Recursion by Blake Crouch is also quite a weird read in the sense that the time travelling aspect confuses me a bit
A book that I am always recommended when I ask for a weird book is "House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski. I have the book, but haven't read it yet. The format of the book is why I haven't started it yet, but it is on my TBR.
Me too! I kept seeing the spine on bookshelf tours and I googled it and it sounded intriguing. But I figure even if I hate it, the spine of the book is so gorgeous I'll be happy to have it on the shelf, haha! :)
Hello, The Hike by Drew Magary-Enjoyable and Weird.
The absolute weirdest!
Definitely the weirdest book I've ever read. I did like it though!
I LOVE that book! It’s seriously one of my all time favorites! I also found it super easy to listen to, like it just ZOOMED past.
I really enjoyed More than this. It was definitely strange but in a good way.
Only a couple of books created such an atmosphere, I didn't like being alone reading them. One of them is "The Shining". It made be afraid to be alone for the duration.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is the number one weirdest book I've ever read. I've never read anything like this book in my life. I wasn't a huge fan of the format of the book but i did enjoy the story. I feel like you'll either love it or hate it, it's definitely very artsy, abstract and overwhelming.
We're following a lion? You're pretty sure about it? 😄😄 Adding The Library at Mount Char to my TBR because of that comment. The gorgeous cover is calling me. ❤️ Weird books are pretty hard to describe but your reviews are funny. 😆😆
About The Dark Tower, at least give the next book a try please. The next two books in the series are really, REALLY good
I read the Dark Tower series and loved it! I read them really far apart because the first 3, I think, came out way before the others. I will say, at the very end, when Roland got to the Tower....the way the series ended....I am still kind of messed up and a bit...I don’t know! Devastated? Disappointed? Frustrated?
Unique video indeed!!!
Just watched the trailer for I'm thinking of ending things and OMG why is the darn dog doing thaaat 🤣
Is the SF masterworks series worth to buy? It looks like it contains a lot 9f cool books :0
Your description of classic sci-fi makes me feel like Planetfall by Emma Newman would fit that description entirely.