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Share and discuss book ideas for
Task 11: Read a work of weird horror.

I don't like Horror, so I have to be careful. I aim to read from the booklist in 500 Great Books by Women and I found two older/classic titles that may work:

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez or The Amber Gods and Other Stories by Harriet Prescott Spofford

I don't really read horror either, but these two looked interesting.
I'm reading either Lone Women by Victor Lavalle /book/show/6...
or Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
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If you are looking for more classic titles to fulfill this prompt you could try The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories or Rebecca or Frankenstein

Anyone got a good rec for a horror lover? I'm new to the genre, though.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw might fit the bill for anyone else who likes this genre.

Tanu wrote: "Anyone got a good rec for a horror lover? I'm new to the genre, though.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw might fit the bill for anyone else who likes this genre."

I find most of the books written by Stephen Graham Jones to be weird but I guess it depends what you consider weird. I'd recommend The Only Good Indians just for the unusual literary devices he uses

I think most horror is weird, that's what makes it horror.

H. P. Lovecraft has a collection literally called weird:
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales

other options I might choose:
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Things We Lost in the Fire

Tanu wrote: "Anyone got a good rec for a horror lover? I'm new to the genre, though.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw might fit the bill for anyone else who likes this genre."

Carlton Mellick III also writes weird as all get out horror almost exclusively. I was so close to choosing The Cannibals of Candyland for this but the summary read as too gory for my tastes.

I'm going with Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle instead.

I really love horror, so I'm excited for this task that requires me to delve more into the explicitly weird.

I'm currently considering Universal Harvester by John Darnielle, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (or perhaps something else from the author), The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (release expected in March), Bunny by Mona Awad, Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin... honestly, I'm spoiled for choice on this one.

Ones other people are considering that I loved were The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw, Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle (his previous book Camp Damascus is also excellent and would also work), Lone Women by Victor LaValle (his book The Ballad of Black Tom is also great and would also work), and Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.

I would also recommend Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Walking Practice by Dolki Min, and Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt. If you need/want any kind of content warnings for more out there horror, it's worth looking them up for all of these since they all have potentially triggering stuff.

Folks who want to do this task but aren't comfortable with horror should consider checking out Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, which is a collection of short stories. It's sort of horror adjacent, in a ghosts and fairytales sort of way. It's excellent and a lot more gentle than most things that would be considered weird horror.

I'm considering Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, Things We Lost in the Fire, or Monstrilio.

I'm reading a work of middle-grade horror right now: The Lonely Below by G. Haron Davis. Being autistic myself, this book appealed to me for its autism rep.

I can only do really mild horror elements. Watching here for suggestions. Hoping to lean into the weird side of this task.

Rebecca wrote: "I'm considering Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, Things We Lost in the Fire, or Monstrilio."

Her Body and Other Parties is one of my favorite books! So good and weird

I think I'm going with Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen, Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes by Carlton Mellick III. It's been on my list for years.

I'm planning on reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

I'm liking the look of Bunny (from a Book Riot weird horror list)

I'm hoping to read "The Rust Maidens" by Gwendolyn Kiste, but my library doesn't have it. I've done an ILL request, but I haven't heard anything from that, so I'm hoping a library sends it my way.

WEIRD HORROR? House of Leaves is it then!

I decided to go with a middle grade book: The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things

I'm planning to read Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic. Not sure what weird horror means, but I think this book will work.

I don't like horror but I'm thinking of Tender Is the Flesh for this one. I already read Bunny for a book club 2 years ago - but I would recommend that one also. If anyone has suggestions that are comparable to that one, I'd love to hear them!

If you definitely want to read HARDER, then I would highly recommend House of Leaves for this challenge.

Natalie Piccotti wrote: "I don't like horror but I'm thinking of Tender Is the Flesh for this one. I already read Bunny for a book club 2 years ago - but I would recommend that one also. If ..."

Tender is the Flesh is pretty graphic, I hear, so perhaps steer clear if you're not a fan. (Unless you like gore but just hate spooks and the supernatural!)

Erika wrote: "Tanu wrote: "Anyone got a good rec for a horror lover? I'm new to the genre, though.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw might fit the bill for anyone else who likes this genre."

Thanks Erika. Yeah, I'm not sure what is meant by 'weird' either - weird as in eldritch? As in weird lit? As in "not just a story with a 'vanilla' horror element like a ghost"? I think I'll read The Fisherman or Monstrilio. BR has a list here too:

Betty wrote: "I can only do really mild horror elements. Watching here for suggestions. Hoping to lean into the weird side of this task."

Betty, depending on how mild you want, Someone You Can Build a Nest In might work. It's a sweet book and a horror-flavoured romance. It does have some blood and gore, but it's definitely not scary.

I've also heard good things about The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones, but the one was a DNF for me and the other was underwhelming.

Tanu wrote: "Betty wrote: "I can only do really mild horror elements. Watching here for suggestions. Hoping to lean into the weird side of this task."

Betty, depending on how mild you want, [book:Someone You C..."

Thank you for the recommendations!

I highly recommend Tender Is the Flesh, Mexican Gothic, or The Only Good Indians. Also, if you're looking for something short, Bluejay by Megan Stockton.
I'll be doing House of Leaves for this one.

Betty wrote: "Tanu wrote: "Betty wrote: "I can only do really mild horror elements. Watching here for suggestions. Hoping to lean into the weird side of this task."

Betty, depending on how mild you want, [book:..."

You're welcome! The Wiswell book probably doesn't fit this, technically, since it's very straightforward to understand, so it's not weird lit, more like a cute monster romance. But it is very mild as far as horror goes.

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color is an anthology that has some horror in it.

I loved Equoid by Charles Stross, so any of the Laundry Files works might do.

I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde 21 Feb.

I read Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris, which was very good. I'd recommend it, but check out the content warnings if you need that.

Rebecca wrote: "I'm considering Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, Things We Lost in the Fire, or Monstrilio."

I read Her Body and Other Parties: Stories. I loved it! It's very unique.