Most Disturbing Books

LOL... this is true. The book probably wouldn't be on my books that disturbed me list if there had been less sex. The beginning was pretty much sex... and then when Dinah met Shecham was pretty much sex, and then her husband at the end was pretty much... yeah, sex. So there was a lot of sex in the book, basically.

I think I'm going to put it on my "books to read this summer when I actually have time to inhale" list. I'll try to read it more contextually. I've obviously matured since then. If I'd read 1984 when I was thirteen I'd probably still be having nightmares to this day.

Tipping the Velvet -- Sarah Waters. That was just horrible.

Well, I've never really read anything disturbing in the sense you guys are talking about, but I read this series by Barbara Michaels. They were ghost stories, but not your normal ones. People got, not possesed, but more, shadowed, I guess? by ghosts that had lived and died in this house. I absolutely loved them, but they gave me the heebiejeebies for the longest time. I kept expecting a ghost to jump out and take over me. But they are amazing. The first book is Ammie, Come Home. Second is Shattered Silk, and the third is Stiches in Time. Like I said, very very very good, but still a little creepy.

HAHA. Ari--I remember saying to Sam,

"DAMN! Books these days NEVER have enough sex in them!!!"

And she suggested The Red Tent.

haha. I thought it was good,a ctually. The sex didn't bother me, but the sad ending did.

Of Mice and Men is probably the most disturbing and depressing books I've ever read. I don't know why Steinbeck felt compelled to write such rubbish--you become attatched to the disabled character, and then he kills a bunch of things, so you're torn between hate and pity for him, and then he is murdered by his best friend. It's a terrible book. I've heard Grapes of Wrath is even worse, so I think I'll stay away from Steinbeck from now on.

John Saul's Shadow's
i didnt even finish reading it because it freaked me out do much...

It was extremely disturbing, but it was kind of disturbing. Memories of Summer, it was a wonderful book, I read it two years ago, but I was really unsettled for a week or so over the cruel treatments they made Summer go through.

Then, Pieces of Me, I have finished it, but I read the first 70pages, and I found it very unsettling and I discontinued.

I'm going to read 1984, I just finished Animal Farm and I loved it.

The Stupid Family...random third grade book. Yeah.

And the short story The Most Dangerous
Game. This dude hunts man. Yeah, freaky.

Memories of Summer. I read that. I wouldn't call it disturbing, but it was very sad.

I found The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster to be mildly disturbing.

I'd have to bet that The Painted Bird by I -forget-who has to be the most disturbing thing I have EVER read. I didn't even finish the book.

It was bad enough when the kid got his eyes spooned out, and the cat ran off with it but then the death scene later on with the local village harlot... *shivers* this was beyond violent, if was horrid. But, it was meant to show mans cruelty to man through the eyes of a little boy after he was abandoned by his parents during WWII. I'm sure if you could stomach all the rape/death/etc. it might be a good book, but I couldn't...

Stone Cold by Robert Swindells. Tells the story of two people: one is a homeless person living on the streets of London, the other is a former sergeant or something in the army, who murders the homeless people in London. Then he dresses them up in army gear. Then he cuts their hair. Obviously, their destinies intertwine. The English teacher made us read this. Wasn't particularly good. Very predictable. But the concept was disturbing.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Very disturbing. Child tribes. Shivers. Found it really boring though. Oh well.

Urn Burial - Robert Westall. It made me feel so guilty.

Probably the some stuff my dad's written... just because he's my dad... and Capture the Flag. I loved that book, but its portrayal of a period, and the generation that went with it, revolutionized my thoughts on time and history and the modern world and all that jazz. The most disturbing, as in creepy and scarring, thing I've read is probably Fanny Hill: A Woman of Pleasure - partly because I expected something more mild from the same time frame as Jane Eyre.

The Color Purple

I don't even remember who the author is. I see why it was important to the curriculum, but it is never in a million years something I would have read on my own.