The oddest book you ever read?

[Curmudgeoness]

I was thinking about some of the strange books I have read over the years, and wondered if you have ever had a book that you just kept saying WTF through it.

Mine: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Both of these books were totally baffling to me. And I felt throughout both that there was so much more being said, but I just wasn't getting it.

So have you ever had the same experience? Would you ever read that book again to see if there was something you missed and can now understand?

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan...The Ghost in Love by J. Carroll.

I clearly didn't have the appropriate substances in my system to fully realize the experience in the first one.

I loved the second...but am not exactly sure why!

[Curmudgeoness]

2. I sort of remember In Watermelon Sugar.

Sort of remember reading it. Wasn't Brautigan usually a poet? I think I read all his poems, but they were usually over my head. That was my hippie stage of life and I tried to follow all the weirdness, even with appropriate substances. All I know for sure is that someone bought me a book of his poems because they thought I looked just like the girl in the cover picture. I do not remember what that book was all about, if anything.

I have never heard of The Ghost in Love, but I understand your feelings on it. I felt the same way about The Shipping News...I loved the book, even though it was so odd.

[Starboard Tack]

3. Hmm! Besides the Bible, which of course is many "confusing" books

I think Steppenwolf stands out in my memory. Every 30 pages or so I would go back to the beginning and start again. Well worth it.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. LOL. Was it well worth it.

I did the exact same thing for a while, then gave up reading Steppenwolf. I think I still have it on a bookshelf somewhere.

[Starboard Tack]

5. Definitely worth it.

Probably time to read it again, forty years later. I just found a copy of my favorite book, cost 50 cents at the local library sale. Aldous Huxley's "After Many A Summer". Changed my life more than any other book.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Oh no, another book on the bookshelf

that I could not read....but to be honest, I think that I was too young for it at the time....the full title is "After Many a Summer Dies The Swan", isn't that it?

Interesting, I may just try to do that one again now. I can tolerate books that are more difficult than I could when I was in high school.

[Starboard Tack]

7. Huxley borrowed the line from Tennyson

Tithonus

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.

[BlueIris]

8. Swooning Beauty, by Joanna Frueh.

It's about an aesthetics obsessed performance artist with...Mel Gibson issues. Who lost her parents and long term marriage all at once. It was abstract and weird and totally great.

The runner up is a collection of short stories by Fritz Leiber called Shadows With Eyes. That crap was insane. Sort of like Ray Bradbury--if Bradbury had done a lot of meth.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. LOL, Bradbury on meth!

Now that is something hard to imagine!

I have not heard of either of these---but abstract and weird doesn't normally equal totally great to me. That reminds me of another one that I had issue with: Mrs Dalloway. I know, I know, it is a classic. And it is weird and I never could follow it. Ugh.

[Laurian]

9. I understand your feelings about The Shipping News.

I remember reading the book. While I don't recall the details of the story, it apparently left an impression on me because we went to see the movie when it came out. It took an extra effort to do so as it was only showing at a small theater in midtown Atlanta. I don't know if it was the appeal of the book that drew me to the movie or my love for Kevin Spacey who starred in it. My memory of it is that it was pretty dark, both the storyline and the dreary little theater.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Your memory is correct.

Pretty dark. Very strange people too. And at the end of the book, you realize that you kind of enjoyed it. But bizarre happenings thoughout. I especially remember the beginning where they discuss in detail the house on the rock and all the cables used to hold it in place.

I never knew that a movie was ever made of it---or how it could have been done.

[mainer]

43. Not one single complete sentence in the whole book.

That was such an annoying affectation. I read the book, and even though I liked the imagery, that authorial gimmick of not writing in complete sentences so irritated me that I ended up hating it. A case of style getting in the way of substance.

[YankeyMCC]

12. Iliad

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Oh god! You said a mouthful with one word!

Ugh!

[YankeyMCC]

21. LoL

I just realized I missread your original post title....I thought I replying to what was the 'oldest' book you've read.

[Curmudgeoness]

24. LOL.....

Thanks for making me laugh. I always feels good.

[mainer]

44. The Odyssey was much better!

And the best book about the Trojan War was really The Aeneid.

[MaineDem]

13. The only thing I can think of is BEOWULF

I'm sure I've read others that have baffled me but, for the life of me, I can't remember them.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. I tried that one too.

I am realizing that there was a lot of books I tried and never finished. And I used to think that I put very few books aside unfinished. Gulp! I was wrong. There appear to have been a lot more than I remembered----maybe because I put these out of my mind....really out of my mind.

[ZombieHorde]

14. Naked Lunch was pretty weird. nt

[Curmudgeoness]

17. That one is totally new to me.

I have never heard of it----but ok, I will avoid it if I ever run across it.

[ZombieHorde]

19. I enjoyed the book when I was in highschool.

It is by William S. Burroughs, so it is well written. Not my favorite book by him, but definitely descriptive.

[Moe Shinola]

27. Naked Lunch

I have to agree, very weird. I like his rants and commentaries much better, as well as his collected letters. His last novel, The Western Lands, is the one where his style came together the best, I think.

[Goblinmonger]

22. Love that book.

Huge influence on the modern novel. It's a weird one, though. Not for everyone.

[Laurian]

18. The Women's Room by Marilyn French

This was not necessarily an odd book, but one I had to stop reading because it was so depressing. At the time (late 70's), I was married, had two children and was working full time. The book is a novel written by feminist Marilyn French. I remember being sad, angry and distressed by the plight of the female characters in the book. It made me think about my own circumstances as well as the general struggles faced by women at that time. It just became too personal, so I had to stop reading it.

I'm wondering if it would have the same effect on me today. It might be interesting with 30+ years of experience, change and perspective.

[Curmudgeoness]

20. I know just what you mean....there have been books

that were just too personal to my own troubles and problems at the time I read them. And books that are very depressing are often too difficult to read.

I am wondering about whether I can read some of the books that I could not understand or get through for other reasons today myself. I know I have been through a lot since the 70's too, and it would be interesting to know if the plight of the characters will feel as devastating as they felt at that time.

I do not know this book, but......I wonder how it would feel to read it today.

[closeupready]

23. I remember that book. It was a Doubleday book of the month selection.

I remember the catalog cautioned it had 'explicit situations', lol.

[japple]

25. John Connally's The Book of Lost Things

I was reading it for a book group, got about 3/4 through it and just couldn't finish it. Too bizarre. In addition, I didn't like any of the characters.

[Curmudgeoness]

26. It really does matter how we feel about the characters.

I know just how you feel, although almost every current "fluff" book fits that category for me. I am thinking all those books with a female heroine (like the DaVinci Code).....I never can stand the female, and the males are all idiots compared to the heroine. I can't stand when everyone is running all over the place, never sleeping, doing more than is humanly possible---those characters annoy me.

I don't know that book though, so I can't comment on it or the characters. Good thing....I have read (or tried to read) too many bizarre books.

[closeupready]

28. The Carnivorous Lamb.

I think much of the story was written as allegory, but I'm not sure. Good, but weird.

[Curmudgeoness]

29. That title is enough to scare me.

If the book is not odd, the title should is!!!

[dimbear]

30. Well, that I could mention here, perhaps "A Voyage to Arcturus." David Lindsay.

Another work of his is also available on the net, at Gutenberg, called "The Haunted Woman." The latter book is almost equally improbable. A modern reworking of "The Haunted Woman" would be an inviting project for a clever author.

Unusual author, Lindsay.

[Curmudgeoness]

31. Improbable books always annoy me.

I hate to spend my whole time with a book shaking my head and saying "this is stupid".

I have used Gutenberg a few times, but I really don't like reading on the computer. But when I have really wanted to read a book, and can't find it easily, I have used Gutenberg.....a wonderful project. I often wish I had the time to volunteer to type books onto it, but that is a big commitment for me right now.

[getting old in mke]

32. Distributed Proofreaders

Actually, the books aren't typed in. Scans are made of the pages and optical character recognition used to try to make sense of it. Depending on the age and condition of the book, this may be very good to pretty challenging.

As you might suspect from that, the major need for Project Gutenberg is not typing, but careful proofreading.

To that end, the Distributed Proofreaders at http://www.pgdp.net exist. They train and mentor and it is really kind of fun finding little things to fix. Texts are rated by difficulty and after on-line training, you start proofing easy texts as a front line proofer. Things generally go through two proofers before hitting formatting and final editing.

Everything is done through a web browser interface.

As you proof more pages, and as succeeding proofers proof your proofs (what a phrase that is), you'll develop skill in spotting things and leave less for the next round. You get feedback on what later proofers found, too. After a while you'll have a high enough score to work in the second round of proofing, or if you like get into the formatting and final preparation.

Things are fed to you one page at a time and that's all they ask--a page a day. It's kinda like Lays potato chips, though, if you have the time--can't just proof one. A page in an easy text takes a couple of minutes, in a medium to hard, rarely more than 5-10 minutes. So it isn't much of a time commitment.

It is pretty cool to see a book or magazine you worked on progress through the process. And you're working with 500+ folks any given day you log on.

Ok, enough of a commercial--can you tell I like the whole thing? I highly recommend going through the beginners FAQ and give it a try. I like to do a page or two in the middle of the day as a break from work.

[Curmudgeoness]

34. Ah, now I get it. I remember looking into it

a couple of years ago when I first found the site, and I forgot the details---possibly because I don't really understand scanning technology. I know it all looks like it is typed in. When I think of scanning pages, I think of it looking like a page. But you made it clear as to how it works.

Thanks for the info. I love that site too. I remember the first time I found it, I was looking for a book that was supposedly the first book addressing pet abuse (right after Black Beauty focusses attention on the plight of carriage horses). That book was called Beautiful Joe, and there it was---free to read. Impressive.

[getting old in mke]

33. I'd forgotten that one.

Always wanted an ulfire colored t-shirt...

[LWolf]

35. The only thing that comes to mind is

"I Just Kept On Smiling," by Simon Burt. It's a short story. It's odd because it's left entirely to the reader to try to analyze the un-named protagonist's actions and motivations, with very few clues to go on.

I "got" "Ishmael." I didn't "get" A Confederacy of Dunces; at least, I didn't get why so many people seemed to find it worth reading. It wasn't odd, though; just irritating.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. Oh no, give me a break!

When I read a story, the last thing that I want is to have to analyze actions and motivations myself....if I could do that, I'd write my own story! Egad. Well, since it is a short story, at least you didn't have to read a whole book to find it out.

I suppose I "got" "Ishmael" too, but I still thought it was an extremely odd way to present the ideas. It could have been worse.

I have yet to get to "A Confederacy of Dunces". But there are thousands of book I haven't got to yet.

[LWolf]

37. I had to TEACH that story.

To middle schoolers. Based on the vocabulary and syntax, I'd say it's a few decades old. Probably as old as me, lol.

The protagonist is a student in an all-boys Catholic boarding school. He doesn't relate well to others, and limits interaction, including speaking, whenever he can. He steals for the sake of stealing, not because he wants the stuff, but because he SEEMS to like having secrets. When he smiles, it SEEMS to be a weapon used against people, rather than an authentic pleased emotion. SEEMS, because there is almost no dialogue, and the narration is spare and uninformative. He gets angry when people wish him happy birthday, he throws away his cards, he gets angry when another boy takes credit for his thefts, even though that boy is severely punished...but he never says anything about it. He just smiles.

I guess it's a good piece for teaching inference; there's sure as hell nothing direct to go on. As a reader, I'm left, after applying all my skills to make some kind of meaning, wondering, "What the hell's the point?"

[YellowRubberDuckie]

38. Flood by Steven Baxter

Water consumes the world. It's heartbreaking, it's interesting, the science is kind of crazy and implausible, but leaving reality behind is wonderful.

[Curmudgeoness]

40. Is that a flood as in Noah's Flood?

Or is it a second, modern flood?

Actually, many books that use science theories are implausible, and that makes it more entertaining. The stretches they make can be hilarious. What is scary is a book with science that is quite possible.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

42. Second.

It takes place in the future.

[Rowdyboy]

45. He's written a followup book called "Ark"......if you liked Flood you should definitely read Ark....

From Amazon:

"Baxter's riveting follow-up to bestseller Flood tempers the hope of humanity coming together in the face of a crisis with an often brutal undercurrent of realism, resulting in a sequel that surpasses the original in almost every way. Set during the later years of the earth-destroying flood, the book follows Holle Groundwater and her friends as they go from being six-year-old students of an experimental space academy to a years-long trip through the cosmos in search of Earth 2. Characteristic of Baxter's writing, the novel can be depressing at times but still serves as a study of humanity's ability to adapt and make painful decisions for the greater good. With an almost completely new cast, readers old and new will be engaged by the strength and scope of Baxter's vision, and the all-too-human characters he creates."

[YellowRubberDuckie]

47. I know. I have just been so wrapped up with some other things...

...that I keep forgetting about it.
There were the Hunger Games Books to read, don'cha know?

[Rowdyboy]

49. I really looking forwrd to them....probably will start this week.....

Just paid off my library fines and had card renewed earlier today.

[Habibi]

39. Money, by Martin Amis

I don't actually remember much about it, except thinking "Huh. This is one weird-ass novel," and finding it hilarious enough to keep reading.

[Curmudgeoness]

41. I have not heard of that one.

Was it supposed to be funny? From the title, I would not expect hilarious.

[Rowdyboy]

46. Giles Goat Boy or the Revised New Sylabbus by John Barth (1966)

"Giles Goat-Boy is a farcical twist on human history. Structured loosely around Otto Rank’s theories about the ritual wandering hero and Joseph Campbell’s “chart for a perfect mythological hero” (another obsession of Barth’s), the book tells the story of a would-be Messiah raised by goats who launches on a voyage of prophecy and discovery in a giant University, which is really the world in microcosm. Got that?

The book is rigidly structured (as many of Barth’s tales are). But there is so much pleasure to be derived from finding the concordances between the University-world and the real world (East Campus is the Soviet Union, Enos Enoch is Jesus Christ, the Quiet Riot is the Cold War). The mock introduction by four “editors” of the book is a classic text in itself."

I read all 800 pages but it nearly drove me nuts.

He also did a weird piece called "The Sotweed Factor" (basically the Henp Seller) set in 1600's England and colonial America. Barth is highly acclaimed but hard as hell to wade through.

[getting old in mke]

50. Ontogeny recapitulates cosmogeny

GGB bent my brain for a while in grad school (~1980). Who knows, maybe the fictional university encouraged me to leave the physical one....

Tried three times to get _The Sotweed Factor_ going, but each time fizzled out shortly after Ebenezer Cooke got to the new world. Though I have told folks about the idea of an epic poem "The Marylandiad." Maybe someday I'll write "The Wisconsiniad"--there are some epic themes going on here...

[Rowdyboy]

51. Its really tough to slog through....I'm glad I finished but to be honest

I don't even remember the ending. Its been thirty plus years

"The Wisconsiniad " could easily be epic with a cast of villians second to none!

[JitterbugPerfume]

48. Valis, by PK Dick

and by the way, I loved it.

[Curmudgeoness]

52. It is interesting how many oddest book

are books that the reader loved.

For me, it was not that way. But I am thinking of reading a few of these books when I get through my pile of books I bought at the library used book sale.