# Odd, quirky, weird, off-beat books



## OurJud (Jul 5, 2013)

You don't even have to have enjoyed them, but I thought a discussion outside that of mainstream fiction could be interesting.

I'll start with Erlend Loe's _Naïve. Super_.

I almost gave up on this, but due to its relatively short length (197 pages) I stuck with it, and am still not sure if it's a work of genius or a joke.

Written in first-person, it tells the story of an unnamed, 25-year-old Norwegian who quits Uni and travels to America to look after his brother's apartment while he is away on business. While there he spends his time pondering the meaning of life. He becomes obsessed with the concept of time and whether it even has any real bearing on our lives, and is constantly faxing his meteorologist friend with questions and theories. The book also contains quite a number of pages showing hand-written lists (he's obsessed with lists) and printouts of library search results he and his brother have conducted on authors who have Norwegian taboo words for names.

The writing style appears to be incredibly simplistic. He doesn't use speech marks for dialogue and writes incredibly short paragraphs, many of them single sentence, and it was this that initially put me off. However, I stuck with it, and on reflection am glad I did, if only so that I can say I've read it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1841956724/


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## FleshEater (Jul 5, 2013)

So far, from what I've read, these are what stick out to me as weird, or rather interesting and stylistic stories.

John Dies at the End
Naked Lunch
House of Leaves (I couldn't finish it)
Any Palahniuk or Amy Hempel story


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## Pluralized (Jul 5, 2013)

Infinite Jest -- Wallace
Foucault's Pendulum -- Eco
The Acid House -- Welsh

Unorthodox. Weird. 

A Confederacy of Dunces -- Toole
The White Tiger -- Adiga
The All of It -- can't recall author

Unique, quirky. 

Loved them all for different reasons. I'm going to check out House of Leaves and Naive Super. Great thread!


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## FleshEater (Jul 5, 2013)

I've been wanting to read Infinite Jest...I just keep forgetting that I want to.


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## OurJud (Jul 7, 2013)

I've just remembered another. In fact I'm now wondering how I could possibly forget it.

_The Gas_ by Charles Platt. The plot involves a noxious gas that turns anyone who breaths it in, into a raving sexual maniac, void of ALL morals. I read the whole thing with my mouth hanging open in disbelief.

If you can hold of it, I suggest you do, just for the experience.


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