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/lit/ - Literature

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750232 No.750232 [Reply] [Original]

What is your favorite horror/terror book/story? I'm looking for more material to read, and I fucking love the surreal "out of this world" disturbing stuff that Lovecraft writes.

So if im in love with Lovecraft, what else should I read /lit/? Preferably modern literature.

>> No.750267

Have you read House of Leaves, OP? It's either a brilliantly unconventional horror novel or a gimmicky piece of shit, depending on who you ask, but worth a look at least.

>> No.750284

>>750267
Yes I have heard of it. However i am reluctant to read it because it seems like such a tremendous task to try and make sense of it. I've heard of people writing pages and pages of notes while they read just so they can figure out what the hell is going on. Lovecraft's stories are just pleasurable to read. I want something really creepy though. Nothing is off limits.

>> No.750290

>>750284
I'm reading it now and it's not really pages-and-pages-of-notes level confusing; a lot is unexplained or only hinted at, yeah, but that just makes it creepier. The sections with the Minotaur are probably the only time I've ever been unnerved by anything in a horror novel before, actually.

>> No.750303

>>750290
Interesting. I think I'll tackle that book this summer then. What elements of horror does House of Leaves make use of? Monsters, being lost, insanity, parallel dimensions, etc?

>> No.750318

>>750303
Being lost is a huge part of it. It's about a house that gives a big "Fuck you" to the laws of physics and grows extra hallways, changes size, and so on, and a good portion of the book is about the house's owners trying to explore these additional hallways and figure out what the hell's going on. The other part takes the form of annotations and footnotes on the first one, and is the story of a young man who is being driven insane by just reading about this house.

>> No.750325

>>750318
"and is the story of a young man who is being driven insane by just reading about this house."

Hahahaha. So the reader is going slightly crazy by reading about a guy who is going crazy by reading about a house. My god.

>> No.750339

>>750325
Yeah, it's...a queer book. So far it's damn good, though.

>> No.750368

>>750339
Thank you. I'll read it this summer. As well as all the Lovecraft stuff.

>> No.750372

The most unnerving thing I've ever read is the William Gibson short, "Hinterlands."

>> No.750380

>>750372
I'll check it out.

>> No.750456

read thomas ligotti and robert w. chambers

>> No.752228

There's an excellent short story called "The Yellow Wallpaper" you should check out.

>> No.752239

the house on the borderlands

>> No.752254

whats so good about lovecraft anyways?

>> No.752256

>>752228

Haha, I had to read that in school. It wasn't bad but I was damn tired of it by the time we finished working on it.

>> No.752282

>>752256
Man, overanalyzing can really ruin a story for you, that sucks.

Bizarrely, my teacher hadn't considered the supernatural possession or descent-into-madness hallucinations interpretation. Only saw feminist and possibly racist allegory. Which, as literature, work, but aren't nearly as scary.

>> No.752293

If you like Lovecraft, you'll probably want to check out Arthur Machen and Lord Dunsany. They were some of Lovecraft's favourites.

I specially reccomend Machen's The Great God Pan; "Oh, Austin, how can it be? How is it that the very sunlight does not turn to blackness before this thing, the hard earth melt and boil beneath such a burden?".