What's the wildest book you've ever read?
What's the wildest book you've ever read?
If only the sequel kept to the same ideaā¦
āDude, This Book Is Full of Spidersā? THEN WHY WAS MINE FULL OF SCORPIONSā½
The one that included the most wildlife might be hard to know exactly, but āThe Lost Worldā by Arthur Conan Doyle might be a contender.
One of my favourite books, and one that gave me lots to think about was His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.
The most ādifferentā setting for a book that Iāve read might be The Planiverse by AKA Dewdney, which takes place in a 2d world with thought out and realistic physics and societies.
Not a book, but a webcomic: elan.school
Be careful what you wish for OP, this is THE craziest shit you will ever read and the worst part is that itās all true.
Also, its VERY addictive so clear your schedule.
Youāve been warned.
Yup, I started reading out of curiosity from a suggestion on a thread just like this one, then found myself 10 hours later feeling like Iād come down from an acid trip.
Iām jealous of the people who can take that ride now, but also glad my ride with it is over. If that makes any sense.
What years were you in Elan, since you are the obvious expert? And even if the Elan part was creative fiction, are you saying that I shouldnāt care about the children who really went through that? Should I watch Saving Private Ryan and not trouble my brains and emotions about war because āTom Hanks wasnāt really a soldierā?
You sound like a sociopath.
The Book of Rack the Healer by Zach Hughes was pretty wild.
Itās āNew waveā sci-fi from the 1970ās, and revolves around these mutated humans in a deeply poisonous and radioactive world where itās forbidden to dig into the earth.
The humans have evolved a carapice and internal air sacks that they fill to hold their breath before leaving their safe organic dome homes that change color depending on their mood. Some of the domes have women in them that donāt seem capable of complex thought, and live purely through sensory input, are telepathic, and are basically constantly edging themselves all day.
Itās a drug fueled fever dream, for sure.
I found my next read. Copy ordered.
I read Mother Load by Zach Huges decades ago. Not as strange as the one you describe but I still remember it.
Just finished this one. And honestly, it broke my brain and how I interpret other written narratives.
2nd on the physical copy. This text doesnāt work otherwise.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an obvious but nonetheless relevant answer. What a ride.
Also Infinite Jest.
Dhalgren by Samuel Delany
(Close race with House of Leaves, but ultimately House of Leaves was telling a specific story, whereas Dhalgren is a semi-incoherent drug trip. Loved both books, though.)
I'd say the first book of The Chronicles of Thomas covenant the unbeliever was a wild trip.
In the story, Thomas covenant has leprosy. Due to the leprosy he is numb from the neck down even though he can still walk. He has no sensation when he touches anything and he cannot engage in his chosen profession which is writing. In a fit of pique he rescues a girl that almost gets hit by a car and gets isekaied.
This was written in the late '70s so it was not a common trope at the time.
He arrives in a world of magic on top of a mountain covered in Giant steps, he crawls his way down the mountain and encounters a girl who uses the magic of the land to heal him of his leprosy.
Believing this is all a dream and trying to prove to himself that this is not real, he rapes the girl.
The girls seems very distraught but pulls herself together and guides him into town and that is when he discovers that the white gold wedding ring on his finger is the source of wild magic.
There is a great evil on the land that plans to destroy everything and he is the chosen person, the only person who can stop it.
He has to fight against his disbelief of the world while reconciling his abhorrent actions with his own internal sense of morality in order to have a chance to go home again.
This book spawned a 10 book series covering hundreds of years of history in the land with Thomas Covenant's battle with the forces of evil and the lives of the people of the land resting in his leprosy numbed hands.
It's an amazing work but it is a rough read.
Indeed. When saltheart foamfollower undergoes the lava caamora? Like I don't cry but that brought a tear to my eye.
There is a final four books out which are of a different caliber than the first six but not a terrible read.
Philip K Dick - The three stigmata of palmer eldritch.
Itās like a dream, where you forget where you came from, but at the same time there are powerful themes that are personally and emotionally affecting. Like an acid trip or religious experience, you arenāt the same person after youāve finished it, whatever lesson you got from it.