Horror

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>>7793904

Lovecraft
Poe
Ligotti
Clive Barker's Books of Blood
Algernon Blackwood
etc

1 The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
2 The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green
3 To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (white)

This might sound like a shitpost so bear with me. I know this isn't traditional horror. But these books make the ordinary reader reveal in a flash human nature in all its horror. The maudlin, hypocritical sentimentality. The thoughtless, shapeless banality, more sinister than any incomprehensible monster of Lovecraftian ken for its very comprehensibility,

>>7793963
I think The Alchemist works better as a graphic novel

>>7793963
Thanks. I've read 1 and 3, but you'd have to convince me on 2.

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"Ratman's Notebooks" involves a social outcast who befriends a family of rats, and gradually trains them to get revenge on those he feels have wronged him.

It's also known as "Willard", as that was the title of the movie it was adapted to and later publications reflected that.

>>7794047
Not OP, but stuff like this is the reason I still come to /lit/. Would never have heard of this book otherwise, and it looks really interesting.

>>7794233

It's phenomenal, I usually prefer my horror doled out in short story format but Ratman's Notebook is hands down my favorite novel of the genre.

From what I gather the author never really wrote anything else, though, which is a pretty big bummer.

>>7794343
>From what I gather the author never really wrote anything else, which is a pretty big bummer.

I have some good news anon.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22318706-monkeyface

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6119435-the-burnaby-experiments

>>7793904

I envy you, OP.

That said, I don't have much to add to the others' recommendations except for a humble suggestion coming from personal experience. What I do is I read books that evoke a completely different -- if not opposite -- atmosphere than the one which my reading environment provides. I read stories about the lead mines of Kolyma on starry summer nights and stories about never-ending afternoons on Greek beaches when I'm snowed in. And I read gothic stories on said Greek beaches and comfy travel diaries under leafless trees in the dark, with a flashlight or the screen backlight further blinding me to the breathing void around. Mind you, I don't do this to escape the surroundings! Quite the opposite, you will find the contrast enhances both what's around you and what's inside you. You will feel the keen, dry cold within as sweat turned to salt clings to the brow. And vice versa.

So how about this time you turn away from the usual staples of horror. Save that Ligotti and Machen for a Sunday afternoon by the duck pond. Save your blunt slab of soul-shutting fear for when you're slouching in your backyard's lawn chair and the kids are yelping as the spray from the water pistols reaches the healthy, UV protected skin. Then you'll know it's real and not the wind. For next weekend bring some Calvino, Carr, Tabucchi, some potboiler -- hell, some good children's book. Then you'll know not to blame it on your primed imagination when you hear what you will hear and you see what you will eventually see.

Arthur Machen, House of Souls
Algernon Blackwood, Collected Stories
Ted Klein, Dark Gods

Why would you do that to yourself OP?... Are you a masochist.