Alexandra Kleeman
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I want everybody to read this book. In this bizarre debut, main character, A, lives with her roommate, B who is starting to get more and more like her. Their world is strange. A is weirdly obsessed with the complex and disturbing commercials for a not-really-food called Kandy Kakes. Grocery stores shift aisles around regularly to optimize time spent wandering confused, buying things they don't need. And don't even get me started on the cult. Every sentence Kleeman writes is beautiful, disturbing, funny, and/or startling. This novel is some insane and clever commentary on society and body image.
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In this quiet (ha!) novel, a man confesses to committing a crime where eight elderly people disappeared from their homes, despite not having done it. Then he refuses to speak ever again. This incident is explored through a collection of interviews with related individuals, documents, and photos. And it's not gimmicky at all. I felt like I was carefully looking through peculiar evidence. Many individuals tell what seem like unrelated, dreamy anecdotes. I still can't stop thinking about them and what they could mean. Beautiful.
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This standalone graphic novel is fuuuucked up. It's a whimsical little garden party with tiny characters, but it's also a gruesome horror show. Very much a fairy tale. A disturbing fairy tale. The cutesy drawings of maggoty little fairies continue to haunt, and delight, me. So much fun to read. Startlingly funny.
Jagannath by Karin TidbeckMY REVIEW
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This is one of my favorite short story collections ever. Swedish author Karin Tidbeck creates the most sublime little realities that we get to visit. They are VERY dreamy and very Scandinavian. There's a link to one of the stories from the collection in my original review. If you like speculative fiction, this is not a collection to miss.
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A girls journey in crossing the border from Mexico to America is chronicled in strange, fluid storytelling. At once gritty and fairy tale-like. This is a short lyrical tale about language, family, and culture. I felt like I was floating through it. It wasn't a favorite of mine overall, but there were some parts that got me right in the heart.
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll ADD TO GOODREADS
Through the Woods is a collection of short comics from Emily Carroll. They are all so creepy and stunning, I don't even know where to begin. It's like light-hearted horror with some of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen. If you're a fan of comics, you must check this out. They're a delight to read. I felt like I was in a quiet, wintry nightmare the whole time. You can read one of the comics from the collection here. DO IT.
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This is a straight up horror novel for fans of Blair Witch Project. The story follows some campers as they get lost in a forest where things aren't quite what they seem. It is HEART THUMPINGLY tense almost the entire time. I was so spooked. But then, halfway through, Nevill flips the script and takes the story to a whole different place. I liked the first half better, but the second was definitely dreamy and weird. I felt like I had been hit over the head as the madness ensued.
MY REVIEW
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In this novel, a collection of unrelated people lose stuff. Their sense of direction, the front of their house, their place of work (like physically it's gone), etc. Also a girl turns into a tree? It's a really whimsical read.
X'ed Out by Charles BurnsADD TO GOODREADS
The first in a trilogy, X'ed Out is a graphic novel that opens with the main character waking up to see a hole in his wall. And when he climbs through it, following his cat who had died, he ends up in a CRAZY world. You can tell the difference because he suddenly looks cartoony. Also there are significantly more worm things with faces. The book moves fluidly back and forth between his adventures in this strange world and flash backs of what went wrong in his real life. If you've read Black Hole by Charles Burns, expect the same kind of disturbing nonsense that you could never dream up on your own. This trilogy is great.
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell ADD TO GOODREADS
Karen Russell is the word goddess of my life, and this is one of my favorite books. Her writing is actually superb. Some of the most gorgeous writing I've ever encountered. So she can deftly whip up some weird ass atmosphere. Having your setting be a run down theme park in a swamp certainly helps with that atmosphere. A family copes with the death of the mother in very different, surreal ways. The main character is like always wandering around in a dream. There are definitely ghost boyfriends too. Among SO MANY things. Please go read this, it's beautiful.
The Woods, Vol. 1 by James Tynion IVADD TO GOODREADS
Do you like LOST? Do you like comics? Read this one. A high school is all of a sudden transported to some whole other, slightly magical world that nobody can make heads or tails of. It is just my type of weird. There's a hint at maybe aliens or at least something Ancient Aliens-y?? It's like The Breakfast Club, but with more angry monsters.
All the Birds, Singing by Evie WyldADD TO GOODREADS
Actually one of my favorite books of all time that I NEED everybody to read. Jake White lives on her own on an island with some sheep. But something starts to kill her sheep. The atmosphere is so tense; Wyld's writing so amazing. Every other chapter it switches back to Jake's past and how she got there. But it's told reverse chronologically, so at first it's confusing, but then you appreciate how things are being revealed to you. Very dreamy, very recommended.
The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen PhillipsMY REVIEW
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Back in nightmare town!! Everything about The Beautiful Bureaucrat is uncanny and odd and tense. Her boss doesn't have a face. Her job doesn't make sense (hellooooo anxiety dreams) and she just types strings of numbers in a tiny office that has dirty handprints on the wall. One day her husband disappears then a couple days later he's back with no explanation. And learning more about the corporation she works for doesn't seem to help. I laughed, I cringed, I gasped. Helen Phillips is one hell of a writer. I couldn't leave this nightmare world once I had started; it was too good to put down.
The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac by Sharma ShieldsMY REVIEW
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In this novel, there are sasquatches and witches and other cryptids hanging out with humans. And they seem metaphorical. But also they're just characters in the novel, nbd.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeerMY REVIEW
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Of course I have to mention the Southern Reach Trilogy for the umpteenth time. Annihilation, the first in the trilogy, is like the most tense, surreal nightmare/dream you could ever had. A group of four unnamed women take an expedition into a place called Area X. Every expedition beforehand has failed (everyone dies or everyone kills each other or everyone disappears or everyone shows up much later than dies of cancer, etc.). They have no idea what to expect. It's a short, transporting read that you can finish in one sitting. Oh my goodness, I love this book.
What are your favorite dream-like books?