Violent Books

I rarely read much at all, but one book that I did read, as it was an assignment in my british literature class, was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is a story about a man who made a potion that seperates the two portions of his personality, one an antisocial loner, and the other a deranged murderer. There was only one person murdered in the story but the graphic detail of his fate kept me interested.

If any of you guys are avid book readers, can anyone suggest some reading material for someone who likes to read about serial killers? Preferably from the perspective of the victim or the murderer, none of those crappy detective stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Sade

also check out American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis.
you may have seen the movie with Christian Bale, but it pales in comparison to the book.

There are books of the Dexter TV Series. If you've not seen the show, he's a forensic investigator who is also an ethical serial killer, and makes blood his life's passion.

I haven't read the books, but I imagine the TV show is a watered-down-for-the-masses version of them. Maybe worth a look?

I love violent books. There's nothing better than having all possible information in a single book, or the very long novels with lots of action. The way of writing something cohesive in 1000 pages astounds me.

I guess you could read some Poe short stories if you want something more bite-sized.

You see, my previous post was about which books qualify better as violent weapons :)

That's some good joke explaining, there.

Creaphis said:

That's some good joke explaining, there.

Works for me anyway.

Superstitious, by RL Stine. Don't laugh. It's actually pretty violent. Definitely not a kids book.

Hahaha, I remember as a teenager my mother read one of my RL Stine books. She didn't sleep properly for a week :P

I'm pretty sure it was Hit and Run. Though was just creepy, not violent.

Plea of Insanity by Jilliane Hoffman was pretty gruesome (the crime committed per se). It was quite an interesting read.

If you're a blind person, a cheese grater should do the trick.

If you like violence spiced with humour - Tom Sharpe's The Throwback is worth a read.

JohnnyRancid said:

an antisocial loner

Perhaps you mean "asocial/unsociable/introverted"? I hear so many people use the word "antisocial" to mean "avoidant" when in fact it often means the opposite - extremely confrontational and antagnostic. Actually I've found 3 basic categories of the definition, which are definitely not all synonymous.

1: withdrawn/shy/introverted

2: unfeeling/uncaring about others or their own relation to society

3: extrovertedly antagonistic/deliberately criminal/sadistic

So you probably could use that word, but I think it lends itself to too many definitions (the first and last are kind of opposites) so I'd recommend using a clearer adjective to avoid confusion or being perceieved as an ignoramus by picky persons like myself ;)

Sounds like you need a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator quiz.

Unsurprisingly, when 4chan do those, 95% of them get INxx, with a strong trend towards INTJ.

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck was pretty violent, though only in the way it described the ways people died in battle. I'm reading La Morte d'Arthur right now. I'll see how it compares.

Clive Barker. Anything by him.
Or, A Clockwork Orange. A taste of the good old ultra-violence.

Alboroto said:

A Clockwork Orange. A taste of the good old ultra-violence.

That book is so hard to read, mainly due to the droog dialect. I need several hours alone in a quiet room to get anywhere with it. The movie was great tho :P

Super Jamie said:

That book is so hard to read, mainly due to the droog dialect. I need several hours alone in a quiet room to get anywhere with it. The movie was great tho :P

Many good things are left out from the movie...

Alboroto said:

Clive Barker. Anything by him.

Weaveworld.

Super Jamie said:

That book is so hard to read, mainly due to the droog dialect. I need several hours alone in a quiet room to get anywhere with it. The movie was great tho :P

I had the same problem, skipping back and forth between novel and dictionary tended to break the flow of the story.

All I read in school is a about a Girl who had an identity crisis and had a split personality or something. Took place in maybe the 50s.

Danarchy said:

I'm reading La Morte d'Arthur right now. I'll see how it compares.

Read this recently for a class. There are some very violent parts in it, especially in book 5. It's all in that archaic sort of style, though.

The Edge series by George G Gilman

Description of one here: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/2008/11/edge-california-killing.html

Which is, incedentally, the only one i have read so far, the violence is properly brutal, aside from the usual bone-breaking punch ups even the shootings go into loving detail on the gurgling and twitching of the victims.

There was an Italian comic series based on the books too. I don't think it was ever released outside Italy though, or if it was it's bloody rare - the novels themselves are rare enough but i found a seam of them on a bookstall in Lincoln and bought up an armful.

The same blog had some more articles about them in November 2008