reading list
American Psycho
Brett Easton Ellis
Most fucked up book I've ever read by a good margin. Exceeds Big Driver from Full Dark, No Stars in terms of both amount of depiction of sexual violence. Depictions of non-violent sexual acts are also numerous (though they frequently become violent in nature), begging the uncomfortable question of self about why I enjoyed this book, but dislike commercial smut. I think it's because these scenes motivate the plot and do what they're supposed to in making me very uncomfortable instead of aroused.
The spectre of AIDS, Les Misérables, and Donald Trump is in the air in 1980s NYC. Patrick Bateman, his friends, their homophobia, and the fact that –for the first few chapters, at least– Patrick Bateman is the least offensive of his ribald friends is crazy. It's not until the chapter entitled "Tunnels" that Bateman starts to give the impression that he has a capacity for violence, but then it doesn't stop.
I do love the idea of being so bored on a first date that you start wondering whether or not you should share your pro-apartheid stance, let alone try to convince your unsuspecting victim to share your viewpoint. That and the absurdity of "free range squid"
There's this recurring theme of all these shmucks mistaking each other for other shmucks.
The irony of this novel is that by name dropping every single product, appliance, song, trend, brand, or trendy thing – Ellis attempted to make the vapid superficiality of the characters and their eventual obsolence age like fine wine, however the book becoming an instant classic kind of defeats this. "Cool it with the antisemitic remarks!"
related
| Read | Author | Title | Pages | Published | Genre | Rating | Rating' | Tags | Recommended by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/9/25 | Brett Easton Ellis | American Psycho | 399 | 1991 | Horror | 7.750 | 7.500 | ||
| 4/9/19 | Stephen King | Full Dark, No Stars | 368 | 2010 | Horror | 8.000 | 7.778 | vilereferenced | Dad |
| 10/2/25 | Brett Easton Ellis | The Informers | 240 | 1994 | Fiction | 7.000 | 6.667 | vile | |
| 10/30/24 | David Foster Wallace | Infinite Jest | 1451 | 1996 | Fiction | 10.000 | 10.000 | vileConsumerism | |
| 4/16/25 | Blake Butler | Uxa.Gov | 356 | 2024 | Horror | 4.500 | 3.889 | vile | |
| 1/7/25 | William Peter Blatty | The Exorcist | 340 | 1971 | Horror | 8.000 | 7.778 | vile | Dad |
| 9/29/24 | Joe Hill | Heart Shaped Box | 402 | 2000 | Horror | 6.750 | 6.389 | vile | |
| 7/6/23 | Dan Simmons | Carrion Comfort | 802 | 1989 | Horror | 8.563 | 8.403 | vile | |
| 10/6/26 | Rohinton Mistry | A Fine Balance | 624 | 1995 | Fiction | 7.650 | 7.389 | vile | Kayla |
| 6/26/26 | William T. Vollmann | Europe Central | 832 | 2005 | Historical Fiction | 8.550 | 8.389 | vile | |
| 5/5/26 | Brian Evenson | Altmann's Tongue | 278 | 1994 | Fiction | 6.500 | 6.111 | vile | |
| 3/20/26 | Roberto Bolaño | Antwerp | 119 | 2002 | Fiction | 7.250 | 6.944 | vile | |
| 1/30/26 | William H. Gass | The Tunnel | 652 | 1995 | Fiction | 8.550 | 8.389 | vile | Ben Roth |
| 1/19/26 | Raymond Carver | What We Talk About When We Talk About Love | 176 | 1981 | Fiction | 6.500 | 6.111 | vile | |
| 11/27/25 | Vladimir Sorokin | Their Four Hearts | 204 | 1994 | Fiction | 7.500 | 7.222 | vile | |
| 10/12/25 | László Krasznahorkai | Sátántangó | 333 | 1985 | Fiction | 7.850 | 7.611 | vile | |
| 9/16/25 | David Foster Wallace | Brief Interviews with Hideous Men | 288 | 1999 | Fiction | 8.633 | 8.481 | vile | |
| 8/3/25 | Roberto Bolaño | The Savage Detectives | 656 | 1998 | Fiction | 7.167 | 6.852 | playboy | Dasha |
| 5/27/25 | Hubert Selby Jr. | Last Exit to Brooklyn | 320 | 1964 | Fiction | 8.708 | 8.565 | vile | King |
| 4/19/25 | Vladimir Nabokov | Despair | 240 | 1934 | Fiction | 7.000 | 6.667 | referenced | |
| 10/18/24 | John Kennedy Toole | A Confederacy of Dunces | 405 | 1980 | Fiction | 7.750 | 7.500 | "oh my god" | Tommy A. |
| 9/9/24 | Thomas Pynchon | V. | 545 | 1963 | Fiction | 7.221 | 6.912 | vile | |
| 8/29/24 | José Saramago | Blindness | 352 | 1995 | Sci-Fi | 7.000 | 6.667 | vile | |
| 8/28/24 | Margaret Atwood | Oryx and Crake MaddAddam (1) | 400 | 2003 | Sci-Fi | 6.000 | 5.556 | vile | Steg |
| 8/25/24 | George R.R. Martin | A Dance with Dragons A Song of Ice and Fire (5) | 1056 | 2011 | Fantasy | 7.500 | 7.222 | vile | |
| 7/28/24 | Ursula K. Le Guin | Four Ways to Forgiveness Hainish Cycle (7) | 320 | 1995 | Sci-Fi | 5.500 | 5.000 | vile | |
| 7/16/24 | Mark Z. Danielewski | House of Leaves, 2nd Ed. | 709 | 2000 | Ergodic | 10.000 | 10.000 | playboy | |
| 6/26/24 | Various | American Short Fiction Vol. 9, Issue 33 | 128 | 2006 | Fiction | 7.625 | 7.361 | vile | |
| 5/30/24 | Vladimir Nabokov | Lolita | 336 | 1955 | Fiction | 8.213 | 8.014 | vile | |
| 4/9/24 | Roberto Bolaño | 2666: A Novel | 912 | 2004 | Fiction | 8.150 | 7.944 | vile | roon |
| 9/1/17 | Hunter S. Thompson | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas | 225 | 1971 | Fiction | 6.000 | 5.556 | playboy | Alex W. |
| 10/31/26 | Steven L. Peck | A Short Stay in Hell | 110 | 2012 | Horror | 7.350 | 7.056 | ||
| 1/5/26 | Brian Evenson | A Collapse of Horses | 220 | 2016 | Horror | 6.750 | 6.389 | Ben Roth | |
| 3/2/25 | Cassandra Khaw | The Salt Grows Heavy | 112 | 2023 | Horror | 7.650 | 7.389 | ||
| 3/1/25 | Iain Reid | I'm Thinking of Ending Things | 256 | 2016 | Horror | 7.250 | 6.944 | ||
| 1/18/25 | Stephen King | Lisey's Story | 527 | 2006 | Horror | 6.917 | 6.574 | Banks G. | |
| 1/11/25 | Felix Blackwell | Stolen Tongues | 320 | 2017 | Horror | 6.750 | 6.389 | ||
| 12/10/24 | Stephen King | Misery | 432 | 1987 | Horror | 6.600 | 6.222 | Dad | |
| 10/29/24 | Sarah Moss | Ghost Wall | 145 | 2018 | Horror | 7.500 | 7.222 | ||
| 10/26/24 | Tanya Pell | Cicada | 166 | 2024 | Horror | 6.500 | 6.111 | ||
| 9/27/24 | Josh Malerman | Incidents Around the House | 385 | 2024 | Horror | 6.750 | 6.389 | ||
| 9/19/24 | Gus Moreno | This Thing Between us | 149 | 2021 | Horror | 6.125 | 5.694 | ||
| 8/9/24 | John Langan | The Fisherman | 263 | 2016 | Horror | 7.833 | 7.593 | ||
| 7/7/24 | Stephen King | Pet Sematary | 560 | 1983 | Horror | 8.750 | 8.611 | Dad | |
| 6/30/24 | Stephen King | Carrie | 212 | 1974 | Horror | 8.000 | 7.778 | Dad | |
| 6/10/24 | M. R. James | Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad | 25 | 1904 | Horror | 6.750 | 6.389 | Chabon | |
| 2/19/24 | Stephen King | Bag of Bones | 607 | 1998 | Horror | 6.625 | 6.250 | John B. | |
| 2/9/24 | Richard Bachman | Rage | 211 | 1977 | Horror | 7.375 | 7.083 | ||
| 12/4/23 | Agustina Bazterrica | Tender is the Flesh | 224 | 2017 | Horror | 6.500 | 6.111 | Jessika | |
| 7/13/23 | Christopher Beuhlman | Between Two Fires | 436 | 2012 | Horror | 6.813 | 6.458 | Nick W. | |
| 5/23/23 | Stephen King | Four Past Midnight | 960 | 2004 | Horror | 7.000 | 6.667 | John B. | |
| 5/23/23 | Stephen King | The Langoliers | 304 | 1990 | Horror | 7.000 | 6.667 | John B. | |
| 12/12/22 | Stephen King | Skeleton Crew | 512 | 1985 | Horror | 8.000 | 7.778 | ||
| 7/13/22 | Stephen King | The Outsider | 576 | 2018 | Horror | 6.500 | 6.111 | ||
| 6/23/22 | Stephen King | If It Bleeds | 448 | 2020 | Horror | 6.500 | 6.111 | ||
| 1/20/22 | Stephen King | The Apt Pupil | 224 | 1998 | Horror | 6.000 | 5.556 | Jack M. | |
| 10/9/16 | Harlan Ellison | I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream | 163 | 1967 | Horror | 7.250 | 6.944 | ||
| 10/9/16 | Charlotte Stetson | The Yellow Wallpaper | 29 | 1892 | Horror | 6.500 | 6.111 |