Recs if you like Amerika...

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

For when you need to wallow in melancholy and misery: a collection of pessimistic, cynical, downbeat, depressing, doom and gloom fiction for my disillusioned friends.

More to come!

Got the holiday blues? Check out my list Christmas with the Cranks!

"Turn me over, I'm done on this side!" —St. Lawrence, whilst roasting on a spit

Gallows humor, black comedy, l'humour noir — whatever you call it, this is the place for it. This list includes André Breton's seminal anthology of dark humor, a number of the works excerpted in this anthology, and beyond. You can find a link to the complete contents of Breton's anthology in the comments.

Want more weird humor? Check out my list Nitpicky Neuroticism (Comedy Edition)!

"Allegory of the Cave", a story inside "The Republic", is about prisoners chained inside a dark cave with shadows of puppets on the wall. The prisoners mistake these shadows for reality. When one prisoner escapes into the outside world, the sunlight hurts his eyes, but he eventually sees real objects and the sun. When he returns to free the others, they reject and mock him. This story has inspired several books, which focus on ignorance of society, followed by discovery of truth.

This is the compendium of books from the 2012 edition.

wenn wir uns selbst fehlen, fehlt uns doch alles.