"Easy Reading"

Let me be clear - I'm not looking for books with easy *subject matter*. I want to read something that'll make my brain leak out of my ears.

What I'm looking for are books that are *physically easy to read*: Easy to hold in one hand and belt out a few pages on the bus.

Anyway, here's a list of books that fit into the pocket of a reasonable coat:

**Extinction Journals** by Jeremy Robert Johnson (84). Funny and terrifying in equal measure. Not a recommend for those with an aversion to insects.

**Fain the Sorcerer** by Steve Aylett (96). Energetic prose frolics in infinite possibility. Cheerful, funny and to the point; a silly story held aloft by magic.

**A Short Stay in Hell** by Steven L. Peck (104). A little romp through basically the nicest hell you could ask for. Not necessarily for the squeamish, features >!excruciating limb injury!<. An actual take on Borges.

**Corporate Body** by R. A. Busby (109). Body horror! The only book so far to actually make me literally vomit.

**The Wingspan of Severed Hands** by Joe Koch (110). The most difficult book on this list by a margin; the book clings precariously onto the precipice into nonsense. Nevertheless intense, emotional and ultimately satisfying. The injury to limb in this one perhaps goes without saying.

**You Should have Left** by Daniel Kehlmann (111). The *House of Leaves* killer. Terrifying without being bloody.

**The Factory** by Hiroko Oyamada (116). A "zone" in it's own right, the eponymous Factory warps everyone's lives, the ecology it sits within and even >!time itself!<. Extremely subtle; sinks in over the course of days.

**Eviscerator** by Farah Rose Smith (119). Anguished, demented, delightful. The book is saturated through with alien slimes; brilliant in it's impurity and >!triumph!<. On the challenging/difficult side, but very satisfying.

**The Employees** by Olga Ravn (125). Sporadic imagery on the edge of abstraction coalesce gradually into - gasp - a plot, and an emotionally moving one to boot. Asexually sensuous, olfactory, incredible.

**The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil** by George Saunders (130). Lots of fun, ironically one of the least frightening books on this list. A very silly book, that.

**Motorman** by David Ohle (137). Another "challenging" book in that it was often difficult to tell what was going on. *Motorman* features a deeply unhealthy protagonist exploring a deeply unhealthy setting. An intriguing read, although >!acutely insectivorous!< so watch out for that.

**In Watermelon Sugar** by Richard Brautigan (141). As refreshing as watermelon, delightful and breezy. Not horror, although there is some >!death and dismemberment!<.

**Paradise Rot** by Jenny Hval (148). I went back and forth a lot on whether to include this one. Too good to ignore: in *Paradise Rot* things get weird and then things get Weird. Beautiful. Touching. Drenched through with urine.

**Black Brane** by Michael Cisco (158). I was very excited for Cisco's new book this summer, doubly so when I found *Black Brane* was perfect for this list, in addition to being a masterpiece that shows the author continues to advance the medium. Anyway, *Black Brane* is about holes.

**Walking Practice** by Dolki Min (161). My favorite book. An emotional, sexual and hungry shapeshifting monstrosity exploits the human population.

**The Drive-Thru Crematorium** by Jon Bassoff (162). Perhaps more on the "bizarro" side, Bassoff serves up a shifting, fever-dream of a horror novel. More aggravated injury and (perhaps obviously) death obsessed. Exploits a lot of deeply psychological fears to intense effect.

**Last Days** by Brian Evenson (170). Another one to avoid for those sensitive to >!amputation!<. Tense, exciting and well paced. Evenson doesn't disappoint often, and certainly hasn't here.

**The Orange Eats Creeps** by Grace Krilanovich (174). *The* "crustpunk" novel. Hang with the hobo vampire hipsters and exsanguinate shoppers at the convenience store - Murata's worst nightmare. Chomp down on chips and >!warlocks!<. Super challenging - very difficult to tell what was happening paragraph to paragraph.

**The Tenant** by Roland Topor (174). A man driven mad by his neighbors in between charming dates in Paris. A classic, and by no means a struggle to read.

**The Lathe of Heaven** by Ursula K. Le Guin (184). Shifting realities through pop psychology. Very thought provoking and entertaining to boot.

**Memoirs Found in a Bathtub** by Stanislaw Lem (188). It was hard to pick one Lem book for this list, as there were several viable candidates. This one won out for it's portability, but I strongly recommend any Lem novel that seems appealing. Anyway, *Memoirs* features Lem's straight-man stumbling around in a monstrous bureaucracy to hilarious and deleterious effect.

**Roadside Picnic** by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (193). Trying to extract alien artifacts from The Zone for fun and profit. Actually really emotionally intense in addition to lots of glowing trinkets and baubles. I'm not surprised they made a movie and two games (which I haven't seen or played) about it.

**Annihilation** by Jeff Vandermeer (195). ANNIHILATION! ANNIHILATION! Haha what a great book.

**Lanny** by Max Porter (210). Breezy and emotional. Very Jungian. Another book that can inspire tension without relying on splatter.

**The Cipher** by Kathe Koja (216). Ironically what inspired this list to begin with - an absolute classic. Another good one with a hole in it.

Alright that's the list.

Does anyone recommend any other novellas?