Ok, so I know theres a general book discussion in the artist's corner forum, but I thought maybe a more specific conversation about books we enjoyed reading while stoned/high would be a good addition as there's a lot of great books I've read and enjoyed while sober, but I'm not sure I would enjoy as much while high. Personally I find there's a great variety of books I enjoy reading stoned, ranging from the more obvious cult stoner novels such as 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' by Hunter S. Thomson to less obvious novels such as 'The Blood Meridian' by Cormac McCarthy (I always found that when I got one of the more cerebral/head highs I was able to see the various 'layers' of the novel as well, and got a whole lot of metaphysical stuff about the nature of humanity and war from it, although I've no idea how much of it was intended!). I've heard a lot of people saying they don't enjoy reading while high as they tend to forget things easily, and athough I am sometimes afflicted with short-term memory problems when stoned it's usually stuff like 'where did I put my keys', etc. However, this brings me neatly to one of my favourite authors to read while stoned' H.P. Lovecraft the master of the macabre short story. Lovecraft was unfortunately somewhat biggoted and this does sometimes seep into his writings to a greater and lesser extent depending on the particular story, however, his imagination and descriptive prose is very good at evoking images in the mind, and despite the majority of them being about 4/5 pages max, I find myself easily getting lost in them. On a similar note comics/graphic novels are also great, not just because they contain great content in their own right, but because when stoned even if you lose track of the plot there's always some great visuals to stare at, and interpret in your own stoned imagination just like the way some of us enjoy watching visually stunning films even when we've lost track of what's actually going on Fantasy and sci-fi are also have an obvious appeal to stoners, but some novels/authors within these genres are better than others for the stoned mind; Clive Barker's 'Weaveworld' for instance, a dens 600-odd page conflation of horror and fantast, with the type of writing that while rich and descriptive still leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation, and Kurt Vonnegut is anothe favourite. So, what do the rest of you like to read when blazed?
Hole in my life by Jack Gantos. Story of a young man smuggling hashish into the states. A great read even won some awards.
Not quite, Jack is in a bit of a desperate situation where he finds himself on a boat completely loaded with hashish. It also talks about the distribution once in the states and his run from the cops. Its more like a memoir because it also incorporates how he became a writer. But for the record I havn't read Midnight Express.
i like to read malcolm gladwell stuff. finished tipping point, working through Blink now, hopefully gonna buy outliers sometime soon.
I personally like crime when I am high, or reading period. War is old, love is lame, so I like Detective shit, mysteries etc.
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk Choke by Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut 1984 by George Orwell Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell On the Road by Jack Kerouac Nelson Mandela's autobiography. Any books by Noam Chomsky.
i read those two too, and enjoyed them. also i read when you are engulfed in flames by david sedaris recently. it was pretty interesting. weird but funny.