Copy-pasta deserves a unit in my classroom, the Russian sleep experiment
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
698 points (98.9% liked)
Books
6280 readers
129 users here now
A community for all things related to Books.
Rules
- Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
- No spam. All posts should be related to books.
Official Bingo Posts:
Related Communities
Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I try to not remember The Veldt but I still liked it as a good read. I also hated Harrison Bergeron but I think I was suppose to?
Honestly neither The Veldt nor All Summer in a Day shocked me much at all as a kid and in retrospect that says a LOT about my childhood.
I think Harrison Bergeron was just bad.
They Bite by Anthony Boucher is like four pages long and had me jumping at every shadow in the corner of my eye for a week. I found it in my grandparents' copy of Alfred Hitchcock's 30 Best in Horror or something like that, bought a copy for the brother I like because it shook me so badly (I verified it was in there)
We had to read this book called A Prayer for Owen Meany in school. Lots of weird stuff in that one. Main thing that stood out to me was a part where the mc is tied up to his girl cousin and gets an erection
Was a full, but short, novel that I think was summer reading: The Chocolate Wars.
Not traumatizing as much as just a shit message. Don't quietly try to opt out of what the public wants, don't rock the boat, or you'll be executed publicly as a spectacle while your peers cheer.
Kid doesn't want to participate in his high school chocolate selling fundraiser, bunch of other things happen in between, and then his classmates organize a rigged boxing match between him and the biggest school bully where they all cheer while the bully beats the main character to death. And it just hard cuts, ends there.
What a garbage book.
!shortstories@literature.cafe
Whatever you choose, post right there 😭
The Magic. I believe it is a short story, and I'm sorry to say I don't know the author. It's quite scary if you follow the instructions. A good lesson in the power of imagination and ritual.
That was a good read.
I've always remembered H. G. Wells' The Red Room, altho it's shorter than most mentioned here I think. Just loved it. So unsettling. So evocative and creepy. It's been maybe thirteen years. 😂
Why stop at a short story? I'll go for a novel.
It isn't a short story, but it might as well have been.
In my high school senior level English class, they had us read "On the Beach." The class as a whole did not like it. We told the teacher that we would not be reading further and would not be engaging on the book any more. It took a week and they moved us on to "Wuthering Heights" which was far easier to read.
"Wuthering Heights" which was far easier to read.
Oh my!
In case you don't know, the plot of on the beach is that nuclear war happened and the only people still alive are in Australia. The story follows their acceptance of impending death as the fallout reaches them. I'd rather young adult angst than full on suicidal discussions. I have my own thoughts on that, thankyouverymuch. I don't need a book to slap me in the face with them for a school grade.
I never read On the Beach, but when I was in grade school the miniseries "The Day After" was broadcast, and that fucked everybody up for a long time. Same basic topic, the somewhat negative aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
The Jaunt by Stephen King
I read that last week! God that's a good one
Borrasca (just the original, not the add-on parts)
Im still scarred by my english teacher enthusiastically reading certain scenes of Equus to the class.
It might not be disturbing, but I think that anyone that is going into the Engineering field should read Superiority by Arthur C. Clarke.
The Pedestrian, Ray Bradbury.
Have no clue what it was called but I remember having to read a short story that included a guy who would take the family cat into a locked room and watch porn…
By the Waters of Babylon still haunts me in the best way.
Exit by Harry Farjeon.