What’s the most offensive book you own?

[JuanTwoThree]

No, but many years ago I used to have a few books of that ilk from Paladin Press that were guerilla warfare nonsense largely written by lunatics in the US dreaming of a Red Dawn type scenario.

Not sure now, would need a definition of offensive. A few that are mildly shocking maybe...?

I have a Paladin of Richard Neville's Playpower. It's innocuous.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Under The Roofs of Paris by Henry Miller. A wonderful writer on the rare occasions he managed to drag his mind out of the gutter, but this was not one of those occasions.

Not read that. Tropic of Cancer made a big impression on me when I was younger. As did Celine's Death on the installment plan. I then read Journey to the end of the night, which is a pile of bigoted tosh. Still here somewhere, cos I never throw out books. So I'll nominate that.

 

[wayward bob]

I also remember finding the unabomber manifesto on an old laptop, didn't remember downloading it and never read it

read it awesome piece of critique. yes, the unabomber is my favourite bomber of all time

 

[Saul Goodman]

 

[nogojones]

Ooh, you have a first edition. That might be worth a few bob

Can sell you a signed copy if you like

 

[nogojones]

I thought I downloaded it once but it was just lots of stuff about lentils

If you grind them up finely, mix with potassium chloride and a bit of sulphur.. you get a really banging dhal

 

[agricola]

Mein Kampf. Its shit.

Emphatically this, but the very fact its written so awfully would probably prevent anyone being disturbed by the nature of the content. The second part of it is unreadable.

In fact I'd be amazed if in the 90 years since it was written that anyone has ever become a Nazi because they read it; merely the fact that people do manage to finish it is barely believeable.

 

[scifisam]

I used to have a copy of Mein Kampf, bought cheap and secondhand out of curiosity to try to read the actual source of what some people revere. Unfortunately it was not just in German, but Hitler was a really, really shit writer, so it was hard to get through it and I never understood what people ever got out of it. Got lost somewhere.

An ex bought me some lesbian erotic fiction. I have nothing against it morally, and tried to read a bit, but it was just boring compared to my imagination. Reading it in bed made me fall asleep, which wasn't the aim at all.

So I added those books to the pile of books to take to the charity shop. Didn't really think about where I'd put each book in the old lady shopping trolley I was using to transport the books, so full that the lid was popping up, and one of my neighbours stopped me for a chat and noticed one book literally called "lesbian erotic fiction" right at the top of the trolley with a semi-naked lady on the colourful cover. You couldn't miss it. I said it wasn't mine in a way that made it really obvious it was.

I'd been trying not to come out to my neighbours and then walked around with lesbian erotic fiction dragged behind me.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Think it's called The Professional Bachelor or something. I saw it as a bit of a wind up/joke; surely not to be taken 100% seriously? Some folks on here would find it super offensive.

 

[fishfinger]

I've got Fungus the Bogeyman Plop-up Book.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

American Psycho

 

[JimW]

I appear to own nothing that is not edifying, morally improving or appropriate reference material Though Wu Song while supposedly the hero of the Water Margin murders his sister-in-law in a particularly brutal fashion.

 

[sunnysidedown]

Probably Lautreamont's Maldoror. Huysmans' La-Bas was probably a bit heavy back in the day too.

 

[krtek a houby]

Got to be this one

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

I have a copy of Crash by Ballard that I couldn't finish. I read part of it on a train, going like this --> and then stopped because I thought I'd be sick.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I have a copy of Crash by Ballard that I couldn't finish. I read part of it on a train, going like this --> and then stopped because I thought I'd be sick.

Got that. Also Lolita.

 

[redsquirrel]

What's so offensive about Crash? Is the book very different to the film?

 

[Johnny Vodka]

What's so offensive about Crash? Is the book very different to the film?

It's graphic beyond what you see in the film - very long passages of car crash sex. It didn't "offend" me, but it's definitely not a book for everyone. I suspect more people would find it boring than offensive though.

 

[Pickman's model]

I have a Paladin of Richard Neville's Playpower. It's innocuous.

That's not the paladin press of boulder, colorado

 

[Pickman's model]

In the sense of a possible criminal offence, who's got an Anarchist Cookbook kicking around?

Saw them for sale in the waterstones in Camden Town

 

[Mrs Miggins]

It's graphic beyond what you see in the film - very long passages of car crash sex. It didn't "offend" me, but it's definitely not a book for everyone. I suspect more people would find it boring than offensive though.

I have tried 3 times to read High Rise and failed. I love what JG Ballard is trying to say and I love his bleak prose style to start with but then it also just gets so boring I have to give up.

 

[Fedayn]

I picked up a load of the series in a chazzer a bit ago - really grim stuff, and the prose was too turgid to make up for the grimness. Thankfully there's enough sentimental middle-aged skinheads collecting them in the world for me to be able to sell them on ebay for a reasonable amount though, so I did.

The New English Library originals are collectors items, worth quite a bit of money in certain markets.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Emphatically this, but the very fact its written so awfully would probably prevent anyone being disturbed by the nature of the content. The second part of it is unreadable.

In fact I'd be amazed if in the 90 years since it was written that anyone has ever become a Nazi because they read it; merely the fact that people do manage to finish it is barely believeable.

I downloaded a PDF of that many years ago but never read it.

Bible excepted, the worst book I've ever had the misfortune to read (only bits of it, not the whole thing) is 120 days of sodom by Marquis de Sade. I'm certainly no prude, but it's just disgusting. Depraved.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Got that. Also Lolita.

I didn't have any problem with Lolita. It has a point to it, and there's no lewdness for its own sake.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I have tried 3 times to read High Rise and failed. I love what JG Ballard is trying to say and I love his bleak prose style to start with but then it also just gets so boring I have to give up.

It's ages since I've read Crash. I "enjoyed" the film more. Don't think much was lost from distilling the ideas into a 90 minute film, although, as I said, the book is definitely more graphic, more Jörg Buttgereit than Cronenberg perhaps. (IIRC there are lines about spunk and blood mixing, that sort of thing.)

 

[Johnny Vodka]

I didn't have any problem with Lolita. It has a point to it, and there's no lewdness for its own sake.

Another book I've not read in a long time. I remember enjoying it and it's definitely 'art'. Could imagine a lot of people these days wanting it burned purely because of its central theme though. TBF, I've never read anything fictional that I've had a problem with.

 

[Sweet FA]

Not sure about offensive, but I have a book about extreme body modification that probably shouldn't be looked at by children or anyone who is squeamish.

Modern Primitives? I had a copy that got lost in various house moves.

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

I didn't have any problem with Lolita. It has a point to it, and there's no lewdness for its own sake.

I read Lolita as a callous teenage girl, and didn't find it shocking at all.

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

What's so offensive about Crash? Is the book very different to the film?

The guy penetrated the woman's leg injury. It was the wrongest thing I've ever read. I was surprised to hear there was a film. I guess they cut the wound-fucking.

 

[Struwwelpeter]

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young. Not particularly offensive in itself, he paints a picture of a misunderstood innocent and he got a lot worse after writing that. Now I just find those two words Toby Young offensive enough.