Watership Down?? Really??

Stephanie wrote: "Watership Down?? Really??"

At least Bambi didn't make the list! But then for real Darkness check out plays and non-fiction. Mein Kampf didn't make the list yet either!

This is a strong list. There were a couple of titles I didn't agree with, and I have no doubt there were many more that I'd vote for if I'd read them. My main difficulty was in comparing fiction to non. The Holocaust, or Poe? Real-life murder and rape, or Johnny Got His Gun? I also think, from the way the votes fall off drastically after the first couple of pages, that a lot of people either voted in consecutive order w/o checking all of the pages for their #1 vote, or else didn't go past the first 2 pages at all. Still, this is one of the best listopias I have seen.

Stephanie wrote: "Watership Down?? Really??"

I disagree, I think Watership Down is really dark.

For me, Slaughterhouse Five is the tippy top. Most despairing, nihilistic book I've ever read.

"the road" is a love story

Madeline wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "Watership Down?? Really??"

I disagree, I think Watership Down is really dark."
Yeah it is...assuming of course that one finishes it!
I notice that although the list-maker initially just said "Dark" and "Books", the tags say "fiction" and "myth". The tags appear to have lost the struggle, since 40 people have voted for Night, Eli Wiesel's holocaust memoir. I think the tags lost and the general designation won here. In that spirit, I felt free to add the new Stalin bio along with some Nixon stuff. What a fun list!

The system found and eliminated 20 duplicates.

It's a curious question: do you vote in order of which dark books you believe are the best written, or in order of darkness? I mostly went with the latter, because it seemed more interesting.

The Far Side is an odd choice. I mean, some of the jokers kinda dark, but it isn't all that bleak.

That lover of horror Stephen King once wrote that his greatest ambition was to undergo the writing of a book that he would find too scary to finish, and I count among my rejections a lover of dark fiction (unable to conceive that my story was true) who wrote that MONSTROUS: The Autobiography of a Serial Killer but for the Grace of God was too dark even for her.

Chris wrote: "The Far Side is an odd choice. I mean, some of the jokers kinda dark, but it isn't all that bleak."

"Kinda" dark? I regard Larson as the king of the dark comic. Real gallows humor. "Bleak" is more hopeless, and more specific than "dark"...it is not in the list-maker's subscript; in fact there is no subscript. And I like that the list allows us to include horror, humor, cartoons, nonfiction...if all we wanted was horror, there are multiple listopias already serving that purpose.

Stephen wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "Watership Down?? Really??"

At least Bambi didn't make the list! But then for real Darkness check out plays and non-fiction. Mein Kampf didn't make the list yet either!"

Mein Kampf is not a 'dark' book in the way meant in this list

David wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "Watership Down?? Really??"

At least Bambi didn't make the list! But then for real Darkness check out plays and non-fiction. Mein Kampf didn't make the list yet ei..."
I see the tags include the word fiction, but I wish the list-maker had included this in the subscript. A lot of people--especially those relatively new to Goodreads--are not going to check the tags, and the title simply says "Dark" and "Books", which is a big house with a lot of rooms. I would not add Mein Kampf to this list or vote for it, but at the same time, I wouldn't be comfortable removing it if someone else added it.

Slowlygainingknowlege wrote: "For me, Slaughterhouse Five is the tippy top. Most despairing, nihilistic book I've ever read."

Which is why I will never read it! I suspected as much about it.

The system found and removed 1 duplicate.

most books on the top 50 of this list aren't even remotely dark... wuthering heights??

The system found and removed 5 duplicates.

I'm really disturbed by the number of books on this list that I've read! I'm re-reading 1984 right now (or just finished it) because of the disturbing parallels with the world today, and it's currently at #1.

Jim wrote: "I'm really disturbed by the number of books on this list that I've read! I'm re-reading 1984 right now (or just finished it) because of the disturbing parallels with the world today, and it's curre..."

I was required to read it in high school, and at the time I gave it an eye roll. Sure. Right. But now, not so much.

Donna wrote: "Jim wrote: "I'm really disturbed by the number of books on this list that I've read! I'm re-reading 1984 right now (or just finished it) because of the disturbing parallels with the world today, an..."

re-read brave new world... we're pretty close now. it's almost like this stuff is being rubbed in our faces BEFORE they are enacted.

The duplicates link is broken. I entered this problem on the Feedback page, and now we should cross our fingers and hope for the best. This is way too cool a collection to be left unfixable.

If anyone didn't find Watership Down dark, they weren't reading very carefully. What did you think it was a kids book? ROFLMAO

Stef wrote: "If anyone didn't find Watership Down dark, they weren't reading very carefully. What did you think it was a kids book? ROFLMAO"
*snerk!* Right you are, Stef. A terrible secret: some people vote on these things when they have never even opened the book. A dark truth to go with the dark list.