Has a book ever given you nightmares?
The only book I can ever remember giving me nightmares was Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I was in high school at the time I read it, so clearly too old to be truly spooked by a book, but it still scared the crap out of me!
These days it’s not that I have nightmares about - or that I even dream about - a book, but I find I can’t read in bed anymore. I end up thinking about the plot too much and can’t sleep.
Stephen King…The Shining. I was in college and couldn’t sleep for days. That’s why I usually don’t read Stephen King at night. 
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Paul Lynch Prophet Song has been giving me nightmares ever since I read it. I have steadfastly refused to talk about it, tried not to think about it, for months. Only now am I settling down. Not because the book has lost any power but because it is simply stupid not to be able to talk about such an important book.
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Prophet Song didn’t give me nightmares but it definitely left me with a lingering sense of dread - I think it should be taught in high schools. The Descent by Jeff Long gave me nightmares, it’s sort of like The Da Vinci Code meets hell on/in earth.
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There is one - and only one - book that gave me nightmares back in the early 2000’s. The description of one of the main characters was so vivid. I tried putting the book down for a few days, but the dreams returned and the greenness of the main character was just as vivid. You’ve probably guessed by the publication date and the color green that the book was “Wicked” by Gregory Macguire. I’m thinking about trying it again…but after I see the movie!
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Agree with Prophet Song. That was an intense read.
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@Jill_Mercier If the movie is anything like the musical, then it will be different than the book. While I LOVE the musical for the music and the staging, I enjoyed the book even more. The musical was more about the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba whereas the book was more hard hitting on key social issues and prejudice which the musical pretty much ignored (at least in my opinion). Still…can’t wait to see the movie.
And E is definitely very GREEN.
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The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski made me physically ill and gave me lots of nightmares when I first read it some 50 years ago. It was given to me by a Holocaust survivor who attested to its authenticity and very disturbing violence. I still remember my horror.
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Oh my gosh, yes, @Maryanne_Boundy! I read that one many years ago, too, and some scenes still haunt me, decades later.
Fortunately for me, the scenes are a long forgotten distant blur that I never want to reawaken, but I’ve never forgotten my physical nausea and revulsion to them. No book or, for that matter, movie has ever done that to me. I’ve often wondered if my reaction was the intent of the author? If so, he certainly succeeded with this reader.
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@Maryanne_Boundy, yeah, while I’ve re-read Elie Weisel’s work, Night, which was equally moving, I don’t have any desire to revisit The Painted Bird. I do think that was the author’s intent - to hammer home just how awful conditions were for some at the time. Definitely a disturbing novel.