In my highschool German class we read Kafkas “Metamorphosis”, it gave me weird dreams for weeks.

In a literary sense it’s a masterpiece, simple yet intricate. The first sentence alone is genius :

“Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt”

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect”.

No backstory, no explanation, the reader is left with the same confusion as the characters. Then the societal observations he weaves in are sharp yet puzzling.

I recommend it highly, but be prepared for strangeness and being left with an uneasy feeling.

Short stories:

• Flowers for Algernon
• I have no mouth and I must scream

Short-ish:

• Of mice and men
• Brave new world