>>2 Oh my God.
facepalm.jpg
I read the first four books of Cirque Du Freak in, I kid you not, fifth grade. They were goddamn terrible. The only thing that encouraged me to keep reading was a single part in book one that was such a good cliffhanger, I kept going, and going, and going, until I was so tired of the series...
Judging by the lithursday requests and a similar thread on /b/, I'd have to say it is either House of Leaves or Fight Club