Hello readers!
I need some recommendations for books that won’t make me stare at the wall and feel despair, but that are still engaging and beautifully written. I’ve absolutely eaten up the unhinged woman genre ( Animal by Lisa Taddeo, Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, Milk Fed by Melissa Broder, etc.) and I’m currently a little over half way through A Little Life and while I’m loving it, it also sent me to a place of depression that I can’t return at a time where it’s getting dark at 5pm.
I’m open to suggestions, I have trouble staying with any fantasy that requires a lot of world-building or straight people romance (I need queer coded yearning and nothing else) Im missing reading something and going on a journey! Suggest away !!
Thanks in advance
by poorandalsosad
3 Comments
I unfortunately have not read any of the books you list here. I mostly read sci fi, so from that genre you may like:
* **We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker**. No unhinged women, but I feel that this is a good intro to sci fi as a genre and it’s very queer. Has a fast-paced writing style that seems to be popular, and the worldbuilding is based more or less on current modern day reality so it’s easy to get into.
* **Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente**. This is a fantasy mystery novella, unlike everything else on this list, but definitely fits “unhinged woman.” It’s a very fast read.
* **The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling**, sci fi horror starring a lesbian woman. You may be terrified, but I wouldn’t say this is despair-inducing. One criticism I’ve seen in a lot of reviews is that the worldbuilding is very minimal, but you may like that.
* **Anything by Kameron Hurley**. She writes fantasy and sci fi, starring lots of morally complex women. My personal favourite, The Stars Are Legion (cosmic horror space opera) has some pretty weird and intensive worldbuilding, so you may prefer the Bel Dame Apocrypha series (sci fi fantasy) or The Light Brigade (military sci fi). Very queer.
* **Anything by Octavia E. Butler**. She writes mostly sci fi, and does a great job of writing characters that feel real. My favourite is Kindred, historical fantasy, but it is heterosexual. It isn’t about romance, but everyone who is in a relationship is in a straight one.
* **Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir**. This one is *very* much a love it or hate it space fantasy series, but I find the dramatic switch in styles between each book in the series to be very impressive. Lots of unhinged women and queerness. I’d say the second book has the most beautiful writing. But the author’s sense of humor and expectation that you are willing to extrapolate the characters’ motives and emotions rather than spelling them out isn’t for everyone.
based on your desire for something queer with not a ton of world-building, i think you’d like peter darling by austin chant. the coziest fantasy, so it won’t send you into a wall-staring depression.
*Silver in the Wood* and *Drowned Country* by Emily Tesh
*The Unbroken* and *The Faithful* by CL Clark – first two books of a trilogy, book 3 is due out in 2024
*The Once and Future Witches* by Alix E Harrow