this is literally my favourite type of book, all of these will be added to my tbr (aside from those I've already read ofc; Earthlings is probably one of my favourite books of all time) thank you so much for compiling this list :)
"attacking the patriarchy by laughing at it, by subverting it in a way that makes it feel small and powerless" this description reminds me so much of lysistrata by aristophanes and I'm so here for it. def gonna add the adventures of china iron to my tbr, I was also just looking for some great hispanic novels to practice my spanish so this was spot on
"they paint women in unflattering colors, make women bad, make them unlikeable, and ugly inside and out, and that makes men uncomfortable, and thats part of the reason i love them" and THAT is why I LOVE YOU
I'm guess I'm what is considered to be an old woman" (I don't feel old, but when I see reflections of myself unawares I feel the shock of it). I fear for younger women today (cis- and trans-) given the mean, regressive politics in the USA particularly, but I admire them even more. I want you all to kick ass when necessary and claim your due in ways that my generation was too repressed or in other ways unable to achieve and I hope I live long enough to see it fully realized. A lot of women, though not nearly enough, in my generation laid a path. It's up to you now to make it into a superhighway that we can travel with safety and purpose and love and freedom.
The way you talk about books and share your favorites is just so inspiring. I wanna basically buy and read every single book you talk about (and many of them I've heard before).
So far this year I've read Tell Me I'm Worthless, Earthlings and currently in the middle of Lapvona! Really drawn to transgressive and horror books that explore sexuality, alienation, the body, mental health etc. Will check out the other ones you mentioned!
a truly amazing video and concept, and I've even read a couple of the choices! I personally prefer Brainwyrms to Tell Me I'm Worthless but I saw your video review and fully get why you prefer her debut effort. I also really enjoyed Earthlings, and Convenience Store Woman was a 5 star read for me this year, cannot wait to read Life Ceremony at some point. The only huge book missing here is Cursed Bunny IMO but I simp that book literally every day of my existence lol as for your other recs, I am adding Boulder and Manhunt to my immediate TBR. Thank you so much for everything you do Willow!
This was great! Every book I hadn't already read I either put on hold at the library(ies) or added to my June Birthday Bookhaul. Carmilla taught me one of my fave words, btw -- schloss. Tell Me I'm Worthless has stuck with me and is still so vivid in my mind. I'd like to mention Cackle by Rachel Harrison, which is probably what we're calling cozy horror. The book is mostly about female friendship and how we vilify strong, powerful, independent women. Is one of these women a witch? Yes. But what's wrong with that? It's emotionally sapphic without being officially sapphic and amazing for ace rep, too. It rarely veers from light and fluffy, but there's so much underneath for me. I had my husband read it specifically so I could fully express how much I love it, and why. I love that the 2 main characters are flawed and that one of them had to learn to tell the other one, "Enough!" I know it's lighter than the offerings here, but I still adore it.
If anyone wants to read more transgender authors. Specifically horror. I'd recommend May Leitz. She's written 2 horror, and they are. -Fluids -Girl Flesh Both of these are some of my favourite books and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for their horror fix. (Also, just a wee warning, they're both considered extreme horror novels)
Paradise rot sounds like that one story from Life Ceremony where the protagonist is also obsessed with bodily functions! happily surprised to find a link. 😋
Gretchen Felker-Martin is one of the writers in the anthology Bury Your Gays. I'm so excited to read her story! Also! I really, really hope you someday get to read Samantha Allen's novel Patricia wants to Cuddle. I'm pretty sure you'd love it!
I just finished reading "Birnam Wood" by Eleanor Catton, and I'm thinking she could slide into this list as well, although her writing isn't maybe as "in your face" as the authors you mention. Love your recs and Ottessa Moshfegh is a favourite author of mine, Lapvona being my #1. I heard her say in an interview a couple years ago that her next novel will be darkly comedic and I CANNOT WAIT. Also, "OUT" is one of my top books of all time, any genre. Its a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Cheers. :)
Adore your insights and recommendations. Your introduction of Moshfegh brought her into my on curated list of great novels. Love her. May I ask a favor? Please list the titles of your novels and their authors in the description or a time stamp. I don’t know about others, but in order to find your recommendations, I have to screenshot your video and zoom in order to grab the info. It’s hard to know the correct spelling just by listening to you especially ones written by non-Western authors. The transcript doesn’t always do the job as closed captions is spotty. Thanks Willow. I’ll repeat this request via your Patreon. I hope you’ll consider.
A lesser known novel from India that I had read recently that might fit this spectrum would be 'Hellfire' by Leesa Gazi( Translated from the Bengali by Nadia Shabnam). A novella with a story that takes place in one day and you will be shocked by the beginning and the end.
Not me spoiling the video for myself by fast forwarding before watching, just to see if Sayaka Murata was on there so I could watch the video in peace.
I'm going to start my reread of Hitchhiker's Guide today as my 42nd book of the year bc of ypu! I have Lapvona on my TBR, hoping to get to it soon. A couple I'd add to the list -Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan -The Story of O by Pauline Reage -Notice by Heather Lewis (warning much more upsetting than Earthlings) Have read -Adventures of China Iron -Earthlings -Out (I thought it was more of a binto box factory than a sandwich factory) Curious about the Carmilla one, I love Carmilla but cant stand dark Academia I kind of wanted to check out the one mentioned but Girls Against God by Jenny Hval is my second worst of the year
Great video, I hope to get to a couple of these this year. Can you help please, one of your shorts popped up on my feed that said something like 'if you type bisexual into...' then youtube updated the feed but that video disappeared. Do you remember the youtube channel you posted it on?
I loved the theme of this video and the way you described each book! I’ve been curious about Lapvona for quite some time, and your description of the gothic, medieval, and unflinching anti-patriarchy vibes makes me want to order it now. Haha!
Thats an alternative book review and they all sound amazing and dark. I clicked onto your vid of the excellent Wurthering Heights reveiw and here you present more gothic dark recommendations. thank you 🦇
Hval herself studied there, and in my original review I mentioned that it would make sense, but that the world is so drab and wet that I just felt like it was England lol. Specifically Brighton, though I can’t remember why now 🤷🏻♀️
These are the books that stay with me the most; I have such a huge amount of appreciation for female authors who are absolutely unrelenting. I'm so happy to add even more to my tbr! 📚 Also, have you made a video on horror manga? (Especially by manga-ka women, I'm so curious!)
I appreciate hearing a trans woman’s perspective on Manhunter because I was UNSURE of what to think. I was also not aware it was a gore-heavy horror going into it so I was just a little bit blindsided half way through (I have a bad habit of wandering naively into splatter punk novels 😂). I really liked the book for the most part (although it felt extremely fatphobic which I didn’t like at all) while simultaneously really hating (but then also really rooting for) a lot of the characters. But then I was reading as a non-binary person and the book is very much about the trans woman’s perspective and struggle in a post apocalyptic world, so I was curious how it read for other people!
Finally someone made me to want to read Paradise Rot hahahaha thanks. I fvcking love Natsuo Kirino and Breasts and eggs was already in my TBR. The ones that have transphobia and abuse as theme, they kinda scare me; not gonna lie. But I loved the idea of Manhunt, sounds great.
back again to complain about the US's UGLY covers!!!!!! If you want to see a true down grade, look at Willows copy of 'OUT' and then look at the US version.
To be fair, this is a special case. The regular cover for Out is nothing special. This one that I have is a special edition that Penguin Classics published a few years ago. They sent me the whole set and it also included books by Yoko Ogawa, Junichiro Tanizaki, and 🤢Haruki Murakami 🤢
you have such a brilliant mind,
thank you again for broadening
my literary horizons: we can defeat
patriarch by being ourselves fully. 🌻
Pausing for a moment to mention that Ottessa Moshfegh narrates the audiobook for Lapvona and she does an amazing job 💚
That’s awesome!
That’s so cool that is one of my favorite audio books!
this is literally my favourite type of book, all of these will be added to my tbr (aside from those I've already read ofc; Earthlings is probably one of my favourite books of all time)
thank you so much for compiling this list :)
"attacking the patriarchy by laughing at it, by subverting it in a way that makes it feel small and powerless" this description reminds me so much of lysistrata by aristophanes and I'm so here for it. def gonna add the adventures of china iron to my tbr, I was also just looking for some great hispanic novels to practice my spanish so this was spot on
"they paint women in unflattering colors, make women bad, make them unlikeable, and ugly inside and out, and that makes men uncomfortable, and thats part of the reason i love them" and THAT is why I LOVE YOU
I'm guess I'm what is considered to be an old woman" (I don't feel old, but when I see reflections of myself unawares I feel the shock of it). I fear for younger women today (cis- and trans-) given the mean, regressive politics in the USA particularly, but I admire them even more. I want you all to kick ass when necessary and claim your due in ways that my generation was too repressed or in other ways unable to achieve and I hope I live long enough to see it fully realized. A lot of women, though not nearly enough, in my generation laid a path. It's up to you now to make it into a superhighway that we can travel with safety and purpose and love and freedom.
The way you talk about books and share your favorites is just so inspiring. I wanna basically buy and read every single book you talk about (and many of them I've heard before).
So far this year I've read Tell Me I'm Worthless, Earthlings and currently in the middle of Lapvona! Really drawn to transgressive and horror books that explore sexuality, alienation, the body, mental health etc. Will check out the other ones you mentioned!
*adds to cart*...will get a few for my birthday next month. 😊
Fantastic list! Thrilled to see Manhunt made the cut. Adding Out and Tell Me I'm Worthless to my queue!
Lapvona!!! My favourite book of the moment!!
Provocative book list, love it!
a truly amazing video and concept, and I've even read a couple of the choices! I personally prefer Brainwyrms to Tell Me I'm Worthless but I saw your video review and fully get why you prefer her debut effort. I also really enjoyed Earthlings, and Convenience Store Woman was a 5 star read for me this year, cannot wait to read Life Ceremony at some point.
The only huge book missing here is Cursed Bunny IMO but I simp that book literally every day of my existence lol as for your other recs, I am adding Boulder and Manhunt to my immediate TBR. Thank you so much for everything you do Willow!
Yeah there were quite a few authors and books I could have mentioned but, honestly, Cursed Bunny did slip my mind this time 😭
Transgressive is my buzzword these days! Loved the video!
This was great! Every book I hadn't already read I either put on hold at the library(ies) or added to my June Birthday Bookhaul. Carmilla taught me one of my fave words, btw -- schloss. Tell Me I'm Worthless has stuck with me and is still so vivid in my mind.
I'd like to mention Cackle by Rachel Harrison, which is probably what we're calling cozy horror. The book is mostly about female friendship and how we vilify strong, powerful, independent women. Is one of these women a witch? Yes. But what's wrong with that? It's emotionally sapphic without being officially sapphic and amazing for ace rep, too. It rarely veers from light and fluffy, but there's so much underneath for me. I had my husband read it specifically so I could fully express how much I love it, and why. I love that the 2 main characters are flawed and that one of them had to learn to tell the other one, "Enough!" I know it's lighter than the offerings here, but I still adore it.
If anyone wants to read more transgender authors. Specifically horror. I'd recommend May Leitz. She's written 2 horror, and they are.
-Fluids
-Girl Flesh
Both of these are some of my favourite books and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for their horror fix.
(Also, just a wee warning, they're both considered extreme horror novels)
Paradise rot sounds like that one story from Life Ceremony where the protagonist is also obsessed with bodily functions! happily surprised to find a link. 😋
Gretchen Felker-Martin is one of the writers in the anthology Bury Your Gays. I'm so excited to read her story!
Also! I really, really hope you someday get to read Samantha Allen's novel Patricia wants to Cuddle. I'm pretty sure you'd love it!
Ooh I’ll check both of these out, thank you!
Great list! I recently read The eyes are the best part, and I have a feeling you will enjoy that as well.
I always walk away from these videos having at least three books in my cart. Thanks for another great video, Willow. 🫶
Adding all of these to my tbr, they sound fantastic
Yay!
Thanks for doing this! My fav "genre" :)
I just finished reading "Birnam Wood" by Eleanor Catton, and I'm thinking she could slide into this list as well, although her writing isn't maybe as "in your face" as the authors you mention. Love your recs and Ottessa Moshfegh is a favourite author of mine, Lapvona being my #1. I heard her say in an interview a couple years ago that her next novel will be darkly comedic and I CANNOT WAIT. Also, "OUT" is one of my top books of all time, any genre. Its a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. Cheers. :)
Adore your insights and recommendations. Your introduction of Moshfegh brought her into my on curated list of great novels. Love her.
May I ask a favor? Please list the titles of your novels and their authors in the description or a time stamp. I don’t know about others, but in order to find your recommendations, I have to screenshot your video and zoom in order to grab the info. It’s hard to know the correct spelling just by listening to you especially ones written by non-Western authors. The transcript doesn’t always do the job as closed captions is spotty.
Thanks Willow. I’ll repeat this request via your Patreon. I hope you’ll consider.
Oh aye, I’ve been trying to get into the habit of doing that and forgot for this one. I’ll fix it :)
Everything is going on my “to read” list on Goodreads
"Patriarchy - the great social injustice."
I don't need to hear any more to now start reading all of these books immediately!
A lesser known novel from India that I had read recently that might fit this spectrum would be 'Hellfire' by Leesa Gazi( Translated from the Bengali by Nadia Shabnam). A novella with a story that takes place in one day and you will be shocked by the beginning and the end.
Loved An Education in Malice! That was a perfect description/review 🥰
Not me spoiling the video for myself by fast forwarding before watching, just to see if Sayaka Murata was on there so I could watch the video in peace.
Hahaha I would never omit the GOAT, what do you take me for 😤
I'm going to start my reread of Hitchhiker's Guide today as my 42nd book of the year bc of ypu!
I have Lapvona on my TBR, hoping to get to it soon.
A couple I'd add to the list
-Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
-The Story of O by Pauline Reage
-Notice by Heather Lewis (warning much more upsetting than Earthlings)
Have read
-Adventures of China Iron
-Earthlings
-Out (I thought it was more of a binto box factory than a sandwich factory)
Curious about the Carmilla one, I love Carmilla but cant stand dark Academia
I kind of wanted to check out the one mentioned but Girls Against God by Jenny Hval is my second worst of the year
Great list! You never disappoint.
Great video, I hope to get to a couple of these this year. Can you help please, one of your shorts popped up on my feed that said something like 'if you type bisexual into...' then youtube updated the feed but that video disappeared. Do you remember the youtube channel you posted it on?
I loved the theme of this video and the way you described each book! I’ve been curious about Lapvona for quite some time, and your description of the gothic, medieval, and unflinching anti-patriarchy vibes makes me want to order it now. Haha!
Thats an alternative book review and they all sound amazing and dark. I clicked onto your vid of the excellent Wurthering Heights reveiw and here you present more gothic dark recommendations. thank you 🦇
omg i read lapvona bc of u and it totally opened my mind to f*cked up books . i love them now LMAO
i highly recommend problems by jade sharma, i think you’d really like it
Isn't Paradise Rot set in Australia? I might remember something wrong but when I was reading it I was sure it was set there. Love the book btw.
Hval herself studied there, and in my original review I mentioned that it would make sense, but that the world is so drab and wet that I just felt like it was England lol. Specifically Brighton, though I can’t remember why now 🤷🏻♀️
These are the books that stay with me the most; I have such a huge amount of appreciation for female authors who are absolutely unrelenting. I'm so happy to add even more to my tbr! 📚
Also, have you made a video on horror manga? (Especially by manga-ka women, I'm so curious!)
I don’t have a video but I do have an article here!
booksandbao.com/essential-horror-manga/
I appreciate hearing a trans woman’s perspective on Manhunter because I was UNSURE of what to think. I was also not aware it was a gore-heavy horror going into it so I was just a little bit blindsided half way through (I have a bad habit of wandering naively into splatter punk novels 😂). I really liked the book for the most part (although it felt extremely fatphobic which I didn’t like at all) while simultaneously really hating (but then also really rooting for) a lot of the characters. But then I was reading as a non-binary person and the book is very much about the trans woman’s perspective and struggle in a post apocalyptic world, so I was curious how it read for other people!
Finally someone made me to want to read Paradise Rot hahahaha thanks. I fvcking love Natsuo Kirino and Breasts and eggs was already in my TBR. The ones that have transphobia and abuse as theme, they kinda scare me; not gonna lie. But I loved the idea of Manhunt, sounds great.
Loved this list! Have you read Bad Girls by Argentinian trans author Camila Sosa Villada? If you haven't you must!
What is the title of the last book?
Out
Willow: This is a collection of books... BY WOMEN.
My sleepy gay ass: Bi-women?! 👀👂
Lol my bad, English isn't my first language.
Hahaha! I’m a pretty massive fan of bi women, myself 😇
back again to complain about the US's UGLY covers!!!!!! If you want to see a true down grade, look at Willows copy of 'OUT' and then look at the US version.
To be fair, this is a special case. The regular cover for Out is nothing special. This one that I have is a special edition that Penguin Classics published a few years ago. They sent me the whole set and it also included books by Yoko Ogawa, Junichiro Tanizaki, and 🤢Haruki Murakami 🤢