r/weirdgirlliterature

For my audio gals!

My favorite audiobooks

- My Dark Vanessa ❤️

- My Year of Rest and Relaxation

- Perfume and Pain

- Conversations with Friends

- Chemistry

- Bittersweet (not to be confused with Sweetbitter NYC waitress girly)

- What It's Like in Words

- Work Nights

- The New Me

- A Good Person lol

- Good Girl

I could argue several more, but these come to mind. I own all of these except the last two FWIW

What are yours? Does anyone connect with the above?

🎧🚶‍♀️📖

Does it get better? 50 pages in and I find the characters are insufferable. Dnf or tread on through?

Currently reading All Fours, and although I love her prose and the character building and how weird it is overall, I’m not a fan of sex and her affair being such a focal point. Does anyone have any recommendations of similar prose and weirdness without sex being a main focus? Some sex is fine but I’m just personally not into smutty sex in lit!

hi besties— feel like i can call you that given our shared excellent taste in books

i’m going to mexico for a vacation soon and wanted to read some weird books ofc! what are your faves??

i’ve read:

the Lamb, convenience store woman, the Pisces, Scorched Grace, Salt Grows Heavy (more horror)

to give you a better idea of what i like! down for gothic horror as well

Currently reading Chlorine and I’m curious what other people think about it. I’m about 25% through but I’m afraid it’s going to be a DNF for me. For reference - I’ve read earthlings, *the vegetarian, lapvona, and boy parts*. I loved each of those

Chlorine feels like Song’s personal memoir to me, and I’m not sure I love that? That was my first “hmm” moment. As I’ve read further, I can see the mermaid obsession (which I’ve pegged as performance/body horror) and two things.

1 - it feels like Song is building up the mermaid obsession mechanism as maladaptive. Personally, I see a lot of myself in that; a performed outer self for the world vs true inner self. I don’t view mine as maladaptive though, more like a less common, meta aware coping mechanism

2 - and maybe I haven’t read far enough yet, but it doesn’t feel earned to me either. Like the traumas she’s experienced thus far, an abusive swimming coach, neglectful parents, social alienation; to have such a strong and intense seeming coping mechanism that (I assume) it gonna end badly or negatively in some way, just doesn’t feel coherent to me

I am curious what other people’s thoughts are, I do ask that you be conscious of big spoilers, but I also totally get that there’s gonna be some. I’m kinda looking to see if I should keep going and maybe there’s some sort of payoff at the end, or if I should just pack this one up as not for me.

I picked up *Death in Her Hands* by Ottessa Moshfegh and saw it had the label "Weird Girls". Apparently Penguin have a whole section of books in this genre!

hi! i'm looking for novels where women are desperate to establish their own identity (perhaps they want to obscure their own past to do so, or maybe change their identity or something like that). basically, women trying to find their place in the world but feeling stuck for some reason (maybe stuck in a marriage, or maybe their past keeps coming back, or maybe some strange family stuff). i hope that's specific enough, but i just love the concept of a woman wishing to be SOMETHING, and things not going her way.

I am looking for a weird girl lit recommendation but it must have been written originally in French--I don't like translations.

Yes, I've already read Moi Qui N'ai Pas Connu Les Hommes (I Who Have Never Known Men)!

Do any of you have any recs? I am currently working on a creative project with these elements so would love to read anything that is already out there. Would especially love something very literary and experimental, but am very open to anything really!

Inspired by recent discussions on Lena Dunham — I wanted to raise the question of whether this community should draw a line around promoting the works of authors who have actively caused documented harm — racism, abuse, etc. And whether doing so is in tension with fostering a community that is genuinely welcoming and inclusive. Not solely about Lena, but opening this up to all bad actors.

Does it matter if the harm was caused to a group we are not a part of? Does it matter if we never personally experienced that harm? Are we separating art from the artist?

Where does the line get drawn — or should we just allow whatever, without critical thought or discussion?

Hoping to have a genuinely respectful conversation on this topic.