For those who want to break into or expand their niche in the reading scene, below are some good starting points, short and long, based on the writing and overall sensibilities of some stupendous artists.
If you like: Palehound, Momma and Hole
“All-Night Pharmacy” by Ruth Madievsky
Told through the lens of an unnamed narrator, “All Night Pharmacy” chronicles the trauma, drugs and codependency of two sisters’ fraught relationship and their shockingly violent acts against each other, culminating with the disappearance of one sister. Madievsky’s prose electrifies through lines adorned with tender details and vicious femininity. “All Night Pharmacy” emerges as a striking beacon of sex, mystery and, ultimately, love.
“Hit Parade of Tears” by Izumi Suzuki
A collection of magically realistic short stories by Izumi Suzuki, “Hit Parade of Tears” contorts notions of extraterrestrial pirates and factory-crafted boyfriends into sparkling stories spun with absurdity and coolly crafted drama. Some reviews have hailed the stories as misandrist; only a reader can decide.
“A Certain Hunger” by Chelsea G. Summers
Ripe with sociopathic murder and pathological lying, leading lady Dorothy Daniels makes the men in her life her own, all while testing the boundaries of her seemingly non-existent morality. She indulges in rich lovers and food, and in an attempt to improve her image as a food critic, becomes known for something far more devious.
“On Being Hard Femme” by Jackie Wang
Digitized and preserved by the University of Wisconsin Pride Center, this 2009 Zine tells Jackie Wang’s self-proclaimed definition of her “hard femme” identity. The text emphasizes the racialization of femininity and sexuality, the often ambiguous notion of “strength” and moments that so delightfully capture the author’s gender construction.
If you like: Big Thief, MJ Lenderman and Townes Van Zandt
The Best Short Stories: The O.Henry 2024
Published annually, this edition of the O.Henry, guest edited by Amor Towles, collects 20 short stories selected from thousands of magazines. Towles’ emphasis on new and emerging voices from all over the world contributes to an edition of the O.Henry bursting with particularly acidic and delightfully mature scenes, epilogued by sparkling interviews with each other.
“Eileen” by Ottesssa Moshfegh
The debut novel of cult-followed author Ottessa Moshfegh, “Eileen,” defines itself with all of the female unlikeability of Moshfegh’s more contemporary works, with less absurdity and more cracked and fragile intimacy. A woman who spends half her time logging files at a prison for boys and the other half at the hand of her alcoholic father begins to long for escape in whatever sordid way presents itself.
“South and West” by Joan Didion
A compact — although no less impactful — work from Didion is a collection of her notebook pages for a piece that she never published. Observations on her relatively nomadic trip across the South in the late ‘70s litter the pages. From warm vignettes of sticky southern nights to wistful memories of her Californian home, Didion’s voice sings the song of hot and stewing American life.
“Saturn” and “The Partisans and the S.S” by Sharon Olds
Two of Old’s poems work through the emotions of her alcoholic father in piercing and bone-shattering detail. A father dismembers his kin, and her words reveal the man her father wished he was and the man he became.
If you like: Lana Del Rey, Mitski and Blondeshell
“The Guest” by Emma Cline
Haunting, upsetting and unsuspectingly charming, Emma Cline’s most recent novel, “The Guest,” follows the path of one woman over the course of a summer Long Island week. She weaves her men between her addiction and her flailing sense of self in every move she makes until it all comes to a tantalizing close.
“Down the Drain” by Julia Fox
The media spotlight has ignited Julia Fox for her affairs, her persona and her ass. This devastatingly honest memoir proves (what everyone already knew) that her identity is worth more than what it had been commodified as. Her wit and prose slice through anything but her unflinching reality, making each page flow into the next. She does what she wants when she wants it.
“The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic” by Jessica Hopper
Jessica Hopper’s collection of essays cements her keen eye for the intersection of art, identity and celebrity as a keen set of glasses through which to view contemporary music. From an investigation of Chan Marshall’s Cat Power to a sharp call to save the iconic Los Angeles DIY venue The Smell, Hopper’s work leaves no key unplayed in 21st-century music literature.
“Love Your Enemy” by The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group
Controversial yet cunningly written, Love Your Enemy is a 1981 manifesto from The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group that argues against heterosexuality. Although most of the praxis described in this work has been largely denounced by queer circles today, examining the foundation provides an often-overlooked insight into the formation of queer (in particular lesbian) theory.
