YES.
This is my favourite sort of task.
So I will say that my taste is more towards hybrid texts with oomph and ferocity and heart.I’m just going to throw my best-beloved novels/hybrid fictions at you and you can see what sticks.
With that caveat.
I Have Blinded Myself Writing This Jess Stoner
Domestication Handbook Kristen Stone
Green Girl Kate Zambreno
Zazen Vanessa Vaselka
Have you read Toni Morrison at all? Because you should read her, starting with Beloved and going out from there.
Autobiography of Red Anne Carson (more of an epic poem + fragments+logic puzzles than a novel but so so so good)
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing Eimear McBride – just won a major prize, a very hard novel in terms of content, and very good.
Humanimals: A Project for Future Children Bhanu Kapil
Fancy some short stories: Fast Machine Elizabeth Ellen
Check out also this list:http://necessaryfiction.com/writerinres/GirlLitSuggestedReadingList plus an essay from me you can skip to the end if you like, and will find some repetitions here but no matter.
As you can see, definite American bias. This is because America is home to some of my favourite small presses (good work Red Lemonade and Short Flight Long Drive Love you all though). Galley Beggar Press is one to watch in the UK though, they published McBride and seem to value groundbreaking as a function in fiction.
Thanks for this, I’m gonna make my way through some of these next month so my end of year reading list isn’t so dull.
I’m a big fan of American Fiction too! I’m really into Lydia Davis, Veronica Geng and Amy Hempel so I’m alright with this list you’ve got being biased towards the US. I’ve tried to read Beloved before but I really couldn’t get into it. I don’t know if it was the period and setting of the story but I just couldn’t keep up my interest in it. I’ve since tried Flannery O’Connor and prefer her for writing of the American South but ok, I’ll revisit Beloved too while I’m at it.
Thanks!
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