I've been seeing and loving a lot of 'gift guides for weird girls' out there, so when I saw Vintage Classics' new Weird Girls series, it was the perfect excuse to share some of my own recommendations for gothic, odd and unhinged reads!
So for any other self-describing weirdos out there (regardless of gender), or their more conventional loved ones looking for gift ideas, here are some unusual and wonderful books to add to your holiday reading stack.
Apple and Knife
Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen J. Epstein
The premise of the Weird Girls series is to share nine unique novels from nine pioneering female authors, from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Victorian classic, The Yellow Wall-Paper, to Ottessa Moshfegh's 2020 novel, Death in Her Hands. It's a diverse mix, with authors from all over the globe writing on subjects from black magic to a long and tedious flight.
There are several books in the series that I'm eager to delve into, but I'm restraining myself and highlighting just one: Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha. This is Paramaditha's debut short story collection, and mixes the contemporary Indonesian setting with fairytales and mythology, creating a heady atmostphere of both desire and horror.
Woo Woo
Ella Baxter
This novel was voted by Readings staff to be one of the best Australian fiction books of 2024 and our head book buyer described it as 'outstanding', so it comes highly recommended by our team. But as well as being a lauded bestseller, it's a wonderfully weird story, with elements of a psychological thriller, an art-scene satire and a surreal fever-dream.
Rather than explaing the plot, I want to share this quote from our head of marketing which has been living in my brain rent-free since Woo Woo came out: 'it is much like belly sliding down a hallway of very soft fruit: thrilling, shocking and at turns pleasingly repulsive … I loved it.' Surely it goes without saying that a book that can be likened to sliding through piles of overripe fruit belongs on the reading list of any Weird Girl™.
ITCH!
Gemma Amor
ITCH! is an odd, creeping story of superstition, trauma and grief – and not a book for anyone with a bug phobia …
Josie grew up in a rural village near the Forest of Dean, part of a community still rich in pagan ritual, alongside the contemporary concerns of litter, housing prices and the rising popularity of e-cigarettes. After escaping the small community for life in London, Josie is back, trying to cope with fresh scars from her abusive ex-girlfriend alongside the childhood scars of her mother's death and her father's anger.
When she discovers an ant-infested dead body in the woods, Josie find herself sprialing downwards, caught up in the similarities between her and the dead woman, and unable to stop feeling the crawl of insects beneath her skin. This is a compelling psychological thriller with elements of folk horror that provide plenty of atmosphere.
Shy Girl
Mia Ballard
Shy Girl is a visceral story of female rage, and not one for the faint of heart. Prepare for an at-times harrowing story of manipulation and abuse, and a cathartically bloody journey to justice.
Gia is lonely, adrift and in need of money. Through a sugar daddy dating site she meets Nathan, who seems to provide a solution – he'll pay off all her debts, and provide room and board, in exchange for her living entirely under his control as his devoted 'pet'.
What seems straightforwardly transactional, soon devolves into abuse that pulls Gia further and further away from her own humanity. But perhaps embracing the animal inside her is the best way out of the nightmare of Nathan's control …
Stinkbug
Sinead Stubbins
For the corporate girlies, I suggest this unhinged workplace satire. On a work retreat for team building, Edith is initially keen to impress management and distinguish herself from her colleagues. But when the team discover there are mass lay-offs ahead and success at the retreat revolves around the strength of the relationships between colleagues, her confidence starts to evaporate. In a masculine culture, and recently dumped by her more approachable boyfriend, Edith is a prickly, abrupt and – perhaps worst of all – ambitious woman, with very few allies to count on.
Alongside her fears of ending up as the office outcast, Edith starts to suspect that something isn't right at this remote retreat, but trying to investigate will only put her status further at risk. Is it worth it to try and find the truth, or should she focus on fighting to be accepted, no matter the cost?
Nock Loose
Patrick Marlborough
Delve into the world of renfairs and LARPing with Patrick Marlborough's Tarantino-esque debut novel, Nock Loose.
Bodkins Point is a regional Australian town that once a year is overrun by a medieval festival called Agincourt, where the violence isn't just for show. A year after a devastating and deadly fire, the town is preparing once again for Agincourt, but one resident isn't ready to forget the pain of the past and let the festivities go ahead.
Joy is a former olympic archer and stuntwoman who lost her granddaughter in the fires, and holds the festival's drunken revellers responsible. Now she's out for revenge, and with deadly skill and no sense of self-preservation, this is set to be a festival like no other.
Both comedic, bloody and tense, this revenge thriller is a riot and riotous good time.
Hunger
Choi Jin-young, translated by Soje
This is one for the hopeless romantics, those who think if you're not codependent you're not in love, and those who loved the movie Together.
Dam and Gu are deeply in love, but Gu's sudden death leaves his girlfriend devastated and lost, clinging to memories of their relationship and dreams of the life they should have shared. Unable to accept the loss of her partner, Dam clings to him – taking his corpse from the street where he died back to their apartment, where she begins a solemn and meaningful ritual of consuming the body.
For Dam, eating her boyfriend is a way to preserve their love and keep Gu with her, forever. This is a poetic and very moving novel, that isn't using cannabalism for its horror value, but as a testament to the lengths we will go to for love, and the incredible pain of grief.
We Love You, Bunny
Mona Awad
Last but not least, we have one of the icons of Weird Girl™ books, Mona Awad, with the much anticipated sequel to the cult classic Bunny. In We Love You, Bunny, we get the fascinating, gruesome origin of the Bunnies' unholy alliance, with our main character Sam literally held hostage to hear the mean girls of Bunny defend themselves and share their stories.
There is an ironic vulnerability beneath the sickly sweet facade and surreal violence of the young women of this story, and it's both a fascinating explanation of the world of Bunny and a wild and compelling stand-alone novel.
