bonewitches:

HISTORICAL FICTION WOW I LOVE IT

• mistress of the art of death // ariana franklin (england under henry ii, badass female doctor solving murder mysteries *sighs*)
  
• everything i never told you // celeste ng (a girl dies in 1970s america)
  
• lies we tell ourselves // robin talley (two girls, one black, one white, falling in love in 1960s racially segregated america)
• the maze of cadiz // aly monroe (post second world war spain)
• the shadow of the wind // carlos ruiz zafon (barcelona under the franco dictatorship in the 1940s)
• the miseducation of cameron post // emily m danforth (1980s america + lesbians)
• the book thief // markus zusak (second world war germany)
• hood // stephen r lawhead (imagine if robin hood was welsh in medieval britain)
• after the fire, a still small voice // evie wyld (vietnam war time australia mixed with present day)
• whistling for the elephants // sandi toksvig (english girl goes to live in america in the late 1960s)
• the general in his labyrinth // gabriel garcia marquez (the last days of simon bolivar)
• half of a yellow sun // chimamanda ngozi adichie (1960s nigeria)
• code name verity // elizabeth wein (female pilots in ww2)
• hugh corbett series // paul doherty (1200s england lord solving mysteries *grabby hands*. pd has also written a load of other historical mystery series but i havent read them)
• the janissary tree // jason goodwin (set in 1800s constantinople a eunuch solving murder mysteries literally this series is the reason i am obsessed with the ottomans/ history of istanbul)
• the red necklace // sally gardner (frenCH REVOLUTION)
• a northern light // jennifer donnelly (america in 1906 inspired by a murder)
• the suspicions of mr whicher // kate summerscale (technically a true story but written as fiction and it got turned into a tv film too)
• war horse // michael morpugo (yes that one)
• the highwayman’s footsteps // nicola morgan (who doesn’t love highwaymen lbr)
• the penelopiad // margaret atwood (penelope’s side of the odyssey)
• gatty’s tale // kevin crossley holland (pilgrimages to the holy land in late 1000s)

i should probably stop there bc now we’re veering into kids’ books territory so moving on

FANTASY (i read a lot of it. this list is only getting longer, i’ll try limit myself a bit)

• the hundred thousand kingdoms // nk jemisin
• eragon // christopher paolini
• the darkest part of the forest // holly black
• cold magic // kate elliott
• the turn of the story // sarah rees brennan
• fearsome dreamer // laure eve
• seraphina // rachel hartman
• throne of glass // sarah j maas

(ok this is me being limited)

hope u like <3

bonewitches:

ooooh i might do

• the secret history donna tartt (i mean richard papen compares himself to gatsby but really he’s nick ok)
  
• and on that note the great gatsby f scott fitzgerald (i hated this book because i had to do it for gcse and had to read it 5 times for the exam but wow you want an unreliable narrator? you don’t get much more unreliable than nick carraway well actually you probably do)
• in a way the song of achilles madeleine miller (because patroclus loves achilles which clouds his judgement of the other characters but including it may be debatable idk)
• a hero at the end of the world erin claiborne (not in first person but both character thinks the other was in the wrong or whatever. spoilers)
• vicious ve schwab (ok so we’re veering into ambiguous villain territory here i know. also not first person but they’re each so unreliable in how they narrate what happened to people and you don’t know who to root for because they both see everything differently and each sees the other as the villain)
• the shadow year hannah richell (kind of. there are aspects of unreliable narratorness in it)
• the unbecoming of mara dyer michelle hodkin (mainly because amnesia type stuff but also she may be crazy. spoilers)
• more than this patrick ness (who is seth? why did he drown? what is this place???)
• i am the messenger markus zusak (oh ed my precious unreliable narrator)
• underdog markus zusak (hey dontcha love him)
• suicide notes michael thomas ford (tw for suicide but again why did he try kill himself? why???)
• stonemouth iain banks (dude are you really tryna say you don’t know why these bad guys wanna kill you? pah)
• we need to talk about kevin lionel shriver (tw for murder basically)
• submarine joe dunthorne (the one that got turned into a film)
• the woman in white wilkie collins (multiple narrators none of them reliable)

that’s all i got hope it helps!

days-of-reading:

Books that will make you think about what a book is:

• Artful, Ali Smith
  trigger warning: death, loss, depression
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
• Ulysses, James Joyce (this book is hard going [i read it at a rate of about 10-15 pages an hour] so maybe don’t start with this, but it’s worth the pain — check out the online guide at infiniteulysses.com) 
  
• “Days of Reading”, Marcel Proust (an essay)
• Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
  trigger warning: discusses depression, drug addiction, institutionalization
  
• Middlemarch, George Eliot
• Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
• Lowboy, John Wray
  trigger warning: schizophrenia
  
• NW, Zadie Smith

Books that will make you think about art and intelligence:

• Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations by Adrienne Rich
• Bluets, Maggie Nelson
• The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience, Ann Lauterbach
• My Poets, Maureen McLane
  
• Reality Hunger, David Shields
  
• The Art of Recklessness, Dean Young
  

Books that will make you think about history:

• The Rings of Saturn, W.G. Sebald
  trigger warning: somewhat graphic descriptions of world war II
  
• Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf
• Washington Square, Henry James
• Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light, Leonard Shlain
• The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
• Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
• Maus, Art Spiegelman
  trigger warning: graphic holocaust descriptions
  
• White Teeth, Zadie Smith
• A Scrap of Time and Other Stories, Ida Fink
  trigger warning: graphic holocaust descriptions; violence
  
• The Emigrants, W.G. Sebald
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer

Books that will make you think about life, the human condition, etc.:

• The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
• The End of Vandalism, Tom Drury
• The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
• Neon Vernacular, Yusef Komunyakka
• Lit, Mary Karr
  trigger warning: alcoholism, depression
  
• Sinners Welcome, Mary Karr
  trigger warning: depression
  
• Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  trigger warning: graphic descriptions of murder, brief description of attempted sexual assault
• The Empathy Exams: Essays, Leslie Jamison
  trigger warning: explicit descriptions of violence and assault
• This is Water, David Foster Wallace
• The Tenth of December, George Saunders
• The Road, Cormac McCarthy
  trigger warning: apocalyptic narrative (this sets some people off idk!)
  
• Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee
  trigger warning: graphic rape
• An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison
  trigger warning: discussions of bipolar depression

Books that will make you think about love:

• Coeur de Lion, Ariana Reines
• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (trans. Anne Carson)
• Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• “The Beast in the Jungle”, Henry James (short story)
• Just Kids, Patti Smith
  trigger warning: drug use
  
• Eat Quite Everything You See, Leslie Adrienne Miller
• Morning in the Burned House, Margaret Atwood
• Bough Down, Karen Green
  trigger warning: depression, grief, suicide
• Never Let Me Go, Kashuo Ishiguro 
• This is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz
• The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
• Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
  trigger warning: pedophilia. this is under the love category because despite the absolutely appalling subject it’s one of the most beautifully written testaments to obsessive love and desire, ever.
• The Rehearsal, Eleanor Catton
• Nothing Was the Same
  trigger warning: death, grief, mental illness
  

Books that will make you think about humour and laughter:

• The First Bad Man, Miranda July <small>trigger warning: disturbing content, mental illness</small>
• The Liar’s Club, Mary Karr
  trigger warning: all kinds of mental illness, sexual assault, violence
• A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace
• The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace
  trigger warning: sexual assault if I’m not recalling incorrectly
• The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P, Adelle Waldmann
• Civilwarland in Bad Decline, George Saunders 
• Orlando, Virginia Woolf
• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson

Books that will make you think about the books that almost never were:

• A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
• Literary Women, Ellen Moers
• My Emily Dickinson, Susan Howe
• Heroines, Kate Zambreno
• A Literature of Their Own, Elaine Showalter
• The Madwoman in the Attic, Gilbert & Gubar
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
  
• Women and Writing, Virginia Woolf
• I am an Emotional Creature, Eve Ensler

ammapreakersarchive:

Here are some great atypical female character oriented movies on netflix (lady killers, dangerous teenagers, reverse lolitas, explorations of female sexuality, queer females, etc.):

• Young & Beautiful.
• About Cherry.
• The Craft.
• The Virgin Suicides.
• Ida. 
• Ginger & Rosa. (on amazon prime)
• Carrie. (both versions)
• Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 & 2.
• Hick.
• All Cheerleaders Die.
• Heathers.
• Ginger Snaps.
• Blue Is The Warmest Colour.
• It Felt Like Love.
• Short Term 12.
• In A World.
• Palo Alto. (on amazon prime)
• Dirty Girl.
• A Teacher.
• The Babysitters.
• Copenhagen. (haven’t seen, but it looks interesting)
• Spring Breakers. (on amazon prime)
• The Bling Ring. (on amazon prime)
• Election.
• Melancholia.
• Violet & Daisy.
• American Beauty.
• Sleeping Beauty.
• Fish Tank.
• Plush.
• The Piano Teacher. (haven’t seen, but looks interesting.)
• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
• Heavenly Creatures.
• Sexy Baby.
• Boys Don’t Cry.
• Whore’s Glory.
• Tomorrow, When The War Began.

Hopefully that helps. Remember that I am always begging for more recommendations that you guys have, especially ones that feature WOC and queer women and QWOC.