kendallroy:

you wanted it, you got it, babes! caveat: this list is long (seriously, sorry about the length) and i can’t write blurbs for everything, but i highly recommend going and looking at anything that sounds interesting. some books will fall under multiple headings, so i’m listing them twice. i am linking to their purchase pages on bookshop.org, because amazon sucks and bookshop helps support indie booksellers, but if your local indie bookstore offers delivery or curbside pickup, buy it there. and i’m trying to keep this list confined to pretty recent titles, so even though a few older ones might slip in there, it’s definitely centered on releases from the past few years. okay let’s do this.

if you want a book that feels like a primal scream:

• godshot by chelsea bieker
• the book of joan by lidia yuknavitch
  
• girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo
• her body and other parties by carmen maria machado (short stories)
• trust exercise by susan choi
• my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell
• the rehearsal by eleanor catton
• indelicacy by amina cain
• the answers by catherine lacey
• the mars room by rachel kushner
  
• the love affairs of nathaniel p. by adelle waldman

if you want clever social commentary and/or hilarious female protagonists:

• you too can have a body like mine by alexandra kleeman
• the new me by halle butler
• queenie by candice carty-williams
• prep by curtis sittenfeld
• the idiot by elif batumen
• my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh
• oksana, behave! by maria kuznetsova
• where’d you go, bernadette by maria semple
  
• convenience store woman by sayaka murata
• nothing to see here by kevin wilson
• made for love by alissa nutting
• the pisces by melissa broder
• the herd by andrea bartz

if you want to start reading the unhinged women canon (not all recent):

• mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf
• the awakening by kate chopin
• we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson
• gone girl by gillian flynn
• rebecca by daphne du maurier
• white oleander by janet fitch
  
• cousin bette by honore de balzac
• wide sargasso sea by jean rhys
• play it as it lays by joan didion
  
• the piano teacher by elfriede jelinek
• valley of the dolls by jacqueline susann
• postcards from the edge by carrie fisher

if you liked the secret history:

• if we were villains by m.l. rio
• social creature by tara isabelle burton
• the basic eight by daniel handler
• the incendiaries by r.o. kwon
• bunny by mona awad
• hex by rebecca dinerstein knight

if you like speculative/dystopian fiction:

• the dreamers by karen thompson walker
• the book of joan by lidia yuknavitch
• severance by lin ma
• gold fame citrus by claire vaye watkins
• the farm by joanne ramos
• followers by megan angelo
• the power by naomi alderman
• the glass hotel by emily st. john mandel

if you want a book that reads like a good fanfic:

• normal people by sally rooney
• fame adjacent by sarah skilton
• stay up with hugo best by erin somers
  
• the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid
• circe by madeline miller
• the nobodies by liza palmer
• evvie drake starts over by linda holmes

if you like dark stories about complex relationships between women:

• my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite
• baby teeth by zoje stage
  
• dare me by megan abbott
• eileen by ottessa moshfegh
  
• social creature by tara isabelle burton
  
• the worst kind of want by liska jacobs
• the girls by emma cline
• oligarchy by scarlett thomas
• devotion by madeline stevens
• baby by annaleese jochems
• marlena by julie buntin
• bunny by mona awad
• necessary people by anna pitoniak

if you like stories about complicated families:

• red at the bone by jacqueline woodson
• the care and feeding of ravenously hungry girls by anissa grey
• mostly dead things by kristen arnett
• bee season by myla goldberg
  
• bowlaway by elizabeth mccracken
• everything i never told you by celeste ng
• the nest by cynthia d’aprix sweeney
• the grammarians by cathleen schine
• ask again, yes by mary beth keane

if you like smart and thoughtful books about relationships between women:

• my brilliant friend and the neapolitan novels by elena ferrante
• such a fun age by kiley reid
• gingerbread by helen oyeyimi
• the female persuasion by meg wolitzer
• the burning girl by claire messud
• expectation by anna hope
• the animators by kayla rae whitaker

if you want something queer that isn’t YA:

• my education by susan choi
  
• permission by saskia vogel
• mostly dead things by kristen arnett
• real life by brandon taylor
• after dolores by sarah schulman
• patsy by nicole dennis-benn
• wilder girls by rory power
• enter the aardvark by jessica anthony
• less by andrew sean greer
• exciting times by naiose dolan
  

you just want something good and are willing to take a chance on one of these books i love (these are not all recent, i just like them a lot):

• dept. of speculation by jenny offill
• the interestings by meg wolitzer
• godshot by chelsea bieker
• play it as it lays by joan didion
• the bonfire of the vanities by tom wolfe
• wolf in white van by john darnielle
• things you would know if you grew up around here by nancy wayson dinan
• sex and rage by eve babitz
• wise blood by flannery o’connor
• leading men by christopher castellani
  
• saint x by alexis schaitkin
• the cosmopolitans by sarah schulman
• lake success by gary shteyngart
• odds against tomorrow by nathaniel rich
• the great believers by rebecca makkai
• good citizens need not fear by maria reva (short stories)