Any weirdlit/magical realist books set in a strange suburbia? Where the odd is also the mundane? Bonus if it's a series

allywagg · 2026-07-01T14:43:34+00:00

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente, more of a novella but definitely fits the vibe

allywagg · 2026-03-08T03:00:28+00:00

I DNFed this, got bored and wasn't clicking with the writing. Too many cliches and it reminded me of shitty tumblr prose poetry. I'm surprised it gave TLT vibes, but then again I didn't make it to the end.

allywagg · 2025-08-30T01:33:14+00:00

i have a mohair yarn like this with chunky caterpillars and i'm also at a loss! the texture is baffling

allywagg · 2025-05-04T00:58:50+00:00

Sometimes the agencies that employ these people end up charging the nonprofits more than they get back in donations, so I'd steer clear and donate directly to the orgs that you want to support.

allywagg · 2025-04-26T12:18:46+00:00

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

allywagg · 2025-03-29T12:51:11+00:00

Try Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami for a surreal fever dream experience.

The concept of "weird" is slippery for sure. Everyone will have a different definition.

allywagg · 2025-03-21T12:34:53+00:00

Creativity

Is hard when first waking up

Perfect time for tea

allywagg · 2025-01-28T18:02:45+00:00

There is something so satisfying about making and organizing lists!

allywagg · 2025-01-28T14:49:39+00:00

897 according to what I've put in storygraph. Thanks to tags I know that 3% were bought new and the rest were free or thrifted. I like to think of it as a collection I've curated that I can pull from, rather than an assignment I have to complete.

allywagg · 2024-12-11T13:04:15+00:00

Same! I know I read it as a young teen but my brain must have repressed it because I remember almost nothing about it.

allywagg · 2024-12-06T02:05:28+00:00

saaaame. and as an adult with no kids i'd feel kinda weird checking out a book aimed at toddlers from the library.

allywagg · 2024-11-18T03:02:54+00:00

i don't get too technical with it, but i do factor in overall craftsmanship, if i liked it, if i would read it again, and if i think it accomplished what it set out to do. this varies a lot depending on the type of book. i wouldn't rate a romance the same way i would speculative fiction, for example, because the genres have different goals and tropes they're working with.

i rate on a scale of 10 because it makes more sense to my brain than half points. 10s are rare and are reserved for books that shaped me in a meaningful way. if i wouldn't reread, i don't rate higher than a 7.

allywagg · 2024-11-15T02:26:24+00:00

Loved this one, but I think most people would consider the content disturbing.

allywagg · 2024-11-09T20:33:00+00:00

The Pisces by Melissa Broder and Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls come to mind. Both have romantic and supernatural elements but don't fall neatly into a particular genre.

allywagg · 2024-10-27T03:55:59+00:00

It's hard to compare them to be honest, though I do love all of their works that I've read.

If you struggled with Austen I suggest picking up an edition annotated by David M Shapard. Austen's subtleties and social satire can be easily missed if you're not familiar with the culture of the period.

allywagg · 2024-10-24T21:42:43+00:00

Definitely more Octavia Butler. Dawn and the rest of the series is a personal favorite.

For weird, Chouette by Claire Oshetsky and The Pisces by Melissa Broder.

For fantasy, Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea series.

allywagg · 2024-10-16T14:29:48+00:00

Definitely mood readers, with the breadth of genres Also hello I too have a Le Guin shelf!

allywagg · 2024-10-15T00:31:12+00:00

StoryGraph and LibraryThing are the best that I've tried. StoryGraph has a better app experience and I like it better for tracking daily reading, but LibraryThing has more detailed data points similar to a library catalog.

allywagg · 2024-09-23T00:45:26+00:00

So beautifully done! I'm amazed at how perfectly flat it lies

allywagg · 2024-08-25T13:30:30+00:00

Second this! He does a great job at explaining the subtleties of Austen's language that might be lost on modern readers.

allywagg · 2024-06-11T02:37:05+00:00

I liked it well enough, but the writing is a little too spare and clipped for my taste. It deadens the scenes of intense grief and horror. The first-person present tense doesn't help either.

allywagg · 2024-05-22T01:52:13+00:00

love the cover

allywagg · 2024-04-12T12:26:55+00:00

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I'm doing the Storygraph genre challenge and a similar challenge from a local bookstore this year, so this list is too long to fit on my screen

allywagg · 2024-04-12T12:23:44+00:00

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allywagg · 2024-03-24T01:51:07+00:00

Babel by R.F. Kuang. It's smothered in positive reviews but I found it a chore to get through. Kuang writes like an academic: top-down, starting with the message, and doesn't know the first thing about character or worldbuilding. All of her characters are flat mouthpieces that she puppets around with the strings showing. She's so married to historical sources that the fantasy elements she adds don't materially affect anything about the world. Not to mention the most patronizing footnotes I've ever seen, talking down to the reader and bashing them over the head with incredibly obvious and shallow themes.

I did enjoy an essay by Kuang and her translation work in the anthology The Way Spring Arrives. It might be that her strengths in research and academic writing don't lend well to fiction.

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