I've just struggled through a real drag of a book, and now I'm looking for something impossible to put down.
I've come up with a list of my favourite reads and discovered some correlations. I would LOVE some recommendations based on the following:
My favourite reads:
- My Dark Vanessa
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
- Educated
- Beartown
- The Handmaids Tale
- The Other Boleyn Girl
- We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Yellowface
- Notes on an Execution
-
(I'll add that I hated Lessons in Chemistry. Hated it. I want to steer well clear of anything twee. Not a massive romance ran either.)
What I love:
Looking through that list, I think the correlation is:
- Character-driven page-turners
- Usually a complex female lead
- Darker themes / characters / social commentary
- Troubled people / moral ambiguity
- Un-put-downable. For whatever reason. But I think it often helps when the character has a secret (Yellowface) or something is kept from the reader (Eleanor Oliphant).
- Emotionally rich, without being overly sentimental.
If you can recommend me something that ends up being ADDED to the 'favourite reads' list, I'll love you forever. And who doesn't want the eternal love of an anonymous stranger?
by Responsible-Rub7473
8 Comments
Migrations by Charlotte Mconoghy
Oh! Also want to suggest Vladimir by Julia May Jones.
The Push by Ashley Audrain
Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff
The Secret History might be up your alley
I totally get what you’re looking for – complex women, secrets, moral messiness, and books that *actually* deserve the “unputdownable” label. Your list overlaps with a lot of my favorites too (though I’ll admit I gave *Lessons in Chemistry* 5 stars).
Here are a few that might make your favorites list:
**Strange Sally Diamond** by Liz Nugent
If you liked *Eleanor Oliphant* but wanted it darker, this hits. Sally’s voice is unforgettable, and the mystery at the heart of her life is seriously unsettling in the best way. It’s layered, smart, and full of emotional punch.
**Martyr!** by Kaveh Akbar
Literary but not showy. It deals with addiction, grief, religion, and identity with a messy, deeply human narrator. It’s got that quiet heartbreak mixed with unexpected moments of levity — totally unique.
**The Book of Essie** by Meghan MacLean Weir
A teenage girl from a hyper-religious reality TV family quietly starts taking control of her own story. There’s media manipulation, big secrets, and a morally grey lead you’ll root for. Way smarter and deeper than it first appears.
**The Buffalo Hunter Hunter** by Stephen Graham Jones
Leans more literary horror, but it’s emotionally rich and sharp with social critique. You get the sense something is *off* from the start, and the slow reveal is both haunting and strangely beautiful.
**Tampa** by Alissa Nutting
If *My Dark Vanessa* worked for you, this goes even further into the taboo. It’s dark, twisted, and deeply uncomfortable but impossible to look away from. Total moral ambiguity, no redemption arc, just chaos.
Hope one of these hits the spot – I’m always chasing that next “how is this book so good” read too.
Big Swiss by Jean Begin, the trunk by Kim ryeo-ryeong, boy parts by Eliza Clark, one of the good guys by araminta hall, tampa by alissa nutting, promising young women by Caroline o donoghue, the centre by ayesha manazir siddiqi, my murder by katie Williams, milk fed by Melissa broder, new animal by Ella Baxter, acts of desperation by Megan Nolan, everyone in this room will be dead by Emily Austin, animal by Lisa Taddeo, madam by Phoebe wynne. All of these books have women as protagonists and can be considered dark (some more than others) – these are my fave books with similar vibes to the ones you mention above !
Irvine Welsh’s stuff would check a lot of these boxes. My personal favorite is Skagboys, but Trainspotting and Glue were both really good too. His books definitely explore the darker more morally ambiguous fringes of society in a really unique way. I absolutely adore his writing.