Goes Without Saying - The Autumn Reading List for Weird and Lazy Girls

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

EP006 - What's 'horrifying' about vengeful female characters hurting men?This week I scoured my bookshelves for an essential reading list. @makesyouspiralWatch on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Okay. Woohoo! What is this? The sixth one. I don't know why I'm asking you. Hiya. We are back. What is that reminding me of?

We're back. Oh, it's the fucking keeping up with the Kardashians thing. Forget it. Forget it. Right. Start again. Hi. I've got tea.

Slow motion enter tea. Slow motion sip tea too hot. How are you? How's it going? I'm just going to adjust this. Having some mic issues. Having some technical issues. What's new?

Remember in the other episode, I was like, oh, I'm going to use, like, the book episode as a bit of a crutch. We're using our crutch. That's two crutches consecutively. However, it's my birthday, not right now, but I got my knickers in a twist a little bit. And there was a moment there where I thought, we're not going to have an episode, and that would have been bad. And I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. And I know you're going to be like, who cares? That's literally fine.

No, I cares. I cares, okay? We're here, yay! We're surviving. We're going to talk about books today. I'm looking down because I've got like a stack of books in front of me. Bit of a disclaimer before we begin. I don't really remember any of the books that I read.

I have a lot of quite and quite favorite books. Ask me what happens. We might struggle. But I've gone, I'm going for the vibes. This is very vibe heavy. And we'll see what I can pull from my memory about certain text. that we've got here, but I'm looking for the sort of like qualities, the factors that I was working through when I was like looking at my bookshelves was something that feels a little bit

cold, something that feels a little bit spooky, and just something honestly to survive autumn with. I'm quite intrigued by the mix that I've picked here. There are some books that I haven't read in quite a while. So you can let me know if you read them. Let me know if they hold up. There are also books that I remember, I wrote them down and I don't have physical copies of them. Should we see what they are just quickly? There's any that I really don't want to miss. Ah, okay, yes, there are a few. All right, all right. Okay, well, anyway, how's it going? How are you? God, I honestly feel like I'm blacking out these days. I can't remember. It literally feels that we just sat down. Does it not? Feels like we just sat down to speak. I feel like we just sat down to speak.

I feel like we kind of touched on this in the other episode. I can't remember what one it was. We was talking about reading. Remember that? Me and you? And I was saying like, basically, I'm going to come here and talk about books. And there are phases of my life where I'm reading tons of books. But don't get it twisted.

No, no, no. If you're not watching a video, I'm shaking my fingers at you. Don't get it twisted for a long periods of my life where I'm not reading anything. And I feel like we should normalize that. Just like, if you think I'm coming here, judging you and being like, you're not reading enough. I'm really not. Life happens sometimes and also we're not really in the climate to read, are we? For me, it feels like, yeah, surprise, surprise, no one's got the capacity to read. You know what I will say, however, and not with judgment, just with intrigue. As always, just to be clear, you know,

I'm never coming with judgment. No, no, no, always coming with intrigue. I'm just fascinated by you and I have so much love for you. So much love for you. People talking about like no one reads, no one reads, no one reads, no one reads. So true, but you do read all the time. Or like people say to me, I just don't read, like I just can't read, basically. There was he can read, but they're like, I can't read, I can't read. But it's weird because you're on your phone reading all day. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Like, you sit on your phone reading all day. Do you not read? Because it looks to me, like, you read a lot. You read a lot. You're just not reading books.

So, anyway, just coming with love and a kind nudge of the shoulder of just like, should we sit down and read? The good news is, seasonally, we're coming into great reading territory, in my opinion, I feel like some people are more summertime readers. Now, that is intriguing to me. I definitely get the thing of, like, being on holiday and caning through loads of books. What an amazing feeling. Wow.

The only problem with that is, like, I've been, like, like away so many times and just like sped through a book. You know that feeling where it's like you've just read a book or you're halfway through a book and you're like gagging to speak about it. But there's almost nothing you can say because it's just like, well, I'm just going to describe the plot to you. Maybe what I'm going to do now. And again, as I say, like, I do have a bit of an issue when it comes to, I'm just looking at these books. I'm like, yeah, love it. But like, what? What happens in these books? I can't remember what happens. So we'll see. My sort of criteria, Ideally, it would be written by a woman.

Not going to lie to you. Like I said in the other episode, I would rather a bear write me a book, and I'm joking. With the circumstances can be right, and they can really land for me. But obviously, I'm leaning towards women. If I've gone through a phase of, like, not reading for a while, I'm looking for something pacey,

consumable, biteable, page turner. Some people may say the normal words for it. Something plot-driven, less scary, kind of explain it to me like I'm five kind of book. But like not. So maybe on that note, we'll start there. So yeah, I'm not coming with judgment. I'm coming with love.

This is just if you were thinking of maybe picking something up to read over the next couple of months, this is where I would, this is the realm that I would feel confident being like, why don't you try this? I do find with books, I don't know, I think books can be so, it's such an individual experience. And I always find books to be so much more polarizing than like films, for example, or like a TV show. And I wonder why. Maybe we should explore that at a later date when I have something more interesting to say about it. But don't you think it's funny? I just think it's funny how

I suppose there are like different conditions when it comes to a film or something visual, you're not putting all of your faith into someone's language choices. And like I do find like there are certain authors. I hate starting this on a net. It's not negative, but like for example, An author like Mona Award. I really hope I'm saying her surname right. That's going to be a theme in this video as well. I'm sorry. I love her concept so much.

But often I'm not loving the execution. Intriguing. With a film you've got so much to lean on. It's like, okay, maybe you didn't love the score, but the colour grading was really nice. Maybe you didn't love the edit, but the acting was really strong. Maybe you didn't love the concept, but the script was really good. But there are a ton of films that I guess, like, the concept of, them would be whatever. But if they're executed in a certain way, I'll love it. And probably everyone

else is going to love it. The book I find, obviously there are books that are really loved because I was saying, some may say, but a book feels very personal because it's so sort of in isolation and it's just you and the author. And I think that's so, I don't know, there's something so special and intimate about it. But it does mean that if it catches you in the wrong headspace, it can get put down very easily, particularly when it's like, well, you're sat here with your book and your phone. Phone is glowing. Phone wants me. All right, let's start with, if you haven't read in a while, or you want something pacey, not too demanding, and also fitting a sort of, I wouldn't say like spooky, scary, but definitely like, eerie, unsettling

women are angry sort of vibe. Let's start here. Ah, this feels so fun. It's a real show and tell. I'm sniffing the book for the audio-only listeners. You can see me sniffing the book now. I've really liked this. This is a little book I like to call. It is actually called The Eyes of the Best Part by Monica Kim. This came out last year, year before.

Okay, the paperback came out in 2025. It's considered a horror. I don't think I would go that far, to be honest. I don't know if it's kind of, I almost think, it's kind of like well I'm not killing people I'm killing boys it's a bit Megan Fox does it is it really horrifying if it's do you get what I'm saying are you picking up what I'm putting down no spoilers but this is basically about a vengeful girly pops

the very very pacey quite short oh my god it's like under 300 pages guys I've done you a massive solid here under 300 pages quick read I don't know why I feel like I'm presenting my own work I didn't write this book I don't even, I don't know anything about this book. Very readable. It's basically a family of a girl, her mother and her sister. And her dad has, guess what he's done? No, guess.

He's had an affair. What? Never even knew a man would do that. He's had an affair and abandoned his family, essentially. And her mom gets a new boyfriend who is white. And it unfolds from there. basically the main character G1. I really, I did like this from the beginning.

It sort of sets up with a, there are a lot of different layers to it. There's obviously like the racial element. There's conversation about the fetishization of Asian women. And I'm kind of getting a bit giddy thinking about this actually. I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I really like the sort of set up of it. Obviously, as you're exploring the family dynamic, you're exploring the racial elements, but there's also a sort of friend, interpersonal,

or just basically a young woman feeling a bit, a little bit out of sorts, you could say. It says on the back, G1's life is in disarray. Yeah, I would agree. We'll also say, I was a bit drawn to this. The eyes are the best part. There's a conversation, basically the whole book is framed around eating an eye, eating an eyeball. When I was little, I don't know if I said this story on the pod before, but I don't know how old I was. I must have been maybe six, maybe even younger.

I was with my family. My cousin made me eat an eye Not a human eye Jesus Guys, what do you take me for? A man's eye I'm joking It was a fish's eye

And it was I didn't like it I think he tried to play it off As like a cultural thing That they were all doing But it really wasn't He definitely just tricked me Into eating an eye

But whatever Yeah, hijinks into using this I would recommend this If you're looking for something A little bit sort of bitey Fast pace nerveing. Some of it is a little bit, obviously, because there are bits that are talking about her experiences as an Asian woman, being sort of hypersexualized and stuff. And just, so just if

that is going to be sensitive for you, then bear that in mind. But I think it's really, I think she does it so well. And I really loved this book actually. Wow. Oh my God. I think talking about it has made me realize how much I enjoyed it. I just think it's fit for purpose. If you want like a quick, punchy, readable, plot, interesting themes. Yeah, this is it. And I think perfect for September, October, November when it's like this is not to me this is not an overt horror but it's something we're getting the undertones of like spookiness a little bit introspective we're talking about book this ain't my I didn't write this I've got why it feels very like and also sorry I should have this beginning you don't like this book that's got nothing to do with me all right enter at your own

risk okay next one that said enter at your own risk but like this was one of my favorite books When I read this book, I remember it being my favourite of the year. Let's find out when this came out. Sorry, is the suspense killing you audio listeners? I haven't said the name yet. I quite like doing that. Came out in 2022. Yeah, all right.

It's been around a while. Mother thing. But Ainsley Hogarth. Again, considered a horror. What is horrifying about this? A woman's revenge? I don't find that horrifying. I find it to be a comedy.

I mean, this was extremely funny and bizarre. And I suppose there are horrific. quote unquote undertones, but I, to me, a horror would be a young woman being targeted and like, you know, brutally sort of abused or like something going really wrong. In my experience, if a young woman is like having a laugh, maybe hurting people, maybe that's a red flower from me. What is horrifying about that? Justice being delivered. Justice served. As a Libra, I must say, I'm big fan. I raced through this.

Again, chompy, pacey, readable. This book is so good. I want to reread this, actually. I love the writing style of this. This to me would be, if you haven't read this, this would be my first. And if you don't like it, zip it. No, I'm joking.

You can tell me, but like, tell me nicely, because I do take this quite seriously. Like, the thought of recommending a book and then you, God forbid, you spend your heart. hard-earned cash on it. I didn't write this book, but I don't know why it just feels so serious to recommend something and then people don't like it. But, like I said, enter your own risk.

I loved this. It's really, and do you remember Nightbitch by Rachel could be? I'm pretty sure Amy Adams was in the film of it recently. I didn't like that book. I felt like that book was a poor execution of this book. I don't like things like that. Yikes. I hate to say such a thing.

But I do mean it. That's the problem. That's not to discredit the book. I think it should exist. Rachel Fodor. Is that her name? Rachel, girl, I'm sorry. I didn't eat.

You're actually great. You're a published author. Like, and as you should be. Like, this is great. But I did find your book to be a sloppy version of this book. No, I'm joking. I did. I love this book, Mother Thing.

It's basically her mother-in-law dies. and good riddance i'll put it that way there's definitely a sort of surrealist element to it a lot about like motherhood and relationships navigating just like being in a relationship with a man and the inherent inequality that you experience in knowing a man loving a man being there for a man what does that entail oh i fucking love this book i must reread i must okay mother thing also i think spooky enough to warrant being in an autumn reading list because it's autumnal. It's a little bit spooky, but like not really. What's spooky about, why would you be scared? Because you're not the target here, are you? See what I'm saying? Hmm, gothic horror. Like, guys, give it a rest. It just ain't horrifying.

It's pleasant. All right, forget it, but I love this. Let me, you must, you must, please tell me if you read any of this. I would truly love tonight. Okay. Let's make way for a bit of classics, I think. Let's do a couple at the same time. Otherwise, I'm going to be here all day. Angela Carter Bloody Chamber,

again, coming on the, like, sort of weird women are bleeding everywhere and, like, being a bit mental, but, like, God, how I love being a woman sort of vibe. And then also, a bit of bell hooks. You know why I'm saying Bell Hooks? Guess who has the same birthday as Bell Hooks? Guess. Yes, exactly.

Myself, myself. So shout out Bell Hooks. If you haven't read all about love, or just anything of, anything from Bell Hooks is just a little bit sort of life-changing. Yeah, this is the only non-fiction I was shouting out, which is intriguing to me, because I don't know why, but it's just, there's something about this. It's very sort of warm.

I don't know if I would call, I don't know why to say warm. I believe this book was originally published in, maybe you've written in the 90s, early 2000s. I love anything that is taking me to a time that doesn't exist anymore. Why is, honestly, main character of the pod, phone? Phone. Anyway, to be in a world where, but basically we're just spending how many pages? Again, under 300 pages, guys, come on.

I'm actually like, how good am I? Digestable. I think quite sweet. I think if you're in a relationship, it's an important read. I think if you are going through a troublesome time, it's an important read. And I also think it's just a nice, it's such a sort of gentle reframing, I think. I love Bell Hooks so much. Yeah.

And also just such a sort of, I find Bell Hooks to have such a singular angle. Like, I'm not reading anything else. I don't know anyone else who's doing or who did what Bell Hooks did. Lots of love to Bell Hooks, rest in peace. And then Bloody Chamber Angela Carter, sorry, GCSE, what? I'm pretty sure this is a GCSE text, I can't remember. This is short stories and actually I've got another short stories to go through which have a similar sort of vibe in the sense of that we're a little bit,

it's a bit spooky, it's a bit grim, it's a bit unsettling, bizarre, a little bit sort of surreal moments. Angela Carter is very bitey. This came out yonks ago. This came out in the 70s, which also I will say, when it comes to books, I am, oh, I have to place the book in time. I have to place the book in like, who is writing me this? Where is it coming from? Like, from what land are you coming from? Because it just informs how I receive the book so much. This is from the 70s, and you can tell, it just has such a sort of woodstock, hairy armpit, blood everywhere, such a specific sort of tone. I don't know. Again, like, I'm not reading anything that I think can match up with Angela Carter. And again, unnerving enough to deserve its spot in an October sort of reading list. Short stories as well, I adore because if you get the right sort of collection of short stories,

the best thing about short stories is, obviously, can I say readable one more time? Like, so easy to get through. And I think then amazing to get yourself out of a slump because you get that sense of satisfaction quite quick. you're almost like cheat coding your way to feeling quite accomplished in something because you know however long it takes you to read the first short story you can sit let's sit back and write a whole short story pretty amazing and these sort of are framed through a lot of like retellings of fairy tales which again in the 70s think of how sort of groundbreaking that is I just find like underpins to me this episode is so physical I'm really leaning around like getting all these books

out and holding them showing. I have, honestly, I pick, if you're not watching the video, I'm holding them up, like, presentation. It's so weird. But something like this, mother thing, I think, cannot exist without something like this from Angela Carter. She's sort of the, like, founding father to me of this I would consider Gothic and a feminist text.

And just remember that it's sort of the predecessor to so many, like, sort of quote unquote weird girl books that you probably like. So, thank you, Miss Angela. Again, short stories, the house guest. This is, again, a little bit sort of weird unsettling, profoundly unsettling. I'm reading on the back. This is maybe the only translation that I have in front of me, which is kind of interesting. I feel like I read a lot of translated books.

But The House Guest, this is by... God, I haven't been saying... Have her? Oh, yeah, I can't mostly have. Yeah. Empower de Villa. Came out yonks ago. I would say very strange.

A little bit surreal. Can be quite dark, honestly. Quite gritty. Again, you're going to get through it so quickly. It's under... Mate, it's under 200 pages. These are almost all under 300 pages, guys. Am I not just the best?

Just so good. And again, with a short story selection like this, first of all, cover is gorgeous. And then also, you're getting that thing where... The best thing with a short story collection as well, something that I hate. Something that I hate was the worst. wrong short stories is getting through the first one, getting to the end of it, and then

starting the next one, being like, this one's kind of falling flat in comparison to the last one. And I find that to be a bit of a bummer. This one, I remember feeling so hooked by a short story, finishing it and being like, oh, no, I hate that. I'm leaving this one. And then within the next sort of, within the first few chapters of the next one being immediately hooked, I also really like the translation. I think it's, I have thought. on translated books because I think sometimes the translation does it a disservice and you can lose a lot of like metaphor. I like this. This is a lot more like psychological taboo. A bit of an odd sort of bizarre one. On that note actually about translated, I don't have a physical copy of this in front of me,

but the centre. I'm going to have to Google who that's by it. Aisha Manazir Siddiqui. The center is sort of a little bit, I don't want to say dystopian, but it has that sort of otherworldly new technology sort of angle. And again, speaking about race class, I don't know what I can tell you and what isn't a spoiler. It talks about like the learning of other languages, what it means to learn multiple languages, etc. And this place called the centre where you can go and somehow learn another language. And I guess you'll just have to find out how that happens. Very, very good, very, a little bit of like a mysterious angle. I really liked that.

And again, so readable, so movable. And really interesting themes quite singular in like what it's exploring. I don't, I've never read anything like that to my knowledge. Yeah, it's sort of uneasy off-putting in a fun way, I think. Stuff that is more like, not subtle, but I would call this like balmy, multi. That's such a weird way of putting it. But two books here. Or Tessa, death in her hands.

Sort of like the weirder sister to my year of rest and relaxation or just any of her other books. I find this one to be a little bit more subdued and internal. Got that same ambiguous, bizarre sort of thing. I think this is worth it if you are a fan of her writing and haven't gone there yet. I remember really liking it at the time, actually. And then, again, multi-barmy. This is, it's a little bit sad, but in an amazing way, it's really, like, beautiful. Sing Unburied Sing by Jasmine Ward.

I wrote this in another life when I was Jasmine Ward. I read this yonks ago, and I loved it. This came out a while ago, actually. Did you know it was one of Barack Obama's best books of 2017? Wow. Good for you. you girl and it was shortlisted for the women's prize in 2018 i think that must have been when i read it which is quite a while ago now hey it's really poetic lyrical sort of melodic writing i loved her writing

she's god sorry just looked at the fucking photo of her on the back sorry most beautiful woman i've ever seen in my life what the fuck such a sweet loving so deeply moving book it has a sort of slightly surreal ghostly element but it's about family it's about race and power and grief it's just really gorgeous and yeah again some horrible racial tones here but worth it for an absolutely amazing read i just want to give you a nod that it's not pleasant um and then i'm gonna end this was an amazing book this is one of the best books of all time it's got to be it might be one of the only ones that isn't under 300 pages. No, it isn't, but it's fucking worth it. Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo. This went crazy when it first came out. And I feel like it's died down now because it's been like sort of enough time has passed that it got a lot of praise at the time,

rightfully so. And the heat's died down on it and I want to turn it back up. Amazing book. How would I say like somewhat experimentally written? We're losing some punctuation here. a little bit sort of she walks so Sally Rooney could run if that bothers you then just try it like I really think it's worth it it's 12 different women you follow each of their sort of perspectives

it's really sort of why I think it's autumnal it has that sort of vibe of being on the tube in the rain I don't know if that's just that was what my experience was reading this but it's English very sort of gritty and grounded. I feel like there's a lot of books that I've spoken about that have that sort of surreal, dreamlike element. This is sort of the opposite.

It's so grounded and raw and just like bold. Just so good. If you didn't read this, what's wrong with you? What? You're better than that. You're better than that. It's slightly longer, but so readable. Just amazing.

I love this book so much. just really important book. They're not making books like this no more. Just honestly, I think reading it now actually might be a bit somber because it's so that sort of like woke one. Like just pre-2020, body positivity, you know, take it with a pinch of soul because it's like we're greenwashing. But what a time when this came out.

Really, really amazing book. I love that book. Let me know what you're reading. I might try and get better at talking about books. I don't know. What was that like for you? It's kind of hard to, I need to get better at. like if you were if what i said sorry now we talk about the episode that just happened if that's okay

with you if the way that i described a certain book was interesting to you then it's on you and you'll go and read like two sentences on what the plot is and decide from there but i think these are all i think it's a nice selection of a little bit moody a little bit warm not so much gentle reading here i will say just looking at the stack i didn't pick anything that was like cozy light-hearted with like a hot drink. Is there anything I can think of that could give you that? Nah. Let me know what you're reading.

Let me know what I should read. Let me know if you've read any of these as well and what your thoughts were on them. I would love to know your thoughts on all of these. And thank you so much for listening. I'm glad we did this. I hope it was, you know, it's obviously a bit of a different vibe. I suppose that's us. It's so crazy to me that at the end I'm like, let's stay.

Let's not go. Let's sit here and talk forever. But as you can see, I've really blown my load here. I have nothing else of value to say. Thank you for listening so much. I am loving you more than ever. I really hope you're good. I'm seeing good things coming for you in autumn. And yeah, lots of love. See you around.