Recs if you like Nights at the Circus...

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

Short-ish (& sometimes spicy) standalone speculative stories.

do clowns make you feel funny in your tummy? 🤡 here is a list of clown books that span multiple genres, from nonfiction to horror to smut

side note: I do love the clown community here in los angeles and I love clown comedy so this is in no way a hateful list

as always, taking any and all suggestions!

Lives of outsiders rendered in sharp prose style. Descendants of Shelley, the Brontes, and Woolf; forebears to 'Weird Girl Lit'. Title refers to the authors, the subjects of the work may not always be women. Focused on novels published between WW2 and 9/11, with a few memoirs and short story collections.

Books that exhibit key traits of, or helped develop, the Postmodern literary movement, many of which are experiemental. Not including criticism or theory. Research trigger warnings before reading.

(Recommendations welcome)

I love whimsy and books around a circus (or circus adjacent vibes like whimsical carnivals, festivals, etc)

Craft, Performance and Art-focused Fantasy/Gothic

I discovered Angela Carter in Novemver of 2024 and after absolutely falling head over heels for one of her short stories in a Literary Critisism class - Company of Wolves - vowed to read as many of her books as I could in 2025. With college work I only read 3 in 2025, and now we are coming into 2026 and I have compiled several of her books, but have yet to read them! This is my personal quest list to encourage me to. Please leave your Carter favourites, stories and recs in the comments!🖤

The Primary Works section of the Reading List of Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor

A variety of contemporary and fantasy reads with light or dark themes featuring the circus or carnival. Read at your own risk! Recommendations welcome.

Stellar queer mind and gender-bending fiction with a touch of madness, sadism and the surreal✨️🏳️‍🌈

Do you want to ride the weird wave together? First stop: pioneering female authors who break the rules.

Check out the Penguin Vintage Classics "Weird Girls" series and let's read along!

books that are like a breath of fresh air or based in nature, or are full of exuberance, sweetness, mischief, long ramblings, and childlike fun

the night circus has the most fantastical setting ever and i am on a quest to find another book like it that truly makes me wish i lived inside its pages

ps: this is a tbr

books that are pinocchio retellings, spiritually pinocchio retellings, or some philosophical/literary analysis that compelled me

One of Britain's oldest literary awards, alongside the Hawthornden Prize. The prize was founded in 1919 and is based at the University of Edinburgh.

I’m very tempted to buy them before I make my tbr smaller