The Bookish Mindset

Books for the girls is an ode to the incredible women I’ve met in this space. It’s inspired by Monika Radojevic’s A beautiful lack of consequence, which looks at the experience of womanhood through many lenses and was just brilliant.

I love finding themes that spread across genres and authors and this short series will explore some of my favourites. First up is books that will break you, then we’ll have some classic feminine rage and others like joy in friendships.

Up first is books that will break you (and maybe your heart too) but will put you back together again. They are books that will make you grieve and then give you hope. they are books you are going to feel down your soul. you know the kind of books. They’re some of my favourites.

Here I’ve split them per genre so you pick something you fancy but I definitely recommend reading around your genres here.

Dark Academia

• Babel – R. F. Kuang
• Blood Over Bright Haven – M. L. Wang

Graphic Novel

• Tsunami Girl – Julian Sedgewick & Chie Kutsuwada

Historical

• The Mountains Sing – Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
• Wandering Souls – Cecile Pin

Literary

• A Woman is No Man – Etaf Rum
• All My Rage – Sabaa Tahir
• All That We’ve Got – Jendella Benson
• All the Truths Between Us – Liz Amos
• Bellies – Nicola Dinan
• Disappoint Me – Nicola Dinan
• Ghost, Girl Banana – Wiz Wharton
• Jaded – Ela Lee
• Love After Love – Ingrid Persuad
• Maame – Jessica George
• Medusa of the Roses – Navid Sinaki
• Nightbloom – Peace Adzo Medie
• No Small Thing – Orlaine McDonald
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
• One for Sorrow, Two for Joy – Marie-Claire Amuah
• Overspill – Charlotte Paradise
• Someday, Maybe – Onyi Nwabineli
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev – Dawnie Walton
• The Things That We Lost – Jyoti Patel
• This Motherless Land – Nikki May
• Wahala – Nikki May

Magical Realism

• Family Lore – Elizabeth Acevedo
• Shark Heart – Emily Habek
• The Moon Represents My Heart – Pim Wangtechwat

Memoir

• Crying in H Mart – Michelle Zauner
• How to Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair
• The Chain – Chimene Suleyman
• We Have Always Been Here – Samra Habib

Sci-Fi

• Prophet – Helen Macdonald & Sin Blaché

Short Stories

• For Such a Time as This – Shani Akilah

If you’d like to get yourself a copy of any of the above, you can support local bookshops while doing so on Bookshop.org with this link here.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog. If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too. You can also find more content on my Instagram here.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 07/03/2025