The Bookish Mindset

It’s been a whirlwind six months over here. We’ve had bookish events a plenty, holidays with friends, little treats just because.. So let’s look back over the first six months of my reading and talk through my favourite reads so far of the year.

I’ve loved all of these for different reasons but I would absolutely recommend them all. If you want to find more out about them, tap on the title to be taken through to bookshop.org’s website. Any purchases help support my work! Strap in, there’s 24 recommendations!

Fantasy

• Black Water Sister – Zen Cho
• The Dandelion Riots – Kim Smejkal
• Fathomfolk – Eliza Chan
• Somadina – Akwaeke Emezi
• Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

Graphic Novels

• Home Body – Theo Parish
• The Restaurant at the Edge of The World – Oliver Gerlach, Kelsi Jo Silva

Historical

• Time Tub Travellers – Claire Linney

Literary

• Brotherless Night – V. V. Ganeshananthan
• Dominoes – Phoebe McIntosh
• Here Again Now – Okechukwu Nzelu
• Fundamentally – Nussaibah Younis
• Overspill – Charlotte Paradise
• Sunstruck – William Rayfet Hunter
• Sweetness in the Skin – Ishi Robinson

Magical Realism

• Water Moon – Samantha Sotto Yambao

Poetry

• Poyums – Len Pennie

Romance

• Flirting with Disaster – Naina Kumar
• Sweet Obsession – Katee Robert

Sci-Fi

• The Stardust Grail – Yume Kitasei

Short Stories

• A Beautiful Lack of Consequence – Monika Radojevic
• Behind You is the Sea – Susan Muaddi Darraj
• Hail Mary – Funmi Fetto
• Stag Dance – Torrey Peters

What have been your favourite reads so far this year?

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.

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 11/07/2025