The Bookish Mindset

It’s been a pretty great few months for reading across many a genre. I wanted to share some stand outs that I’d absolutely recommend as we come into the best reading season of the year.

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Mongrel – Hanako Footman. Brilliant literary fiction centring identity. Multiple POV’s and heart-breaking scenes. Read my full review here.

poyums annaw – Len Pennie. Great follow up to their debut poetry collection, this one is just as strong and passionate. Read my full review here.

The Wizard’s Bakery – Gu Byeong-Mo. A cosy magical realism novel with a very dark side.

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas. A YA literary masterpiece and everyone should read it. Read my full review here.

Human Rites – Juno Dawson. The finale of the HMRC series and I’m pretty satisfied with how it wrapped up. Read my full review here.

Rebel Hearts – Tanya Bryne. Adorable YA romance between two teenage activists with contrasting methods. Read my full review here.

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye – Briony Cameron. A Black, sapphic pirate that runs her own ship? Count me in!

All the Tomorrows After – Joanne Yi. Heart breaking and beautiful literary YA. Read my full review here.

Sister’s in the Wind – Angeline Boulley. Gritty and clever YA centred around indigenous teens a farm where not all is as it seems. Read my full review here.

Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi. Brilliant historical fiction in a very clever delivery, a must read. Read my full review here.

The House of Broken Bricks – Fiona Williams. A very cleverly written literary about a Black family that move to Somerset.

Have you planned to pick any of these up? I’d love to know!

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 13/09/2025