01/10/2026
WHAT KEPT ME TURNING THE PAGES IN SEPTEMBER
September seems to have been a particularly good reading month for me. I finished four books, which is more than usual, probably helped by being away from the office for a while and having a bit more time when I could actually sit and read.
Interestingly, three of the four were fiction. I usually mix fiction and non-fiction a bit more, but apparently September was the month for disappearing into other people’s worlds.
📚 How to Stop Time – Matt Haig
I love Matt Haig’s writing and this one might just be my favourite of the month.
It’s a wonderful book about time, ageing, mortality, love, guilt and what it actually means to live. It jumps backwards and forwards through different periods in history, which I loved, and the main character is beautifully drawn.
There was also something quite special about reading parts of it while I was away in the South West and realising I was in the part of the world where some of the story takes place.
It made me think about getting older and our relationship with time in ways I hadn’t expected. Matt Haig also has this amazing ability to evoke so many different emotions, and the sense of love and loss in this book felt incredibly real. I wiped away a tear or two on more than one occasion.
A fabulous book, and one that stayed with me after I’d finished it.
📚 This Is What Happened – Mick Herron
This was probably my other favourite and I absolutely steamed through it.
It’s a dark, twisty psychological thriller and there were moments when I genuinely felt claustrophobic reading it. Mick Herron writes London brilliantly – particularly its seedier side – and his characters aren’t necessarily likeable, but they are completely believable.
There were so many twists and surprises, and it was one of those books where I’d stop for lunch and think, ‘I’ll just read a little bit more…’ then find myself completely sucked back in.
Very different from his Slough House books, but unmistakably Mick Herron. I’d love to see this made into a film.
📚 A Danger to Herself and Others – Alyssa Sheinmel
Another dark one – I’ve clearly had a theme going on without realising it!
This is YA fiction, although I certainly don’t think you need to be a young adult to enjoy it. It centres on Hannah, a teenager who finds herself in a psychiatric facility after her best friend is seriously injured. Hannah is convinced there’s been a terrible misunderstanding and that she doesn’t belong there, and we experience much of what happens through her eyes as she tries to make sense of how she ended up there.
Again, it was the twists that got me. Every time I thought I’d worked out what was happening, something else came along and shifted my perspective. I particularly liked the way the story gradually opens up and makes you question what you’ve already been told.
I read quite a lot of YA fiction and really enjoyed this one. An easy read in terms of style, although definitely not in subject matter.
📚 All In: Football, Life and Learning to Be Unapologetically Me – Mary Earps
The only non-fiction book of the month.
I’ve always been a big Mary Earps fan and wanted to read this after all the controversy surrounding her retirement from international football.
I found it harder going in places than I’d expected and it didn’t grab me quite as much as the other three, but I’m glad I read it.
It gave me a much better insight into Mary herself, how hard she fought to gain her place at the very top of the game and stay there, and the discipline and sheer determination that took. It also gave me a sense of some of the challenges she’s faced and what elite football can look like from the inside.
It was interesting to hear events from her perspective rather than through news reports and other people’s opinions.
So that’s September’s reading. I think How to Stop Time just sneaks in as my favourite, with This Is What Happened very close behind.
Have you read any of these? What was the best book you read in September?
Keep reading…and writing! 😀📚
