What a month September was! It is the season when a wave of great fiction from great authors lands on the shelves all at once, and this year I had FOMO that I read every newly published book within a few days of its release.

Best Fiction Releases of September 2026: A Reading Slump Ends

If you have followed my reading recaps over the past few months, you know it has been a relatively long time since so many books I had been looking forward to hit me all at once. Lately, I found it hard to be impressed by anything I picked up. September changed that. In the peak month of publishing, I read a lot of wonderful books, most of them newly released and many of them mind-blowing, along with a few from earlier years. The older ones I discovered along the way were beautiful and left an impression that lasted well beyond the last page. With so many releases crowding the calendar, my TBR grew taller by the week. I tried my best to keep up, and I could hardly wait to finish one book so I could start the next.

Speculative Fiction Books About Alternate Realities and Time: Exit Party and Under Story

This was also the month I read speculative fiction about other versions of how the universe works. Exit Party imagines a different reality, while Under Story plays with a different way time moves. Both books offer their own take on how the world might be built.

“I Contain Multitudes”: The Same Quote in Hollywood Ending and Hollow Bones

A curious coincidence turned up in my reading as well. Two books published this month, both of which I read, share nearly the same line about having many sides to one’s personality. The first is from Hollywood Ending by John Green:

“So you were an athlete and a theater kid?” “I contain multitudes,” he said.

The second is from Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult:

Like the Devil, I contain multitudes.

Two different authors and two different stories, yet the same sentence found me twice in one month.

My Best Books of the Month: Hollow Bones, Under Story, and Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt

There were plenty of great reads, but if I had to choose the books of the month for my personal reading list, I would pick three. Two of them were published this month: Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult and Under Story by Chloe Benjamin. The third is Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves, published last July.

What these three have in common is how deeply they pulled me in. I became so invested in each story that when I closed the book, some of the emotion stayed with me for a long time. Even as I write this, I can still remember the roller coaster of emotions I experienced while reading those books. What sets them apart is how each one won me over. Jodi Picoult did it with plot twists that never seem to end. Chloe Benjamin did it with the idea of a duoverse, where time moves in two directions, all set inside a family drama. Ben Reeves did it with a story that chooses hope and connection in the face of inevitable loss.

Reading Balance and Goals for Next Month

Sadly, my reading this month was out of balance. All of my time went to fiction, and nothing else made it into the pile. I hope next month brings a better mix of genres.

See you in next month’s reading recap!