Recs if you like The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 1...

For when your PB friends share the same name(s) as a book character! (See pinned comment for master list! Please feel free to chime in if you want to be added and/or if you want a different book assigned to you; I didn’t want to step on toes and add people I haven’t really talked to without their permission ❤️ also my brain is smooth and I forget book character names all the time lol)

This is like literary sorbet, books that are simple, sweet, and pretty easy to digest when you want to turn your brain off, decompress after a big, intense book, or break out of a reading slump.

Manga isn't just for kids! These are titles intended for more mature audiences, including my personal recs and influential, well-known and bestselling titles that are available in English. Whether it's frank discussions of mental illness, abuse, LGBTQIA+ issues, violence, sexuality, horror or dark fantasy, these are manga that either originally ran in seinen (young adult men) or josei (young adult women) magazines, or I've otherwise broadly categorized through research as "not for for kids."

This includes book that have either mystery or thrillers as a primary or secondary genre. If you have recommendations to add please comment and I'll happily add them 💕

books centering on characters obsessed with a certain thing, ambition, or goal! one of my favorite types of characters… you could say I’m obsessed with them

This list includes books featuring neurodivergent “coded” characters that were either written before neurodivergence was understood or take place in fantasy worlds where it might not be described in the same way. Historical fiction also welcome!

This list is open for recommendations! Please focus on stories whose characters are not explicitly neurodivergent for one of the above reasons. Most of these books were recommended by readers on Pagebound, and thus I have not read them all.

Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, etc that warms the soul even if we're sobbing at the same time.

Manga that have anime adaptations.

a list of a 99 manga's incl. ; some classic must reads , all kinds of genres to try , old and new

try out all of them to maybe find some new faves

these are some of the mangas i’ve found to be Must Reads. more so, i want a community of people who have read those and are interested in talking about it. 🫶

Obviously, these can be read whenever but feel as a Would-Be Librarian, wanted to make my recs known! Will be including translated materials too. Enjoy!

Bringing art to life

manga set in a historical context with women as the main characters

⚠️Some of these women existed,some didn't.

⚠️These are works of fiction, not history books. Authors can take creative liberties.

I have read several shojo manga as a teen that now as an adult make me go "... problematic 😬". The manga on this list I can enjoy and recommend as an adult. While there's usually a romance (or several), there's also deeper themes such as absent parents and grief - check CWs just in case. You're welcome to leave recs in the comments! (I will read them before I add them, so it might take time, but I will check out anything you throw at me.)

A running list of manga series ranked by their estimated Oricon sales for 2025! 📊 Perfect for tracking which series are dominating Japan’s charts this year, from breakout hits to long-time favorites. Updated with data and trends as of August 3rd, 2025.

books I read

for all my readers that like beautifully written action and storylines <3

where the main male character is fluffy, flamboyant or sparkly recommendations are welcome!