You’ve probably heard of it. You’ve probably taken it. The very accessible online test that has taken over the internet, leaving some people slightly uncomfortable with the amount of self-reflection required – the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The personality assessment that categorises individuals into personality types based on their traits, behaviours, interests, and preferences. There are 16 in total, which are then divided into 4 overarching groups: Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinels, and Explorers.

So, what’s this got to do with Readings and books?

Well, you’ve probably experienced this:
‘A total page turner!’ Yet no pages are being turned?
‘Unputdownable!’ Woah, big word. But it’s been put down, thank you very much.
‘Astonishing!’ Astonishing how bored I am.

Yeah. It sucks.

And the book isn’t necessarily bad. With all the praise scattered across the cover promising greatness, logically you pick it up – only to realise that this just isn’t for you.

Maybe you’re trying to get back into reading, but every book you pick up seems to be personally against you achieving that goal. Never fear, I offer a great (low commitment-ish) solution!

Now, while MBTI can provide some insight into one’s personality, people are simply too complex to pigeonhole with a quick questionnaire. However, it is fun, so I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations based on the characteristics of the 4 main types: Explorers, Analysts, Diplomats, and Sentinels.

Explorers

First up! You live life on the edge; spontaneous and action oriented, yet adaptable. Explorers, allow me to introduce you to the Maze Runner series.

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The Maze Runner

James Dashner

‘Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does.’

The story follows 16-year-old Thomas as he wakes up in an elevator with no recollection of, well, anything. He finds himself in ‘The Glade,’ a large grassy expanse surrounded by towering stone walls that make up an intricate (and moving) maze. Soon, he finds that there are others just like him; enough to make up a small community that’s existed long enough for a functioning society to be built where everyone knows their place. For years, their mission has been simple: figure out an exit and stay alive. Everything was running smoothly, but soon after Thomas’ arrival, everything changes.

Navigating a shifting labyrinth crawling with shrieking creatures? The ‘chosen one’ trope alongside found family? Constant pressure and tension that has you constantly on the edge of your metaphorical seat? This book has it!

It’s fast-paced and adventurous, just like Explorers. You’ll be constantly engaged and absolutely engrossed, rushing to get your hands on the entire series. Plus, it’s an amazing movie (but the book is always better, you know this).

Diplomats

Onto my fellow Diplomats: empathetic, compassionate and idealistic. For you, we have Once Upon A Broken Heart.

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Once Upon a Broken Heart

Stephanie Garber

‘I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.’

Allow me to introduce you to one of my favourite FMCs (female main characters): Evangeline Fox!

The Magnificent North is a fairytale come to life; goblins and baby dragons roam about as history and legends blur and magic is woven into every moment. In the city of Valorfell, a heartbroken Evangeline watches her supposed ‘love’ marry another. Desperate, she strikes up a deal with the notorious Prince of Hearts to put a stop to this and get her true love back. Alongside an amazing and enticing plot, the novel explores the difference between love and infatuation, and how, in an effort to preserve our fantasies, we’ll go to unbelievable lengths, completely blinded. Not by love itself, but rather the idea of it.

Evangeline shows that being feminine doesn’t automatically make her a superficial, floundering damsel in distress; but she also isn’t an unrealistic, all-mighty, somehow-good-at-everything-she-does main character. She is the perfect mix of softness, complexity and realistic flaws. She allows herself to be driven by her core values, emotions and dreamy nature, while remaining emotionally intelligent and strong in the face of adversities.

The world building is transformative and feels like a fairytale. Magic spills across the pages and the characters leap to life, and before you know it, this world will feel like home and you’ll be seeing it everywhere. Especially the apples (if you know, you know).

Analysts

Innovative, logical and objective. A bundle of joy given the name of the Analysts. I think this is the one I’m most excited for – my recommendation for you is The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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The Naturals

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

‘I’m just saying that statistically, a psychopath is more likely to end up as a CEO than a serial killer.’

Cassie Hobbes may not be alone, but she sure feels like it. After her mother’s mysterious death, she’s living with her grandmother in Colorado, working as a waitress and going to school. She wants answers, but all she has is a knack for reading people after working as a ‘psychic’.

That’s until she suddenly gets recruited by an FBI agent to join a classified program for gifted teens just like Cassie. She meets her fellow ‘Naturals’, each with their own skillset and troubles, and begins her training to hone her special skills and get to work on cold cases. But when a new killer’s case starts taunting them and coincidences start piling up, the Naturals just have to do what’s natural; find the killer before they find them.

One of my favourite things about this series is that you get the killer’s perspective, giving you just enough information to have you clutching the book, but never enough to figure it out. The Naturals delves into themes of personal identity, found family and morality, highlighting the psychological weight of evil and critical flaws within the justice system for both the victims and the investigators. This certainly sent me down many internet rabbit-holes, cooped up in my room on late school nights scanning pages on victimology.

Bonus: it’s got a painful love triangle, if you’re still mourning the end of Barnes’ The Inheritance Games.

Sentinels

And last, but not least, Sentinels! You possess traits of duty, loyalty and fairness, craving a constant sense of stability.

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Almond

Won-pyung Sohn, translated by Sandy Joosun Lee

‘Lastly, and I know this sounds like an excuse, but neither you nor I nor anyone can ever really know whether a story is happy or tragic.’

In this prize winning South Korean novel, we follow Yunjae, a boy born with alexithymia – a neuropsychological trait that causes him to struggle with identifying, understanding, and communicating his emotions. Growing up, Yunjae is taught right and wrong; how to handle all sorts of social interactions, how to respond so as to not seem ‘weird’, and how to be ‘normal’. However, by his sixteenth birthday, tragedy strikes and an orphaned Yunjae is left to navigate the world alone, forming unlikely bonds and grappling with finding his purpose.

At 272 pages, Almond isn’t plot heavy, but rather it is a journey of self-discovery and human connection. Yunjae is, at times, an unreliable and distant narrator, but isn’t that reflective of adolescence itself? He meets happy people and angry people, he is subject to incredible violence, and yet he continues on. Yunjae is told that he is a robot for his lack of emotions, and we are often told that to live is to feel. Though Yunjae does begin to discover his emotional capacity towards the end, the novel highlights that our lives are defined by so much more.

Even after reading it, I don’t know if it is a happy or sad story – as predicted by Yunjae himself at the beginning – but I guess that’s what makes it a story.

Clodagh Keane is a member of the 2026 Readings Teen Advisory Board.