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The Best Books of 2026

Re-ranked every time I finish one Last re-ranked Oct 29
See all 85 →
#1

The Pirate Queen

Ariel Lawhon
#2

Under Story

Chloe Benjamin
#3

Lady Tremaine

Rachel Hochhauser
#4

Yesteryear

Caro Claire Burke
#5

Five

Ilona Bannister
#6

Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It

Brooke Averick
#7

The Bright Years

Sarah Damoff
#8

We Are All Guilty Here

Karin Slaughter
#9

Dolly All the Time

Annabel Monaghan
#10

The Strength of the Few

James Islington
#11

One and Only

Maurene Goo
#12

Heather

Caitlin Mullen
#13

This Story Might Save Your Life

Tiffany Crum
#14

Whistler

Ann Patchett
#15

The Only Way Out Is Up

Django Wexler
#16

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth
#17

The Calamity Club

Kathryn Stockett
#18

King Sorrow

Joe Hill
#19

Night Objects

Eli Raphael
#20

The Wayfinder

Adam Johnson
#21

The Infinite State

Richard Swan
#22

Operation Bounce House

Matt Dinniman
#23

The Castaways

Lucy Clarke
#24

The American Way of Killing

Malcolm Gladwell
#25

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper
#26

A Far-flung Life

M.L. Stedman
#27

Kin

Tayari Jones
#28

The Children

Melissa Albert
#29

What Happened to the McCrays?

Tracey Lange
#30

Into the Blue

Emma Brodie
#31

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas
#32

Catch the Devil

Pamela Colloff
#33

Our Perfect Storm

Carley Fortune
#34

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe
#35

Anatomy of an Alibi

Ashley Elston
#36

The Enigma Challenge

S.C. Godfrey
#37

Happy Ending

Chloe Liese
#38

The Calamities

Chuck Wendig
#39

The One Day You Were My Husband

Rosie Walsh
#40

The Burning Side

Sarah Damoff
#41

Scion

James Islington
AVAILABLE DEC 1, 2026
#42

The Parkwood Murders

Chris Chibnall
#43

Before You Were Anne

Emiko Jean
#44

When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston
#45

When the Cranes Fly South

Lisa Ridzén
#46

You With the Sad Eyes

Christina Applegate
#47

Starside

Alex Aster
#48

People We Meet on Vacation

Emily Henry
#49

Last One Out

Jane Harper
#50

Hollywood, Ending

John Green
#51

The Left and the Lucky

Willy Vlautin
#52

Jane and Dan at the End of the World

Colleen Oakley
#53

Sublimation

Isabel J. Kim
#54

Read Your Mind

Oz Pearlman
#55

Solace House

Will Maclean
#56

The Amateur

Chris Bohjalian
#57

Broken Dove

Dani Francis
#58

Meredith, Alone

Claire Alexander
#59

The Ending Writes Itself

Evelyn Clarke
#60

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree

India Hayford
#61

The Book Witch

Meg Shaffer
#62

Life, and Death, and Giants

Ron Rindo
#63

The Natural Order

Matthew Aldrich
#64

Under the Falls

Richard Russo
#65

Crux

Gabriel Tallent
#66

Crooks

Lou Berney
#67

Exit Party

Emily St. John Mandel
#68

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby Page
#69

The Adventures of Juan Planchard

Jonathan Jakubowicz
#70

The Things We Never Say

Elizabeth Strout
#71

Habits of the Sea

Shea Ernshaw
#72

Lake Effect

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
#73

We Burned So Bright

TJ Klune
#74

The Toll

Neal Shusterman
#75

Detour

Jeff Rake, Rob Hart
#76

Whisper Creek

Allison Brennan
#77

The Night Hunter

Natalie Moss
#78

American Fantasy

Emma Straub
#79

The Shampoo Effect

Jenny Jackson
#80

Taipei Story

R.F. Kuang
#81

The Midnight Train

Matt Haig
#82

The List of Suspicious Things

Jennie Godfrey
#83

The French Illusion

John Grisham
#84

Homebound

Portia Elan
#85

Seek Immediate Shelter

Vincent Yu
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The Lists

Collections designed to help you find your next great read
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Coming soon

Advance copies I've already read and reviewed
My To Be Read shelf →
9 more I'm watching this year The Most Anticipated Books of 2026 — every release I'm looking forward to, month by month, with the ones I've already read marked.
See the list →
21 more I'm watching in 2027 The Most Anticipated Books of 2027 — it's never too early to start looking ahead to next year. Here's my early list of books I'm most excited to read in 2027; reviews for several of these coming in early January.
See the list →

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