Barlin's Books 340 books reviewed and counting
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The Best Books of 2026

Re-ranked every time I finish one Last re-ranked Oct 30
See all 86 →
#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

Peck & Peck

Bonnie Garmus
#16

The Only Way Out Is Up

Django Wexler
#17

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth
#18

The Calamity Club

Kathryn Stockett
#19

King Sorrow

Joe Hill
#20

Night Objects

Eli Raphael
#21

The Wayfinder

Adam Johnson
#22

The Infinite State

Richard Swan
#23

Operation Bounce House

Matt Dinniman
#24

The Castaways

Lucy Clarke
#25

The American Way of Killing

Malcolm Gladwell
#26

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper
#27

A Far-flung Life

M.L. Stedman
#28

Kin

Tayari Jones
#29

The Children

Melissa Albert
#30

What Happened to the McCrays?

Tracey Lange
#31

Into the Blue

Emma Brodie
#32

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas
#33

Catch the Devil

Pamela Colloff
#34

Our Perfect Storm

Carley Fortune
#35

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe
#36

Anatomy of an Alibi

Ashley Elston
#37

The Enigma Challenge

S.C. Godfrey
#38

Happy Ending

Chloe Liese
#39

The Calamities

Chuck Wendig
#40

The One Day You Were My Husband

Rosie Walsh
#41

The Burning Side

Sarah Damoff
#42

Scion

James Islington
AVAILABLE DEC 1, 2026
#43

The Parkwood Murders

Chris Chibnall
#44

Before You Were Anne

Emiko Jean
#45

When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston
#46

When the Cranes Fly South

Lisa Ridzén
#47

You With the Sad Eyes

Christina Applegate
#48

Starside

Alex Aster
#49

People We Meet on Vacation

Emily Henry
#50

Last One Out

Jane Harper
#51

Hollywood, Ending

John Green
#52

The Left and the Lucky

Willy Vlautin
#53

Jane and Dan at the End of the World

Colleen Oakley
#54

Sublimation

Isabel J. Kim
#55

Read Your Mind

Oz Pearlman
#56

Solace House

Will Maclean
#57

The Amateur

Chris Bohjalian
#58

Broken Dove

Dani Francis
#59

Meredith, Alone

Claire Alexander
#60

The Ending Writes Itself

Evelyn Clarke
#61

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree

India Hayford
#62

The Book Witch

Meg Shaffer
#63

Life, and Death, and Giants

Ron Rindo
#64

The Natural Order

Matthew Aldrich
#65

Under the Falls

Richard Russo
#66

Crux

Gabriel Tallent
#67

Crooks

Lou Berney
#68

Exit Party

Emily St. John Mandel
#69

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby Page
#70

The Adventures of Juan Planchard

Jonathan Jakubowicz
#71

The Things We Never Say

Elizabeth Strout
#72

Habits of the Sea

Shea Ernshaw
#73

Lake Effect

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
#74

We Burned So Bright

TJ Klune
#75

The Toll

Neal Shusterman
#76

Detour

Jeff Rake, Rob Hart
#77

Whisper Creek

Allison Brennan
#78

The Night Hunter

Natalie Moss
#79

American Fantasy

Emma Straub
#80

The Shampoo Effect

Jenny Jackson
#81

Taipei Story

R.F. Kuang
#82

The Midnight Train

Matt Haig
#83

The List of Suspicious Things

Jennie Godfrey
#84

The French Illusion

John Grisham
#85

Homebound

Portia Elan
#86

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 →
7 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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