Barlin's Books 342 books reviewed and counting
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The Best Books of 2026

Re-ranked every time I finish one Last re-ranked Nov 5
See all 75 →
#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

Dolly All the Time

Annabel Monaghan
#8

Bad Words

Rioghnach Robinson
#9

One and Only

Maurene Goo
#10

Heather

Caitlin Mullen
#11

This Story Might Save Your Life

Tiffany Crum
#12

Whistler

Ann Patchett
#13

Peck & Peck

Bonnie Garmus
#14

The Only Way Out Is Up

Django Wexler
#15

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth
#16

The Calamity Club

Kathryn Stockett
#17

Night Objects

Eli Raphael
#18

The Infinite State

Richard Swan
#19

Operation Bounce House

Matt Dinniman
#20

The Castaways

Lucy Clarke
#21

The American Way of Killing

Malcolm Gladwell
#22

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper
#23

A Far-flung Life

M.L. Stedman
#24

Kin

Tayari Jones
#25

The Children

Melissa Albert
#26

Into the Blue

Emma Brodie
#27

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas
#28

Catch the Devil

Pamela Colloff
#29

Our Perfect Storm

Carley Fortune
#30

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe
#31

Anatomy of an Alibi

Ashley Elston
#32

The Enigma Challenge

S.C. Godfrey
#33

Happy Ending

Chloe Liese
#34

The Calamities

Chuck Wendig
#35

The One Day You Were My Husband

Rosie Walsh
#36

The Burning Side

Sarah Damoff
#37

Scion

James Islington
AVAILABLE DEC 1, 2026
#38

The Parkwood Murders

Chris Chibnall
#39

Before You Were Anne

Emiko Jean
#40

When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston
#41

You With the Sad Eyes

Christina Applegate
#42

Starside

Alex Aster
#43

People We Meet on Vacation

Emily Henry
#44

Last One Out

Jane Harper
#45

Hollywood, Ending

John Green
#46

The Left and the Lucky

Willy Vlautin
#47

Sublimation

Isabel J. Kim
#48

Solace House

Will Maclean
#49

The Amateur

Chris Bohjalian
#50

Broken Dove

Dani Francis
#51

Threshing Day

Rebecca Yarros
#52

Meredith, Alone

Claire Alexander
#53

The Ending Writes Itself

Evelyn Clarke
#54

The Book Witch

Meg Shaffer
#55

The Natural Order

Matthew Aldrich
#56

Under the Falls

Richard Russo
#57

Crux

Gabriel Tallent
#58

Exit Party

Emily St. John Mandel
#59

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby Page
#60

The Adventures of Juan Planchard

Jonathan Jakubowicz
#61

The Things We Never Say

Elizabeth Strout
#62

Habits of the Sea

Shea Ernshaw
#63

Lake Effect

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
#64

We Burned So Bright

TJ Klune
#65

The Toll

Neal Shusterman
#66

Detour

Jeff Rake, Rob Hart
#67

Whisper Creek

Allison Brennan
#68

The Night Hunter

Natalie Moss
#69

American Fantasy

Emma Straub
#70

The Shampoo Effect

Jenny Jackson
#71

Taipei Story

R.F. Kuang
#72

The Midnight Train

Matt Haig
#73

The French Illusion

John Grisham
#74

Homebound

Portia Elan
#75

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 →
6 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.
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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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