Barlin's Books 341 books reviewed and counting
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The Best Books of 2026

Re-ranked every time I finish one Last re-ranked Nov 2
See all 74 →
#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

One and Only

Maurene Goo
#9

Heather

Caitlin Mullen
#10

This Story Might Save Your Life

Tiffany Crum
#11

Whistler

Ann Patchett
#12

Peck & Peck

Bonnie Garmus
#13

The Only Way Out Is Up

Django Wexler
#14

Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth
#15

The Calamity Club

Kathryn Stockett
#16

Night Objects

Eli Raphael
#17

The Infinite State

Richard Swan
#18

Operation Bounce House

Matt Dinniman
#19

The Castaways

Lucy Clarke
#20

The American Way of Killing

Malcolm Gladwell
#21

A Violent Masterpiece

Jordan Harper
#22

A Far-flung Life

M.L. Stedman
#23

Kin

Tayari Jones
#24

The Children

Melissa Albert
#25

Into the Blue

Emma Brodie
#26

A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas
#27

Catch the Devil

Pamela Colloff
#28

Our Perfect Storm

Carley Fortune
#29

London Falling

Patrick Radden Keefe
#30

Anatomy of an Alibi

Ashley Elston
#31

The Enigma Challenge

S.C. Godfrey
#32

Happy Ending

Chloe Liese
#33

The Calamities

Chuck Wendig
#34

The One Day You Were My Husband

Rosie Walsh
#35

The Burning Side

Sarah Damoff
#36

Scion

James Islington
AVAILABLE DEC 1, 2026
#37

The Parkwood Murders

Chris Chibnall
#38

Before You Were Anne

Emiko Jean
#39

When Lemons Give You Life

Anna Johnston
#40

You With the Sad Eyes

Christina Applegate
#41

Starside

Alex Aster
#42

People We Meet on Vacation

Emily Henry
#43

Last One Out

Jane Harper
#44

Hollywood, Ending

John Green
#45

The Left and the Lucky

Willy Vlautin
#46

Sublimation

Isabel J. Kim
#47

Solace House

Will Maclean
#48

The Amateur

Chris Bohjalian
#49

Broken Dove

Dani Francis
#50

Threshing Day

Rebecca Yarros
#51

Meredith, Alone

Claire Alexander
#52

The Ending Writes Itself

Evelyn Clarke
#53

The Book Witch

Meg Shaffer
#54

The Natural Order

Matthew Aldrich
#55

Under the Falls

Richard Russo
#56

Crux

Gabriel Tallent
#57

Exit Party

Emily St. John Mandel
#58

This Book Made Me Think of You

Libby Page
#59

The Adventures of Juan Planchard

Jonathan Jakubowicz
#60

The Things We Never Say

Elizabeth Strout
#61

Habits of the Sea

Shea Ernshaw
#62

Lake Effect

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
#63

We Burned So Bright

TJ Klune
#64

The Toll

Neal Shusterman
#65

Detour

Jeff Rake, Rob Hart
#66

Whisper Creek

Allison Brennan
#67

The Night Hunter

Natalie Moss
#68

American Fantasy

Emma Straub
#69

The Shampoo Effect

Jenny Jackson
#70

Taipei Story

R.F. Kuang
#71

The Midnight Train

Matt Haig
#72

The French Illusion

John Grisham
#73

Homebound

Portia Elan
#74

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.
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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