The Best Books of 2026: My Running Ranking

Like an Irish version of Braveheart, at sea, with a badass woman at the helm, it reimagines the life of Ireland's legendary pirate queen Grace O'Malley.

A grieving scientist encounters a glowing dome in Antarctica whose particle physics may prove a universe where time runs backward — and offer her a way to undo her own past.

A brilliant retelling of Cinderella from the "wicked" stepmother's perspective, this witty, inventive historical drama completely reimagines a classic villain.

A "tradwife" and Instagram influencer has cultivated a seemingly idyllic life for herself and family, but it's all upended when she wakes up one day in 1805.

Jaw-dropping dialogue and moral judgement set the tone for this dark exploration of five neurodiverse characters, one of which we're told will die by the end of the book.

One month shy of her thirtieth birthday, Phoebe Berman is determined to conquer her neuroses and finally lose her virginity in this laugh-out-loud rom-com.

A moving generational novel that authentically captures a litany of life moments, from the highs of true love to the challenges of addiction.

Two teenage girls are abducted in a small Georgia town in this mystery filled with twists and family dynamics that will keep readers guessing.

When a $50k debt meets a fake-dating scheme with a wealthy heir, love blooms in Annabel Monaghan's modern retelling of Pretty Woman.

The sequel to The Will of the Many sees the footprint expand from a single world into three, an ambitious choice that is impressively executed.

When a professional matchmaker meets her "fated" match, she must choose between her prophesied destiny and an undeniable connection she has with someone else.

A funny, heartwarming character study of a sardonic 81-year-old former convict whose quiet life unravels when a neighbor turns up dead.

One half of a famous podcasting duo goes missing in this unique debut that artfully blends mystery with a will-they-or-won't-they romance.

In her first book since The Help, Kathryn Stockett transports us to 1933 Mississippi where a female-driven cast exposes the misogynistic society of the time.

An epic story about friendship and betrayal, this behemoth of a novel follows six college friends who make a Faustian deal with a dragon.

A coming-of-age novel set at an elite boarding that focuses as much on class, race, and outsider status as it does on the central murder mystery.

An immense and dense epic literary journey through the South Pacific of 1000 years ago that explores the struggle for power on Tonga.

A woman attempts to found a fledgling nation to escape the suffocating control of a totalitarian empire in this interesting sci-fi space opera.

A war novel blended with humor and social commentary that pits peace-loving settlers of a planet against an invasion of giant robots intent on killing them.

A haunting, dual-timeline tale of estranged siblings reckoning with a traumatic childhood serves up a unique blend of family drama and dark fairy tale.

A grisly dive into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles that blends the hunt for a serial killer with commentary on the corrupt world of the ultra-wealthy.

After a flight to a remote island goes missing, a dual-timeline thriller follows two sisters—one who was on the flight and one who missed it.

Following the events of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the story continues in a longer and more polished follow-up that's a step up from Book 1.

A tragic accident on a remote sheep station eventually leads to a dark family secret in this character-driven exploration of duty and psyche in the Australian Outback.

Bound as cradle friends after both losing their mothers, two girls grow into wildly different adult lives—one of privilege, one chasing reunion.

A man returns home to Potsdam, NY to care for his father after a stroke, forcing him to confront past demons that led to his abrupt departure.

Two actors with an undeniable connection explore a relentless on-again, off-again romance in this spicy, love-it-or-hate-it read built for the theater crowd.

A career conman traded fake jailhouse confessions for lighter sentences, sending multiple men to death row on his word in this noteworthy (and infuriating) work of investigative journalism.

When a woman's fiancé leaves her on their wedding day, she ends up taking her lifelong (gorgeous, heterosexual) male best friend on her honeymoon. What could happen?

A gripping and fascinating piece of investigative journalism that seeks to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of a young London man in 2019.

A two-tiered whodunit focused on the murder of a prominent Baton Rouge lawyer and its potential connection to a hit-and-run from a decade prior.

In this thriller that reads like a spicy version of The Da Vinci Code, an academic races across three countries to solve five deadly puzzles before her identity is wiped forever.

When a pair's exes start dating each other, the two jilted spouses fake a past friendship—only to watch that invented history turn into something very real.

A half-demon heir bands with a ragtag crew to locate his missing father and uncover the meaning behind a mysterious structure in this gore-soaked horror-fantasy.

Years after her husband was captured by armed men on their wedding day, a woman discovers that he's alive. She's happily remarried, but compelled to seek him out.

A house fire is the jumping off point for this novel less about the partial loss of a home and more about the fractured relationship in it.

An assassin hired to protect—not kill—leads to a brisk, twisty cyberpunk mystery about immortality, secrets, and a job that isn't what it seems.

A woman lies dead and her sixteen-year-old daughter is missing, sending a detective into a trafficking case that cuts painfully close to home.

A former chef fakes dementia in a nursing home before finding redemption and a new reason to live in this latest from the author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife.

An 89-year-old Swedish man narrates as we sail along this sad journey focused on the challenges and indignities encountered at the end of life.

In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Christina Applegate lays bare her life in Hollywood and her private battles with breast cancer, MS, and self-loathing.

A housepainter and an eight-year-old escaping an abusive brother forge an unlikely friendship in blue-collar Portland in this quiet, Steinbeck-tinged read.

A heist/hostage situation at an elite restaurant is the vehicle for this novel to explore marriage and parenting as much as the heist.

A young woman enters a deadly competition to retrieve a goblet of magic in this romantasy that feels like the love child of The Hunger Games and Silver Elite.

An homage to When Harry Met Sally in which two opposites form a deep platonic friendship before eventually wondering if it could be more.

Set in a dying Australian mining town, Harper's latest centers around a couple trying to solve the mystery of their son's disappearance five years prior.

A golf prodigy's stray practice shot kills a teenage caddie, and the legal and societal fallout snowballs until she finds herself on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

A thought-provoking sci-fi debut exploring identity and immigration through "instances" where a copy of a person is created when they immigrate to a new country.

A self-help book from the "World's Greatest Mentalist" in which he shares advice for how best to connect with people based on how the human mind works.

Wren Darlington's journey picks up immediately where Silver Elite ended, continuing to explore the conflict between the Uprising and Command.

A depressing, poignant look at agoraphobia and abuse in many forms, focused on a woman who hasn't left her home in over three years.

Six authors compete on a remote Scottish island to finish a dead writer's final novel in this middling Clue-like send-up of the publishing industry.

A snake-handling drifter crosses paths with a soldier recently back from Vietnam; together they help his family escape an abusive situation.

A "Book Witch" must use her ability to teleport into books to solve a mystery in her own life when her grandfather and most prized possession go missing.

A giant Amish boy becomes a national sensation through his record-breaking athletic feats before the story leans hard into tragedy that starts to feel gratuitous.

A rock star returns to the rural NY mountain town he abandoned at eighteen, forcing him to confront a past that brings long-buried secrets to the surface.

Two high school friends use rock climbing to try to escape a seemingly predetermined future in this emotionally heavy character study from Gabriel Tallent.

A short story collection masquerading as a novel, it follows the exploits of a family who consistently find themselves on the fringe of honest society.

Six months after her husband dies, a woman finds out he left her a year of books, one per month, to help her heal and move forward.

A Venezuelan fixer's cocaine-and-cash Vegas life collides with obsessive love and cartel danger in a wild genre mashup whose gritty second half saves it.

A brief, introspective read in which themes of free will, identity, and interpersonal relationships are explored through a teacher's midlife crisis.

A woman returns to a mythical floating island she once visited as a child, only to become stranded with the ageless man who is living there.

An exploration of the fallout of a 1977 affair and divorce over several decades. Despite nuanced characters, this family drama mostly missed the mark for me.

When an encroaching "rogue black hole" gives Earth less than a month before annihilation, two men travel by RV from Maine to Washington to complete one final task.

The third and concluding book the "Arc of a Scythe" trilogy answers a myriad of open questions but plods along for much of the story.

A six-person crew must man a space mission to deploy a satellite to Saturn's moon Titan in the hopes that it can be a refuge for a deteriorating Earth.

A Texas farm family faces a massive storm, corporate threats, and a string of burglaries in this multi-layered, yet muddled, thriller.

A stranded group faces predators—both animal and human—in a South African game reserve in this twisty thriller that falls short on execution.

A boy band cruise tries to offer nostalgia but fails to set sail in this disappointing look at fame and aging that lacks the heart and romance expected.

A writer joins a tight-knit coastal town only to feel isolated by decades of shared history in this slice-of-life character study full of people I couldn't care less about.

While not exactly a sequel, Matt Haig revisits the premise of 2020's The Midnight Library with another examination of the different paths our lives can take.

Two young girls try to catch the Yorkshire Ripper in 1979, but their "list of suspicious things" is just a vehicle to clumsily comment on prejudice.

A multi-timeline story that had me hopeful for something akin to Cloud Cuckoo Land unfortunately sputters to a disjointed and wholly unsatisfying conclusion.