The best books of 2026

This list is part of the best books of 2026.

Join 191 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2026

Book cover of Satantango

Clifford Garstang ❤️ loved this book because...

Although it's difficult to get used to the reading experience--there are no paragraph breaks and some sentences are very, very long--the characters and their voices are unforgettable.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By László Krasznahorkai , George Szirtes (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Satantango as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now in paperback, Satantango, the novel that inspired Bela Tarr's classic film, is proof that the devil has all the good times. Set in an isolated hamlet, the novel unfolds over the course of a few rain-soaked days. Only a dozen inhabitants remain in the bleak village, rank with the stench of failed schemes, betrayals, failure, infidelity, sudden hopes, and aborted dreams. "Their world," in the words of the renowned translator George Szirtes is "rough and ready, lost somewhere between the cosmic and tragic, in one small insignificant corner of the cosmos. Theirs is the dance of death." Into this…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2026

Book cover of What We Can Know

Clifford Garstang ❤️ loved this book because...

Such an unusual structure, beginning in the future in a world that is trying to recover, focusing on characters who are studying the past in a way that reveals what has happened. McEwen is amazing.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Ian McEwan ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked What We Can Know as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Booker prize–winning, bestselling author of Atonement and Saturday, a genre-bending new novel full of secrets and surprises; an immersive exploration, across time and history, of what can ever be truly known.

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

"It gave me so much pleasure I sometimes felt like laughing. . . . It's a sophisticated entertainment of a high order." —The New York Times

"Brilliantly, and surprisingly, plotted."—The Washington Post • "A novelist of consummate skill."—The Wall Street Journal • "Elegantly structured and provocative."—Los…


My 3rd favorite read in 2026

Book cover of James

Clifford Garstang ❤️ loved this book because...

Although the basic story is familiar from Mark Twain, the author puts a twist on it and changes the focus to Jim, which reveals a great deal about the times.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Percival Everett ,

Why should I read it?

105 authors picked James as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024


'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha

James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Book cover of The Last Bird of Paradise

What is my book about?

Two women, nearly a century apart, seek to rebuild their lives when they reluctantly leave their homelands. Arriving in Singapore, they find romance in a tropical paradise, but also find they haven't left behind the dangers that caused them to flee.

In the aftermath of 9/11 and haunted by the specter of terrorism, Aislinn Givens leaves her New York law practice and joins her husband in Southeast Asia when he takes a job there. Seeking to establish herself in a local law firm, Aislinn begins to understand the historic resentment of foreigners who have exploited the region for centuries. Learning about the turmoil of Singapore's colonial period, she acquires several paintings done by an English artist during World War I that she believes are a warning to her. The artist, Elizabeth Pennington, tells her own tumultuous story through diary entries that come to an end when the war reaches the colony with catastrophic results. In the present, Aislinn and her husband learn tragically that terrorism takes many shapes when they are ensnared by local political upheaval and corruption.

Book cover of Satantango
Book cover of What We Can Know
Book cover of James

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