And now, our 26 Books to Read in 2026—for the second half of the year!
Beat the holds for 26 must-read books (publishing August-December). These irresistible works of fiction and nonfiction are sure to have everyone talking. Join the conversation!
ICYMI: Check out our 26 books to read in 2026 list for January-July View the list
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Enter Our 26 (More) Books to Read in 26 Sweepstakes for a chance to win advanced readers’ copies of 9 exciting new books hitting shelves from August to December of this year.
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In this highly anticipated sequel, Liane Moriarty examines the complexities of modern women’s lives, shining light on family dynamics and long-hidden truths with wit and compassion. Whether you’ve read Big Little Lies or not, this is the perfect novel for longtime fans and new readers alike.
“Equal parts juicy, gripping, and impossible to put down . . . I loved diving back into the lives of these unforgettable characters.”—Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid
The long-awaited second novel from the author of the cult hit The Library at Mount Char, a one-of-a-kind dark fantasy in which a wolf sets out on an epic journey of revenge.
“A mad, feral fable—this is beautiful, brutal fantasy, red in tooth in claw. Funny, heartbreaking, violent. All hail Blacktail. Down with the two-legs.”—Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents and The Staircase in the Woods
From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize–winning A Brief History of Seven Killings: the electrifying story of the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its far-reaching consequences.
In The Disappearers, Marlon James has written both a propulsive crime story and a riveting exploration of what gay men must do to survive in a society that wants no part of them. Full of spellbinding characters, lacerating humor, and unapologetic sex, this novel is as much a page-turner as it is a finely etched portrait of queer life in Jamaica.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists returns with an intimate yet epic love story—and a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery. Under Story invites us to consider the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love, cementing Chloe Benjamin’s place among our best, and most lasting, storytellers.
“A head-spinning novel, daringly imaginative. Even as she plays with physics and fantasy, Chloe Benjamin has much to say about the nature of friendship, family, mortality and love.”—Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March
A sweeping historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O’Malley, the legendary Irish folk heroine who risked everything to defend her people. Venture onto the high seas with the thrilling latest from the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River and I Was Anastasia.
“A thrilling story, and the fun that Lawhon clearly had with scenes of bloody mayhem, storms at sea, treacherous machinations, and low Gaelic dialect is contagious. Her pirate queen is brilliant, beautiful, and fearless; her loyal servants are adoring and capable; her male foes are sleazy scumbags and detestable boobs—all exactly as it should be. A heroic, exciting, and stormy voyage.”—Kirkus Reviews
A mesmerizing portrait of an aging man’s last pilgrimage, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girlsand The Guest.
“What makes a life? Cline writes vividly about the trappings of the elite—the private jets, the heirloom watches, all that time spent in the office—as well as their sad social cost in a story that feels immersive, elegiac, and very real. As one of us put it: ‘I travel a lot, and know these guys.’”—2026 Booker Prize judges
The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman—a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State—searches for answers.
“A glittering puzzle box of a novel . . . [The] novel brilliantly ties the notion of parallel timelines to a political theme, positing a dark twinship between chaos and totalitarianism . . . This is [Mandel’s] best novel since Station Eleven, a cause for rejoicing among her fans and an inspiration for newbies to dive into the backlist. Both a thrilling read and a virtuoso demonstration of the moral and philosophical possibilities of speculative fiction.”—KirkusReviews, starred review
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.
Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
From the bestselling, award-winning master of uncanny fiction comes a defining work, twenty years in the making—a deeply moving, decade- and continent-spanning epic of personal grief, global tumult, and grim conspiracy.
“The Rouse is a stirring, moving family saga and a dizzying exegesis of the violent and virulent second half of the twentieth century as well a lament for the brutalist age it has spawned. Complex, consuming, thrilling, terrifying, a feast of language and ideas . . . I could go on and on. The Rouse is a magisterial wonder.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep
Bluebeard gets a gothic horror and sapphic romance twist in this fairy-tale retelling from the author of Serial Killer Support Group and Trad Wife.
“A dark and haunting descent into manipulation, madness, and possession, A Thousand Monstrous Forms taps into the greatest fears of every woman—that even our own kind might prove unsafe and that love is a steel trap—and every artist—that we might, in turn, become the vessel, and that our voice might be stolen away. In the end, Busirane might trap us all.”—Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of Bloom and The Violence
#1 bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story about finding someone to trust in an untrustworthy world.
Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it. Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and the audacity to pursue the kind of love we all deserve.
In this intricate tale, a woman untangles her enduring bond with an heiress who she is still trying to understand.
Inspired by the classic story Washington Square by Henry James, Norah Labiner reimagines the prolific tale. Moving through wintery Michigan avenue to the creeping mansions of the rich to the world of melodrama, ghosts, and girls. Morocco confronts the ambiguity of memory, the horrors of history, and what it means, or does not mean, to read a book and tell a story.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Roadcomes the heart-wrenching journey of a family facing an unthinkable destiny, whose flawed genetic code might hold the long-sought key to a cure for dementia.
“Robert Kolker has somehow done it again. The Vanishing Family is an extraordinary investigation of the forms of silence and denial that come to structure a family redefined by dementia. It is also a riveting family saga about sisters and brothers trying to understand who they are as they gradually lose their memories and attachments.”—Rachel Aviv, Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Strangers to Ourselves
Legends & Lattes: The Graphic Novel, available 10/6
Travis Baldree
A stunning graphic novel adaptation of the New York Times bestselling BookTok sensation and beloved cozy fantasy Legends & Lattes.
“The modern classic about starting over truly comes to life in this warm adaptation of Baldree’s cozy masterpiece. I wish I could live in every panel.” Matt Dinniman, New York Times bestselling author of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Operation Bounce House
A beautifully illustrated graphic novel edition of the global phenomenon by #1 bestselling author Matt Haig.
Now, Matt Haig’s beloved book is reborn as a gorgeous graphic novel that captures every iteration of Nora’s lives in vivid colors and immersive illustrations by Fred Fordham, the acclaimed artist behind the graphic novel adaptations of To Kill a Mockingbird and Brave New World. This special visual edition is a must-have for the bookshelves of both longtime lovers of Matt Haig and new readers alike.
A young woman bargains with a demon to save her brothers, only to lose her heart in this slow-burn romantasy about dark magic, unlikely love, and the imperfect beauty of mortality, and the first book of a duology.
“A fresh voice, an electric and twisty plot, and a romance that strikes the perfect balance between hot and tender. Reap & Sow should be on every romantasy fan’s must-read list.”—Brigitte Knightley, New York Times bestselling author of The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy
From incomparable creative force David Byrne, a brilliant and inspiring reckoning with how breakthroughs across the arts and sciences get forgotten, and how they get rediscovered.
Sleeping Beauties is humbling but it is also remarkably hopeful. These stories add up to a compass that leads us to the courage to try new things and the wisdom to embrace them. In a time that can seem all too dark, it’s a powerful source of freely available light, delightful in itself and fit for all our human endeavors.
The debut novel by one of the bestselling Never Whistle at Night’s most memorable contributors, in which, after a young Anishinaabe woman vanishes, her sister tries to pick up the pieces of her broken family, even as her investigations put her at risk of suffering a similar fate.
“A beautifully written, poignant and propulsive debut novel about loss, hope, and the difficult relationships in the life of an Anishinaabe woman. I absolutely devoured this novel. Amber Blaeser-Wardzala is an engaging and extraordinary new voice in Native American literature. You will not be able to put this book down!”—Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed
A spellbinding tour de force from the bestselling author of The Invisible Bridge—a novel about varieties of infidelity, the provenance of a literary masterpiece, and the power of storytelling to shape identity and destiny.
“Luna, Phoenix, Queen breaks all the rules and makes its own. Gripping, heartbreaking, redemptive and a joy to read, Orringer has given readers a great gift. It will knock your socks off.”—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less
The last living member of a family of historians who has been hunted by dark forces associated with Dracula finds himself in peril at the hands of a new threat in this thrilling novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Historian.
In this epic and riveting tale, Elizabeth Kostova takes us deep into the Gilded Age of the theater and across the Atlantic in pursuit of an ancient evil and its dramatic followers.
The Cozy Holiday Romances You’ve Been Dreaming Of . . .
Come in from the cold and let your heart melt this holiday season with five all-new cozy romance stories from the bestselling authors of Disney’s Meant to Be collection: Zoraida Córdova, Jasmine Guillory, Christina Lauren, Julie Murphy, and Jesse Q. Sutanto. Click for More Information Click for More Books in the Meant to Be Series
Something Is Killing the Children: Hope Is a Knife, available 10/13
James Tynion IV, Kiersten White
Welcome to the dark. It has very sharp teeth.
Based on the internationally bestselling comic series, with millions of copies in print, the first full-length novel from the terrifying world of Something Is Killing the Children—a stunning collaboration between Eisner-winning co-creator James Tynion IV and #1 New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White.
“Tynion and White reveal that, yes, there is something even worse than killer demons. A small-town horror that packs a dark, nightmarish gut-punch.”—Matt Kindt, New York Times bestselling author, Harvey Award-winner, and co-creator of the BRZRKR series
From the USA Today bestselling author of Disco Witches of Fire Island comes a stunningly beautiful queer love story for fans of Hamnet and The Song of Achilles.
Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s theory of Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Two Wills explores romance in all its forms, both on the page and between the lines, where no love is ever really lost—especially when you are the “master mistress” of the greatest writer in history.
One woman’s unlikely rise to the top of the professional blackjack world, mastering the art of advantage play while building an elite team to beat casinos at their own game.
“A raw and brutally honest account of what can be achieved when curiosity meets skill, talent, and an unyielding work ethic. An utterly compelling and informative account of Fiore’s turbulent, at times desperate, journey to becoming a master of her craft. I was captivated from the start and both educated and moved throughout. A triumph.”—Jenny Radcliffe, author of People Hacker: Confessions of a Burglar for Hire
Rachel Maddow leads a revelatory, rollicking trip through the history of the Justice Department, finding heroism and treachery in equal measure—and, in the end, a rescue effort for our battered democracy.
Written in her typical whip-smart prose and with a biting sense of clarity, Department of Fate invites us to see how the history of this key institution illuminates a path ahead for a more resilient, re-democratized America committed to making good on even its loftiest promises. In a moment beset with polarization and misinformation, Maddow’s voice shines in this blistering demand to do better—to rebuild the republic, and stronger this time.
The legendary actor behind Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow shares never-before-told stories from a life that has shaped generations—told at last on his own terms.
This is my attempt to pull back the curtain. Not just on the roles I’ve played, but on the life I’ve lived. The fears. The fight. The survival. And yes, the joy. All of it.
As Burton honors the loved ones whose strength and resilience shaped him in this inspiring memoir, he also asks what we owe to our ancestors and to each other, reflecting on the deep necessity he’s always felt advocating for liberation and equity. Generous, deeply moving, and illustrated with personal family photos, Take My Word For It is a courageous self-portrait of an iconic artist. Click for More Information Click for Audiobook Information, Read by LeVar Burton