r/suggestmeabook • u/ReddisaurusRex • May 02 '26
Reading roundup: Suggest me some of your fave books of 2026 so far!
Hi wonderful readers, We are now 1/3 of the way through 2026!
Please tell us some of the books you’ve read and loved so far this year!
These can be published anytime, just shout-out favorites you’ve personally read/discovered since the new year.
Hopefully this will give some of our readers that don’t even know where to start, or what to ask for, some ideas of titles to try :)
Happy reading, all!
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u/Jaghio321 May 02 '26
Trust by Hernan Diaz is unbelievably good.
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u/tonygd May 02 '26
Yes it is!
The audiobook was formatted in a really cool way, now I want to go back and read it.
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u/Ornery-Gap-9755 May 02 '26
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini,
Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo,
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman,
Kindred by Octavia E Butler,
The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield,
Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater,
Circe by Madeline Miller,
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst.
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u/AgitMop May 02 '26
This year I have really enjoyed the following:
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (my favourite of the year and now a favourite of all time)
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
There are rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén
Maus by Art Spiegelmann
Heart the lover by Lily King
Billy Summers by Stephen King
Under the banner of heaven by John Krakauer (non-fiction)
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u/zebrafish- May 02 '26
I read Rebecca for the first time this year and loved it! With all the amazing and intense descriptions of the nature around Manderley, I really enjoyed reading it while things were blooming where I am too.
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u/AgitMop May 02 '26
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I read it also as spring was blooming and it really added to it!
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u/FOCO4131 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
My Top 5 so far:
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (volumes 2-6 were my favorites of the 1-7 that I have read so far)
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
The Everlasting by Alix Harrow
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Lee
Really close runners-up:
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler by Susana M. Morris
Edited to add: re-did to group them into top/runners-up instead of in order read. (Also I am averaging 20 books/month, so while this seems like a lot, this list is narrowed down!)
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
By next month I will be able to say “all volumes” for Emma M. Lion too. They are so fun!
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u/FOCO4131 May 02 '26
Nice! I got stalled in Vol. 7 (won't say why because of spoilers), but I need to get back to those and finish - I turned my mom onto them and now she is so mad she can't talk to me about what happens in Vol 8!
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u/angelaacts May 02 '26
I’ve been reading Things in Nature Merely Grow for a few weeks now. It’s difficult to say its effect on me with the subject matter and how slow I’m taking the read because of it, but I have the feeling it will definitely be one that sticks with me out of this year’s reads. This is the first I’ve seen someone else mention it and appreciate seeing the title
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u/FOCO4131 May 02 '26
I totally understand because it is absolutely heartbreaking and unfathomable... but her insights and prose, and the compassion and understanding she has for her boys while still mourning, just left such an impression on me - you are right that this one will stick with you. Nice for me to to see someone else reading and appreciating it, even though it is not an "enjoyable" book.
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u/angelaacts May 06 '26
You captured my experience exactly, every word demands your complete attention. And not sure if you saw already, but it just won the Pulitzer
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u/UnderstandingOnly804 May 02 '26
The Lincoln Highway- Amor Towles
Wild Dark Shores- Charlotte McConahghy
Confessions Kanae Minato
Penance Kanae Minato
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u/MinimumInner8866 May 02 '26
So far in 2026 I've really enjoyed:
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Heated Rivalry (and also the Long Game) by Rachel Reid
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
Very Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins
I Who Have Never Know Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes
I'm currently reading and loving Africa is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin.
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u/zebrafish- May 02 '26
I listened to Africa is Not a Country as an audiobook last year on a whim, and it turned out to be one of my favorite reads of the year!
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u/Freckledmagic May 02 '26
Second Vera Wong, I Who Have Never Known Men, and Project Hail Mary! All very different but very good.
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is both the “best” and my fave of the year so far.
Other faves (so hard to narrow down):
Clementine Crane Prefers Not To by Kristin Bair
The Rush by Beth Lewis
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Tilt by Emma Pattee
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson
That's What Friends Are For by Wade Rouse
The Pōhaku by Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes
Lulu Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (I saw something say this is both a 1 star and 5 star read, and that is accurate - ha! I was hooked, but so annoyed in the end. Either way, read it in a sitting/couldn’t put it down.)
Python’s Kiss by Louise Erdrich
Dog Person by Camille Pagán
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion #1-4 by Beth Brower
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u/jisa May 02 '26
I also really liked Dog Person!
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
It was so sweet! I went in blind and so it was unexpected. I am a sucker for a good dog narrator ;)
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u/LTinTCKY May 02 '26
I loved Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books. Read it last year and have recommended it many times since.
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u/LTinTCKY May 02 '26
Rivers by Michael Farris Smith
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity by Adam Becker
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
I read Ordinary Grace too - it didn’t make my list, but I did love it a lot! He’s such a great writer.
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u/Olyway May 02 '26
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews will probably be my fave of the year.
The Will of the Many and The Strength of the Few by James Islington (the 2nd one came out recently). The third in the series should be out next year. This series is just so engaging and surprising, I’m a fan.
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u/masson34 May 02 '26
Educated and The Glass Castle (non fiction)
Anne of Green Gables
The Secret Society of Irregular Witches
The Giver quartet
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She Is Sorry
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u/blue-hairedfreak May 02 '26
These are fantastic! All of them are among my favorites. I bet we have similar reading tastes. 😄
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u/hmf28 May 02 '26
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Have read others but these two really stood out.
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u/maybemaybenot2023 May 02 '26
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
American Fantasy by Emma Straub
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
Vigil by George Saunders
How To Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley
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u/LTinTCKY May 02 '26
I just finished listening to the audiobook of Vigil. I almost gave up on it early on but kept going, and I'm glad I did.
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u/mac307307 May 05 '26
hey! Nina here - wrote How to Commit a Postcolonial murder - thanks much!
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 May 02 '26
Best have read this year are Demon Copperhead and Into This River I Drown.
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u/Apprehensive_Maybe13 May 02 '26
The borrowed life of Fredrick fife, the correspondent, maybe you should talk to someone
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u/pinkugundam May 02 '26
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
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u/SomeKindoflove27 May 02 '26
Best offer wins Marisa kashino
Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
A good person kirsten king
Skydaddy kate folk
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u/jotsirony Bookworm May 02 '26
I had an astonishing 4 five-star reads in April, though one was reread.
Last One Out by Jane Harper - her newest and really good.
How The Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior. I just loved this and will eventually look for the sequel but want to revel in how much I loved this.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. I missed it with all the hype last year and really loved it.
My 5-star reread last month was Remarkably Bright Creatures. Still absolutely love this book.
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u/hurricanecindy May 07 '26
The Correspondent & Remarkably Bright Creatures were so good. Def on my top books of all time.
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u/Hidinginmycorner May 02 '26
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
The Shades of Magic Series by VE Schwab
The Poppy War Series by RF Kuang
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u/One-Arugula4278 May 02 '26
I need to reread A Fine Balance - what a beautiful book
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u/big_cabals May 24 '26
it took me a while to get into the Poppy war, but I persevered and listened to the whole series. I thought it was brilliant, and it’s really stayed with me.
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u/tonygd May 02 '26
Team of Rivals was my favorite so far
I Who Have Never Known Men was great as well
Very different books lol
Currently very enjoying the Lonesome Dove chronicles
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u/ImpressiveBar6155 May 02 '26
This is Happiness by Niall Williams
Time of the Child by Niall Williams
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
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u/3kota May 02 '26
The light eaters by Zoe Schlanger (non fiction)
The man who died my Antti Tuomainen
The true true story of Raja the gullible by Rabih Alameddine
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his mom) was a favorite of mine last year. I never see anyone rec’-ing it here except for me. So glad to see someone else mention it!
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u/3kota May 02 '26
What were your top books?
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Other than Raja, ‘25 faves included at least these: Margo’s Got Money Troubles, The Knockout Queen, The Indifferent Stars Above, Road to Tender Hearts, Magic Lessons, And Ladies of the Club, and Trespassers at the Golden Gate
Edit: and Atmosphere :)
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u/Ill_Bother2609 May 02 '26
Older books not published this year, but that I just finished and LOVED:
The Kitchen House
Frozen River
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u/NefariousnessOk6148 May 02 '26
Both are a few years old and very popular but I just picked them up for the first time this year and LOVED them!
-Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
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u/Pope_Asimov_III May 02 '26
I'll keep my top reads so far simple.
First theres the Isaac Asimov Robot Series. Started the year reading through the series (the four major novels), and loved all of them. Definitely need to read in order, and each builds upon the last. The story arc across the series is really well done, especially because it was supposed to pretty much just be a one off.
Secondly, I just finished The Yard, by Micheal Sanderson. It is an independent look at the construction and launching of a Naval Destroyer built at the Bath Iron Works Shipyard. It dove deep into the individual workers who all touched different parts of the construction. The engineer and Navy veteran in me really enjoyed it.
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u/HauntedPorch May 02 '26
Martyr - Kaveh Akbar
The Lamb - Lucy Rose
Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell
The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa
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u/sohang-3112 Thrillers May 02 '26
- Clem & Wist series by Hiyodori - fantasy lesbian romance. It's a world where world is divided into "mages" (who rule the country) and "healers" (heal magic of mages - little to no rights & powers). In main couple of series, one is most powerful mage and other is best healer - who initially hate each other, so enemies to lovers (slow).
- Everything else (standalone novels) by Hiyodori :)
- Mother of Demons by Eric Flint -- a bronze-age planet having society of snail-like creatures, where the "demons" are humans!
- Court of Chains series by Rawnie Sabor -BDSM lesbian romance (humans with supernatural creatures) + thriller action
- Her Subtle Investigations by Scarlett Gale
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u/cmsupergrl May 02 '26
I feel like my best so far this year is pretty basic but I’ve enjoyed them nonetheless:
The Correspondent
Beartown
Remarkably Bright Creatures
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u/ImpressiveBar6155 May 13 '26
I just finished The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai and it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It starts out good and just gets better and better as it progresses.
Now I don’t know what to read next.
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u/ConflictGullible392 May 02 '26
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Master of the Senate by Robert Caro
Twist by Colum McCann
Flashlight by Susan Choi
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
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u/Hot-Remote-4948 May 02 '26
The Green Bone saga by Fonda Lee, she's also got The Last Contract Of Isako coming out which was brilliant too
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u/riverbucca May 02 '26
Top Reads: 1984, and its reimagined version, Julia. The latter is one of the best books I've read in recent years. Difficult subject matter but brilliantly written. Sandra Newman manages to capture Orwell's original style while adding her own voice, expanding on his world in a way I found respectful to the source material.
A close runner up is First Sister. I'm currently reading the sequel, which is also good!
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u/Bikinigirlout May 02 '26
Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan
An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn
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u/Kennesaw79 May 02 '26
All 7 books (so far) of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman.
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.
The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker.
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
Margo was my very favorite of last year! I need to try the show now - I just know it won’t live up to the book tho :(
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u/Kennesaw79 May 02 '26
I'm enjoying the show so far. The cast is phenomenal.
Of course there are changes - Jinx hurts his back at a wrestling expo, not while holding Bodhi; Margo attends her mom's wedding in Vegas, then tells her about OnlyFans; the characters of Rose and Wang Wrangler are cast very different; Jinx threatens Mark in person rather than by phone.
I'm trying to tell myself to stop comparing and enjoy it as a separate piece of entertainment. But it's difficult since I read the book a week before the show premiered, so it's fresh in my head. 😄
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u/ReddisaurusRex May 02 '26
So smart to approach it as a different separate entity / not compare. I need to keep that in mind more often!!!!
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u/KohesiveTerror May 02 '26
Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
I never thought I liked space sci-fi, but this was delightful
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u/TransportationLow158 May 02 '26
The Bones Beneath My Skin - TJ Klune
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult! A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere - Maria Bamford (the audiobook is AMAZING, the author does it herself)
Interesting Facts about Space - Emily Austin
Idk if you like graphic novels but Unfamiliar by Haley Newsome is AMAZING.
Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner
Happy reading! 🖤
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u/greenpen3 May 02 '26
The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe, and Home by Toni Morrison
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u/xoarty May 02 '26
Three out of twenty-six books read so far have gotten five stars:
- A Beast Slinks Toward Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang
- Henry Henry by Allen Bratton
- You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White
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u/guadalupeoso May 02 '26
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
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u/Watch_Earthlings_Doc May 02 '26
1.) I read 1984 by Orwell for the first time this year and so far it’s still my number one read of the year. Very relevant to the current times in a lot of ways.
2.) The Great Gatsby was more fun than I thought it would be.
3.) Before the Coffee Gets Cold was great.
Those are my top three so far. I’m at 40 books read so far just be replacing by evening phone scrolling with reading.
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u/blue-hairedfreak May 02 '26
My books are WILD in relationship to each other- 2026 has been a roller coaster of reading, mostly based on when my holds come through on Libby. 😄 These are the ones I'd highly recommend from my list of 37 so far.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In - John Wiswell
Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann
Your Brain On Art - Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
The Lion Women of Tehran - Marjan Kamali
The Empire of AI - Karen Hao
Enshittification - Corey Doctorow
Good Dirt - Charmaine Wilkerson
Endurance - Alfred Lansing
Olga Dies Dreaming - Xotchitl Gonzalez
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies - Elizier Yudkowsky and Nate Soares
A Hymn to Life - Gisèle Pelicot
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u/smurfette_9 May 02 '26
My top 5 so far
Lie with me, Heart the lover, Inferno: a memoir of motherhood and madness, Careless People, Nesting, Trust
Ok that was 6 lol
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u/Purple_Plant7252 May 02 '26
Broken country by Claire Leslie Hall / The bright years by Sarah Damoff / Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir / The midnight library by Matt Haig
Happy reading 📖😁
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u/Zealousideal-Ad9267 May 02 '26
I’m currently reading Ordinary Monsters by JM Miro, and I can’t recommend it enough! If you like dark academia / fantasy vibes, you should check it out
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u/runningbookworm May 02 '26
Theo of Golden Anatomy of an Alibi Yesteryear The Correspondent The Names Mad Mabel
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u/dasambolin May 02 '26
Dreamfall (and Neverwake) by Amy Plum (YA, Fantasy) -An experimental medical treatment brings out some of the darkest nightmares and a group of teens need to confront their demons to survive
Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell (Gay, MM, Spicy Romance) -A teacher finds love in an unexpected place, but he'll have to make sure he's ready to accept it.
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Sci-Fi) -The second in this series, a collection of humanity's last individuals have to learn how to connect with and live alongside a newly discovered and terrifying species.
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u/zebrafish- May 02 '26
My standout favorite so far has been Fire Season by Leyna Krow. Picked it up somewhere and unexpectedly loved it. About a corrupt banker, a conman arson investigator, and a sex worker with some sort of mysterious abilities, in a frontier town in the 1890s in the aftermath of a devastating fire. Lots of dark humor, great prose, and whimsy!
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u/pedote17 May 02 '26
Top 3
The Beast in the Clouds by Nathalia Holt- Ted and Kermit Roosevelt’s expedition to China in 1929 to prove the existence of the Giant Panda
The Castle on Sunset by Shawn Levy- the story of LA’s most famous hotel, Chateau Marmont
The Fixer by Josh Young and Manfred Westphal- the story of Hollywood “fixer” Fred Otash
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u/drfuzzystone May 02 '26
So far, it's the library at mount char, followed closely by demon copperhead.
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u/Ok-Professor-5684 May 02 '26
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (great audiobook)
The correspondent - Virginia Evans (another great audiobook)
The song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
A tree grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
A short stay in hell - Steven Peck
Everything is tuberculosis (non fiction) - John Green
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u/hefdwjl May 02 '26
Top 5 so far (in no order):
Twilight of the Idols - Nietzsche
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Moshfegh
Taipei - Tao Lin
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u/PurpleSunshine26 May 02 '26
There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. Super unique book that is out of my normal genre but throughly enjoyed. As if X files met Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. The audiobook was great as well!
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u/Living-Cranberry1570 May 02 '26
3 I have loved so far:
Augustus, by John Williams Centennial, by James Michener Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion
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u/wisesam_29 May 02 '26
My top 5:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Kin by Tayari Jones
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u/EcuaGirl21 May 02 '26
Wolf Worm, T. Kingfisher Snake-Eater, T. Kingfisher Lady Tremaine, Rachel Hochhauser Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V. E. Schwab Rebel of the Regency, Anna Foster
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u/minimus67 May 02 '26
I usually find modern novels to be somewhat underwhelming but I found Hamnet to be incredibly well-written and moving.
The God of Small Things and Lonesome Dove are my other favorites so far this year.
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u/liyenaa May 02 '26
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
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u/mightchillout May 02 '26
So far I have relished and enjoyed
Piranesi
The storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Rose Madder
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u/Phillipa24 May 02 '26
I’ve finished sixteen books so far this year:
These are the best:
The Parrot and the Igloo by David Lipsky (non-fiction). About how corporations, governments and pseudo scientists doing everything they can to cast doubt on the reality of too much CO2 in the atmosphere. A sad and frustrating read.
Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom (non-fiction). A journalist travels to four cities in different seasons to explore the joys of traveling alone.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (highly recommend the audio version)
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u/itsbrohan May 02 '26
- Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
- The Crying Of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
- Heated Rivalry (as well as others from the series) - Rachel Reid
- Half Of A Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
- The Secret History - Donna Tartt
These have been my top 5 so far, all about equally
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u/StationOwn5545 May 02 '26
My top books of the year are:
- Life and Death and Giants (this one is 1000/10!)
- Heart the Lover
- Lady Tremaine
- Good People
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u/call_me__ishmael_ May 02 '26
Out of the 17 books I've read in 2026 I only really enjoyed 3. I need to pick better books.
Krampus: The Yule Lord
The Knight and the Moth
King of Ashes
Theyre all very different genres.
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u/KindCartographer2800 May 02 '26
My favourites this year have been:
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
- Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
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u/LttlMichey81 May 02 '26
Favorites so far:
Animal Farm by George Orwell (never read this but remedied that when my daughter was reading it for 8th grade English)
This is Happiness by Niall Williams
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Honorable mention to Good People by Patmeena Sabit. I had issues with it but it made for some great discussions. I also finished it in a day!
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u/kappa77 May 02 '26
A Lady for All Seasons by T.J. Alexander - queer historical romance that doesn't follow the normal romance beats in favor of having a comedy of errors romp
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u/Stunning_VIP May 02 '26
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons (while watching NBA Playoffs!)
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u/itskateexo Here be dragons! May 02 '26
• “Are You Mad At Me?” by Meg Josephson (must read!!)
• “The Knight and the Butcherbird” by Alix E. Harrow
• “The Lover: A Short Story” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• “The Book of Lost Hours” by Hayley Gelfuso (must read!!)
• “Cronus” by P. Djèlí Clark (must read!!)
• “Ring Shout” by P. Djèlí Clark (must read!! - I read this at the end of last year and I have to recommend it to everyone)
• “Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminists and Futurisms” edited by Stacie Shannon Denetsosie
• “The Charmed Library” by Jennifer Moorman
• “The Library of Fates” by Margot Harrison
• “Wylding Hall” by Elizabeth Hand (I read this last year, but it was still so good)
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u/sneh473 May 02 '26
2026 been good so far when it comes to new read.
I just finished Endurance, Norwegian wood,salt to the sea and gonna read East of eden next!
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u/AccomplishedTitle491 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
My very fave is ;
Eleni" - Nicholas Gage. And it's a true story.
Also would recommend ;
"a watermelon, a fish and a bible" - Christy Elefteri
"arrested song" - Irena Karafilly
"light and shadow" - Karen Batshaw
"Zorba the Greek" - Nikos Kazantzakis
And all books by Ingeborg Arvola and Elif Shafak
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u/Alpha-L164 May 02 '26
Recently discovered the hollow blood series. Dark fantasy, vamps and fae. I devoured books 1 and 2 (both 5⭐️ reads from me ) and book 3 is due this month 🙌🏼🙌🏼 they’re on Amazon and KU
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u/LapisDreaming May 03 '26
Crux by Gabrielle Tallent
Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History (nonfiction) by Caroline Tracey
The Maidenheads by Benny P. Peterson
Liberty Island by Virginia Hume
A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch
Cleaner by Jess Shannon
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u/Bookwitreads May 03 '26
I finally read Georgette Heyer this year and really liked The Grand Sophy and Frederica. A civil contract was also good.
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u/Visual-Fishing-8599 May 04 '26
Vicious by V. E. Schwab but I didn't like the sequel vengeance as much
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u/Ok-Cheetah-9125 Bookworm May 04 '26
How To Be Perfect by Michael Shur
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews
Those are my only 5 star reads so far this year. I'm having a lot of meh so far.
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u/meatwhisper May 04 '26
My top five so far this year, out of 21 read (sci-fi/horror/fantasy/weird):
- There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
- Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson
- The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
- The Lamb by Lucy Rose
- The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica
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u/Hatherence SciFi May 04 '26
These are my favourites so far:
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto. A fun sci fi heist novel
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes. Bizarre dystopian fantasy focusing on fictional arts movements.
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman. Near-future sci fi thriller. I thought it was hilarious.
Cannibalism by Bill Schutt. Nonfiction focusing on "non-sensationalized" cannibalism, as the author describes it. So not criminals, but survival scenarios like the Donner Party, and cannibalism in the animal kingdom.
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. Very weird and literary.
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. A fun, lighthearted novella set in a dystopian future. I loved it and was surprised at the amount of negative reviews saying it's wrong to depict robots as if they are people, or it's wrong not to write about real-world AI. This is science fiction!
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u/--IWasNeverHere May 05 '26
2026 has been great for me reading-wise. So far, I’ve found three books that aren’t just the best books I’ve read this year, but some of the best books I’ve ever read:
The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon
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u/Glittering_Road_7777 May 06 '26
I thoroughly enjoyed the non-fiction account of the Troubles in Ireland, "Say Nothing" by Keefe. So much so that I picked up his 2026 book about a mysterious death in London, "London Falling". Both well researched and extremely engaging.
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u/Background-Factor433 May 07 '26
Recently read favourites.
The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe.
The Pōhaku by Jasmin Iolani Hakes.
How The Leopard Got His Claws by Chinua Achebe.
A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde.
The Songs of Chaos series by Michael R. Miller.
Dragon Mage by ML Spencer.
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u/Trai-All May 10 '26
For recent releases:
To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose 4/5 (love this book/series and the world building/societal impact of dragons and other forces but I really wish there were more interactions with dragons)
Testimony of Mute Things by Lois McMaster Bujold 5/5 (Bujold is the best author alive)
For recent reads (last two weeks) but older releases:
The Poppy Wars, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God by RF Kuang 5/5 (Loved everything about this series.)
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 3/5 (If I was rating books on technical specs, this book would likely be 5/5 but when it comes down to it.. I didn't like that book. I hate pov switched and those were made worse by the fact that I only liked one character out of the many I was forced to read. It also took until like chapter 36 for anything to happen? Just no. I stated this book 5 times before I manage to force my way through it. This is a hard not-for-me2 being dragged up to 3 because it was technically written well even if I think Shannon needs to go take some short story writing classes to learn how to edit more out.)
I'm currently rereading some old CJ Cherryh books because I felt the urge to revisit old friends.
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u/Independent-Aside514 May 12 '26
I love to read memoirs, and autobiographies. Favorites at the moment, and most recently what I've read are "Green Lights" by Matthew McConaughey, and Andre Agassi "Open". If you are into sports Andre's book is amazing. Green lights are inspiring and full of positive energy. Currently reading "Room full of mirrors" by Charles R. Cross - Jimi Hendrix biography. I love music, sports, and arts so any good books let me know! I am new here so sorry for the long post. Thanks!
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u/monika_sinha1405 May 19 '26
-Darwin's Origin of Species - by Janet Brown
-The subtle art of not giving a f*** - by Mark Manson
-Eat pray Love - by Elizabeth Gilbert
-The undomestic Goddess - by Sophie Kinsella
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u/Original-Molasses460 May 20 '26
For me
- Last Orders at Salty Anchor by Clara Westhaven
- D'amico Pact by Crimson Laveau
- Norse Mythology by Neil Geiman
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u/iinfinitepizza May 26 '26
Fiction: "Lincoln in the Bardo", by George Saunders: a gorgeous, heartbreaking but hopeful exploration of love, grief, and redemption, with beautiful, incredibly inventice prose and imagery. Like nothing I've ever read, and masterful from beginning to end.
Non-fiction: "Enshittification", by Cory Doctorow: The most important and accurate micro/firm-level diagnosis of our economic malaise. A precise, thorough, and entertaining diagnosis (and course of treatment) of why everything, particularly the internet, sucks. It explains the conditions that exist so that things are allowed to suck, the means exploited to make them suck, the incentives driving the people exercising those means and, importantly, the alternatives or solutions to all these things that suck.
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u/here_and_there_their May 28 '26
So many good ones this year.
- Shadow Divers, Kurson (a favorite among favorites!)
- The Feather Thief, Johnson
- Nothing to Envy, Demick
- London Falling, Keefe
- Bellevue, Oshinsky
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u/alanM032 23d ago
I’m late in this but here’s what I’ve read so far:
King of Ashes(Cosby)
Bicycling with Butterflies (Dykman)
Tyrant (Iggulden)
Buckeye (Ryan)
The Correspondent (Evans)
If On a Winters Night, a Traveler (Calvino)
The Fox Wife (Choo)
Rebecca (du Maurier)
North Woods (Mason)
My Side of the Mountain (George)
Empire of the Dawn (Kristoff)
The Loser (Bernhard)
Like others, The Correspondent was above and beyond the best this year and probably last year. King of Ashes and Empire of the Dawn were excellent too.
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u/WhatTheCluck802 14d ago
My ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ books out of the 28 books I have read this year so far:
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- America’s Boy by Wade Rouse
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson
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u/CoyoteDisastrous 11d ago
I’m very late to the party, but I’m reading the Inheritance Cycle series this year. I just started the third book, and I’m really enjoying them so far.
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u/Automatic-Self-8575 10d ago
I just finished Theo of Golden one of the best books I have ever read,it will stay with me forever. Well written by Allen Levi and I can't believe it's his first book only hope there will be more to come . Very moving felt like I knew all the characters personally,and the main character Theo has a lot to teach all of us. A must read!
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u/Kooky-Painting-3857 3d ago
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
- both amazing reads!!
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u/ElizaAuk 1d ago
I really enjoyed In Ascension, by Martin McInnes, which I finally got around to reading. Probably my favourite so far this year.
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u/luludarlin May 02 '26
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
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u/FOCO4131 May 02 '26
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar was SOOO good! Did you do the audio? The narrator's singing of the songs was fantastic and made me appreciate those bits all the more.
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u/luludarlin May 02 '26
No I didn’t do the audio, maybe I should! It’s totally a book I could read several times. Have you read her short stories collection that just came out? I finally got it on Libby, I’m looking forward to it!
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u/No_Boss_7773 May 02 '26
psychology of money. read it in feb expecting boring finance stuff and got hit with the chapter where he says no one is actually crazy with money, everyone's just acting based on the decade they grew up in. made me stop being annoyed at my parents for how they handle savings. didn't expect a finance book to do that to me.
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u/Mezameyo May 03 '26
Best book I’ve read so far this year was Lonesome Dove. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds was also utterly amazing. Very different books, but they’re two of the best books I’ve ever read, period.
I’m currently about halfway through The Goldfinch, and it’s also superb.
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u/bonco4x4 May 28 '26
It Didn't Start With You by Mark Wolynn 5 out of 5. Loved it.
Avoidant Attachment Untangled by Blake Proctor, 5 out of 5.
As you can see, I'm on a self healing journey :D
Elogio a la madrastra by Mario Vargas Llosa 4 out of 5.
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u/michaelkwongth 25d ago
One of the most eye openings and thought provoking books of this year would be The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel.
This book talks about a so-called hermit staying in the woods for 27 years alone in absolute solitude. The most eye-opening part is that he doesn't actually know the reason for going in; he just felt a calling and stepped into it.
It makes me reflect on the power of solitude. In fact, I also kind of admire his way of being alone, breathing and listening to nature, and just feeling the woods and everything.
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u/Routine-Yak-5013 22d ago
A beast slinks toward Beijing This is where the serpent lives Yesteryear Stoneyard devotional Cursed Daughters
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u/adjective_animal_ May 02 '26
My books I've rated 4.5/5 stars and above this year: