The 2026 Books I Can't Shut Up About
With Q1 done, here are my 5-star books that you must read ASAPtually!!!
I thought it would be fun to check in on my reading year so far, especially since I’ve been touting 2026 as the year full of big, buzzy books. And the truth is, after only one quarter, I already like all five of the books below more than most of the books I read last year. As we step into spring and summer, things are ratcheting up1. So, before we move into the next season, allow me to share my best books of the year so far2—I am a harsh critic, and it takes a lot to get five stars out of me, so this list is rightfully short.
I did have one other 5-star book I read this year, but it was backlist: Toni Morrison’s Paradise. I’m not going to get into that, because I did a whole episode on it with Namwali Serpell this month on the podcast (and I could have easily done three to five more hours on the book).
Anyway, back to this year’s books.
For those who care about metrics, I have finished 26 books that have been (or will be) published in 2026. I have also DNF’d another nine 2026 titles. My list below features five books. Four are clear standouts, and the fifth is a book I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, but it isn’t as “good” as the others. I think which is which will be very clear as you read.
So here you go, my 2026 five-star reads as of March 27, 2026. Presented in alphabetical order.
Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson
A reexamination of the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway shooting. It should come as no surprise that Heather Ann Thompson is on this list. I love the way she writes history, making it urgent and unputdownable. She infuses the past with details that help her readers draw connections to the here and now. This book is enraging. It is also meticulous. Thompson makes sure her reader not only understands the story itself, but also the context of how we got to that train in December 1984, and how that ride has led to where we are now. It is outstanding.
Kin by Tayari Jones
This book is exactly what a novel should be. Great writing, simple storytelling, and characters you think about long after you put the book down. It’s a friendship novel, plain and simple. It does exactly what it sets out to do. There are a lot of themes in the book worth parsing, but also, this book isn’t about something in a heavy-handed way. I wish I could say more, but honestly, I just loved it.
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
He’s back! Y’all already know this is damn near a PRK stan account. With this new book, he is at his very best, especially when it comes to pulling in seemingly unconnected threads and painting a picture that is so much bigger than the sum of its parts. London Falling is a much smaller story than his most recent books—it’s about the suspicious death of a teenager in London in 2019—but holy hell, it is well executed. The suspense is suspensing. If you love narrative nonfiction and a writer who connects the dots, this is your book.
On Morrison by Namwali Serpell
This is the book I have been waiting for for years. A work of literary criticism that takes Toni Morrison seriously and places her properly in the context through which she wrote. A resource for readers that uncovers hidden meanings and debates the broader strokes. Serpell lovingly (and critically) holds Morrison up to the light, allowing us to see her more fully and think about her more expansively.
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden
I didn’t think I loved this book as much as I did when I read it at the end of last year, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It is peak white mess for sure, and that is part of why I loved it. No, it isn’t nearly as great as the other books here, but from a “holy shit I can’t stop reading” standpoint, this book more than holds its own. Burden’s husband suddenly leaves her and her kids at The Vineyard3 at the start of COVID, and she is left to figure out who she married. I shouldn’t love this book, and yet, I did and I do.
Now, to help me build out my 2026 TBR, tell me your best of the best so far this year. And please feel free to share your fave backlist titles you’ve read this year.
If you want more of me and my nonsense be sure to listen to The Stacks podcast every Wednesday and follow me over on Instagram for a lot more book content.
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When is the last time you looked at my Team Preorder list? We are not ready, people.
Ones I’ve read, since some aren’t technically out yet.
I told you it was peak white mess.
No one’s Coming by Kevin Hazzard is a new nonfiction book about the 2014 medical evacuation of health care workers with Ebola in Liberia. A private airplane company has ten days to do what’s never been done before - themes include the federal government getting in the way, the federal government making things happen, public backlash, sacrifice & bravery.
I absolutely devoured Kin, and I still haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I also finally got around to reading Dominion by Addie Citchens from last year, and that rounds out my 5-star reads so far this year.