Get your Fall 2026 reading list ready because I have the best books to read this fall with all the top choices of great books to read.
Hallelujah, fall is just around the corner!
With back-to-school season and cooler weather come some of the best fall reads I’ve seen in a while. All summer long, I’ve been perusing the upcoming release lists. I’ve wrestled over which books to include and which to leave out.
Here for your reading pleasure is my list of the best books of Fall 2026. I’ve got book club favorites, historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and some nonfiction books. Some I’ve read and some I can’t wait to read, but all of them are perfect for my Fall 2026 Reading Guide.
Best Books of Fall 2026
American Hagwon
Min Jin Lee
After a shocking betrayal and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the John and Helen Koh and their three children leave their middle class life in Korea for Sydney, Australia and eventually Southern California. Strangers in a strange land where their education means little, John and Helen do anything they can to open opportunities for their children. Over the ensuing years, they manage their lives always believing that education will lead the next generation to success and security.
Peck & Peck
Bonnie Garmus
In 1982, new college graduate Batter Gray receives a job offer at the prestigious New York poetry journal, Peck & Peck. Thrown into the literary world, Batter finds himself caught between the battling twin Peck brothers as they fight over for control. Meanwhile, Batter becomes entangled in the private lives of the thirty-nine staff editors whose drive for originality and creativity lead to a fully dysfunctional workplace.
The Pirate Queen
Ariel Lawhon
Based on an Irish legend, in Sixteenth Century Ireland, Grace O’Malley was born to be a sea captain but her noble family her to marry for a strong alliance and bear children. Forced into a marriage to a brutal warrior, Grace bides her time, gathering loyal followers and consolidating power. Ousted from his lands, Grace finally ends up at sea where she builds a mighty fleet to fight against Queen Elizabeth’s incursions into Ireland.
Big Little Truths
Liane Moriarty
In a sequel to the bestseller Big Little Lies, ten years have passed and Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie are navigating mothering teenagers. Meanwhile, Celeste’s mother-in-law is behaving oddly; Madeline faces a challenge; Jane’s marriage is at a crossroad; Bonnie needs more than yoga; and Renata is living her best life. When the principal receives a threatening package and a stranger starts hanging around the school asking questions, the tight knit group of women must face the consequences of the big little truths they have kept from their children.
A Court of Splintered Harmony
Sarah J. Maas
In the sixth book of the bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series, Koschei the Deathless is stirring from his millennia of imprisonment. He has powerful allies bent on controlling the human lands once again ready to join him. To protect the world, the Night Court must unite the fae, resurrecting old alliances and repairing rifts even as they face their own betrayals.
Partita
Barbara Kingsolver
Livia Cable has made peace with her quiet life and stable marriage in the farm country where she was raised until she receives a shocking phone call from an old lover. Decades earlier when he knew her, Livia was a student at a musical conservatory estranged from her family and friends. As she debates whether to meet him again, she can’t help remembering the passion she has as a pianist and how this man broke her belief in love and ruptured her whole life.
Exit Party
Emily St. John Mandel
In 2031, peacekeepers have finally withdrawn from the collapsed United States and Ari Waker attends a Los Angeles party with her roommate. The joyful mood of the party suddenly shifts when a bewildered twin arrives and the party’s host disappears. As Ari uncovers the mystery of the disappearance, Exit Party takes you into a fractured America ruined by Civil War that demonstrates the price of safety, the terrors of a surveillance state and human resilience in the face of catastrophe.
Mystery & Thriller Books for Fall
The Unknown
Riley Sager
Marin is ecstatic to get a leading role in a major motion picture about an unsolved mystery in New Avalon, an island on a Vermont Lake. A century ago, five women vanished after a seance with only one dress for each found hanging in an oak tree. Arriving on New Avalon, mysterious things begin to happen to the crew and then a castmate vanishes. Is someone trying to sabotage the movie or is a supernatural force at work?
Before You Were Anne
Emiko Jean
Detective Chelsey Calhoun is loving life – her steady marriage, her amazing job, and excited for the child she is expecting. When a mother is found dead and her teenage daughter is missing, Chelsey finds the case brings up disturbing memories of her past. The victim went by Anne but her real name was Rika Takahashi from Japan who had spent her life running from something or someone. Now Chelsey must find the missing daughter before she becomes the next victim.
The French Illusion
John Grisham
After their fairytale wedding, Paul and Chelsea Tanner head to Paris on their dream honeymoon that quickly turns into a nightmare when they are kidnapped in the French countryside. With similar cases stacking up, law enforcement in American and France scramble to figure out why the Tanners were targeted. Their only hope is to use a young hotshot lawyer as bait in an elaborate CIA operation.
The Witch
Freida McFadden
When Julia Barlow loses her job, she moves into Pemberton, her family’s 17th-century rural Massachusetts estate, to help her aging grandfather. What should be a reprieve begins to turn to a nightmare as the lights flicker and she hears a disembodied voice outside her room. Digging into the house’s history, Julia suspects they are being haunted by a woman who was executed for witchcraft and possibly other women who have been wronged by her family.
They Say a Girl Died Here
Sarah Pinborough
After dropping out of college, Anna Maybourne moves in with her parents and her dementia-ridden grandma in their new home in a small farm town plagued by drought. The town is infamous for a series of vicious murders by the Farmhandman, never solved though the prime suspect is dead. As Anna befriends a handsome deputy and the town loner, she becomes fascinated with the case. As the anniversary nears, Anna suspects her grandmother’s delusions may hold the key to the truth.
Best Book Clubs of 2026
Yesteryear
Caro Claire Burke
Natalie Heller Mills has build a growing brand as a tradwife, raising six children with her cowboy husband in a rustic farmhouse. A brand that conveniently overlooks all the nannies, producers and modern-day behind-the-scenes amenities. When Natalie wakes up to find her family living in 1855, she must figure out if it’s time travel or a new reality show. Because what she portrays as a charming traditional lifestyle is a nightmare in real life.
Kin
Tayari Jones
From the author of An American Marriage comes a tale of two lifelong friends who reconnect after a tragedy. Vernice and Annie both grew up as motherless children in Louisiana but life has taken them in vastly different directions. After her mother’s death, Vernice was raised by her aunt and eventually attends Spelman College where she joins a group of powerful Black women in a world of affluence and inequality. Meanwhile, Annie sets off to find the mother who abandoned her in a journey of love and adventure that eventually threatens her life.
The Calamity Club
Kathryn Stockett
During the Great Depression in Oxford, Mississippi, three women come up with an audacious plan to take control of their lives. At the county orphanage, eleven-year-old Meg fights to keep her spirits up even though she is unlikely to be adopted. Birdie has come to town to beg her social-climbing sister to help the family she left behind. Meanwhile, Charlie is determined to overcome her past with fury and grit. Together, they must show resilience in a time where women’s freedom is fragile in the newest novel from the author of The Help.
The Shampoo Effect
Jenny Jackson
Newly arrived in a coastal Massachusetts town, Caroline Lash quickly falls in love with local Van Whittaker. Van still hangs out with all his childhood friends: his beautiful ex-girlfriend Bailey, snobbish rich Augusta, and independent Fran. As the group runs wild over the summer, Bailey announces she is pregnant with Van’s baby. Immediately Caroline is cast out and in her anger, she exposes long-held secrets that throw the whole town into chaos.
Whistler
Ann Patchett
While visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daphne Fuller and her husband find themselves followed by an older gentleman. Turns out it’s her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett, who was married to her mother for less than a year when she was nine years old. Reunited, Daphne and Eddie reexamine their relationship and the fateful event that changed both of their lives forever.
Under Story
Chloe Benjamin
Biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from her past, working as a dishwasher at a remote scientific base in Antarctica. When a strange light appears across the ice, a group of physicists arrive with her ex-husband Eli in tow. Laurel is convinced the Arc is a rabbit hole into a world where she they can go back and live their story a second time. Can she convince him to try or will human hubris that will damage the natural world?
Best Fantasy Books to Read This Fall
Threshing Day
Rebecca Yarros
While you wait for the next book in the bestselling Empyrean series that has taken the book world by storm, Rebecca Yarros presents a collection of thirteen short stories. Starring your favorite characters and their dragons, Threshing Day captures thirteen unforgettable stories that take place on one memorable day – Threshing Day, the day students at Basgiath War College find if they will bond with a dragon.
The Fires of December
Brandon Sanderson
Bestselling fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson presents a new adventure of the world-hopping storyteller Hoid in a standalone Cosmere novel. In a land of colorful rivers of demon blood, December learns that a devastating plague is about to strike. Along with a chatty priestess and a up-and-coming fashion designer, December sets out on the River Violet to convince the royal court that disaster is on the way. With the help of a roguish count, can she overcome court intrigue to save the kingdom?
The Wretched Divine
Adalyn Grace
After her family was killed by the demons who plague the kingdom, Aurelie Chantelune has trained as a knight. All she needs is her first kill and she’ll inherit a bond with Yuriel, an angel whose power can save the kingdom. But when her loved ones start turning into monsters, Aurelie makes a bond with Severin, a demon who claims to know how to stop the war. The more Aurelie learns about Yuriel, Severin and the war, the more she realizes she must choose between the angels she has trusted her whole life or the demons who will either save or destroy them.
The Emperor’s Enemy
Jasmine Mas
In a new enemies-to-lovers dark romantasy, Zora Ravenal has hones herself into an elite hunter to destroy the empire. A Knight Mage of the Commonwealth, Zora is a last defense against the empire’s storm magic. Shoved into close proximity with the Royal Mage, Zora must train and partner with him and somehow manage to not kill each other or reveal the secrets she’s been hiding.
The Wrath Gods Reap
Abigail Owen
In the final book of The Crucible trilogy, Lyra and Hades find their roles reversed. Now Hades is the mortal forced to participate in a series of deadly trials. To reclaim his throne and his powers, Hades must compete against the Gods of Olympus while Lyra, with her growing power, works to unmask the culprit who has been deceiving the gods.
Nonfiction Fall 2026 Reading List
The American Way of Killing
Malcolm Gladwell
Despite being the wealthiest country in the world, the United States is plagued by an epidemic that usually only afflicts the poorest countries: gun violence. As is his signature style, acclaimed social scientist Malcolm Gladwell discusses this American paradox in a series of fascinating stories. Criss-crossing the country, Gladwell presents the image of a country that doesn’t understand its biggest social problem and, thus, has no clue how to fix it.
Situated
Angela Duckworth
The bestselling author of Grit, Angela Duckworth returns with a follow-up book. Although grit is one of the most important characteristics a person can develop, sometimes its not enough. How you situate yourself to meet a challenge can be crucial. Instead of making best of your situation, Duckworth describes how you can situate yourself to better excel in life using real-life examples backed up by studies.
Vibe
Adam Grant
Adam Grant teaches how to build meaningful ties in a world where face-to-face interactions are constantly being subordinated by digital connections. Using interesting anecdotes and fascinating science, Grant explores how to create deeper relationships and tighter communities. With examples ranging from astronauts who dislike each other but work together to comedy troupes who need their time apart to stay close, Vibe focuses on building better interactions with those around you.
The Vanishing Family
Robert Kolker
After tackling schizophrenia in his nonfiction bestseller Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker reports on a family who’s genetic code could help cure dementia. In Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, a normal family of nine children, mostly grown, slowly watch as their mother becomes unrecognizable: withdrawn, neglectful and uncaring. Yet as the age, the same thing starts happening to each of the siblings – as soon as the reach their forties, their personalities suddenly change with no inhibitions or sense of responsibility. Kolker expertly weaves together the history of the family with the modern-day science of dementia that will speak to most Americans.
What Fall 2026 Books Are You Most Excited For?
What new releases are on your must-read list this Fall? Did I miss any of the Best Books of Fall 2026 that you are anticipating? As always, let me know in the comments!
More New Book Releases:
Victoria Spain says
I can’t read a book about a person named Batter. What on earth was that author thinking??
Rachael says
Not gonna lie, that name is a massive turnoff which is terrible because I loved Lessons in Chemistry.