What Book Releases Are We Most Excited about in 2026?

What books are we most looking forward to this year?

I must first shamelessly share my own, scheduled to be published on April 14th: Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Quiet Joys. Several of you have generously asked about pre-orders and — while I debated holding off to announce until closer to pub date — I am too excited not to share! You can now pre-order my book from your preferred retailer here!

Magpies, this is a lifelong dream. I hope you love it; I am so proud of it. Small Wonders is a pastiche of essays, musings, list poetry, and other creative non-fiction that will feel like a familiar extension of my writing here, but richer and more polished. It is organized around the resonant themes against which we tend to curl up, cat-like, here on this blog:

Lessons from the Outdoors

The Inside of Things

The Dance of Motherhood

Inheritances and Intimacies

Love (The Point)

Daily Care and Reassurances

The Wide World of Language

I imagine it as a morning companion: something you can pick up and read after your fourteen-minute coffee-making journey, legato-style. Something you can take with you on a trip as a little emotional exhale, or leave out on the coffee table for a Sunday morning sift, or keep with you in the car for those ten minutes of dead time in the carpool line. These are short pieces intended to serve as little callings, “fragile bells” to draw us back to the heart of things. I have to say, the section titled “Inheritances and Intimacies” — all about the beautiful things that connect us to other people — really gripped me; I started calling it (to myself) “I&I.” I began to watch for and collect “I&I” as I went throughout my days. This is why, I think, I have been in such a list-writing mode here on the blog. The bonds that tie us! Not so far from tribe and fire (to use a phrase from Danusha Lemeris’ “Small Kindnesses“) after all.

In the book, I adapted some of my signature Magpie pieces to this longer-form context (this proved to be much more time-consuming and agonizing than anticipated — I touched every single word, letter, punctation mark, title, and sometimes went back to elements of the original versions but not without days of hand-wringing and rearrangement), and I also penned new work that I have been anxious to get into your hands. It has been difficult to sit on some of the best pieces I’ve ever written! (I want them in front of you, and now, like usual on this blog.) I should add that after spending hours and hours burnishing every piece to high shine, I had a wonderful editor help me further clarify the butter, and can confidently say this book represents my best writing.

Anyway, Magpies, that’s my contribution to this year’s reading list, and I hope you love it.

My Most Anticipated Books for 2026 —

On a less self-congratulatory note: what other book releases are you most heavily anticipating in the new year? Two 2026 books I’m deeply excited about, both releasing on June 2nd (going to be a busy — or rather, not-busy first week of June):

Whistler by Ann Patchett (June 2) — “Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It’s a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.”

Land by Maggie O’Farrell (June 2) — “A soaring historical novel set in Ireland in the years before and after the Great Hunger. Land is a novel about separation and reunion, tragedy and recovery, colonization and rebellion. It is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away. As spellbinding and varied as the landscape that inspired it, Land is, above all, a story of survival.”

I was also delighted to hear about Carley Fortune’s Our Perfect Storm (May 2). Her romances are quickly becoming an offbeat seasonal ritual I look forward to at the dawn of summer. Atmospheric, light, effervescent, nostalgic; the evocatively-captured PEI setting pins the tone for the season. (I absolutely loved One Golden Summer!)

2026 Book Club Picks.

Other books I’m hearing a lot of buzz about, and which I’m eyeing for Magpie book club this year (please feel free to make your nominations in the comments)!:

Kokun: The Girl from the West by Nahoko Uehashi (January 13) — “A sweeping ecological fantasy from one of Japan’s most beloved storytellers—where two girls must unlock a forgotten power to save their world from collapse.”

Vigil by George Saunders (January 27) — “An electric novel…taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next.”

Good People by Patmeena Sabit (February 3) — “Zorah Sharaf could do no wrong. Zorah Sharaf brought shame upon her family. What’s the truth? Depends on who you ask … Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, it is a riveting, provocative, and haunting story of family — sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.”

Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami (March 17) — “A bold novel of sacrifice and the tumultuous bonds of sisterhood, set in the gritty Tokyo of the 1990s. A story of enduring friendship and deep betrayal, Sisters in Yellow is a masterpiece of teenage dreams and adult cruelties…”

My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi (March 17) — “A Japanese The Thursday Murder Club, taking healing fiction for a mystery-filled spin with this Japanese bestseller that has sold more than 200,000 copies in Japan. Steeped in references to classic crime from Christie to Chesterton to Poe, My Grandfather, the Master Detective plays with the genre, capturing readers’ imagination in this Tokyo-set escapist mystery.”

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (May 5) — “Strout paints a tender and insightful picture of a lonely schoolteacher who reconsiders his own life path and choices after an unexpected secret is revealed.”

A Full List of 2026 Books on My Radar + Runners-Up:

I’ve organized all of these into an Amazon list here for ease of reference in the future, too.

Runners-up that for various reasons I’ll probably skip (mainly because I’ve not yet read their acclaimed previous / backlist novels or am alienated by tone) but that I know other readers are eagerly anticipating:

Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age (January 20)

Emma Straub’s American Fantasy (April 7)

Matt Haig’s Midnight Train (May 26)

Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party (September 15)

NOTE: I just noticed that Barnes and Noble is offering $5 off a bunch of pre-orders of anticipated new releases here (including some of the books in this post) and 50% off loads of fiction here!

What else?

Oh! A reminder that this month’s book club pick is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, and I’ll be publishing a review later this month! (Last month’s book club post here.).

Post-Scripts.

+The top ten most popular items featured on my blog in 2025 here.

+The list of course includes our favorite black jeans (see if code JEN15 works — it might have expired at the end of the year; I’ll email for a new one). Not sure if their extra 30% off sale promotion will still be running at time of pub, but check these incredible finds out in case you missed it!

+Welcome inconvenience: wearing down the treads on your fitness sneakers. I just treated myself to a new pair of Glycerins for running and Metcons for strength training. (Other welcome inconveniences here.)

+If you’re going somewhere warm soon: this set is so cute! Great for travel. Shorts can be worn over swimsuit or paired with the matching top and a flat leather sandal for exploring. Then layer the top with white jeans for a different look.

+If you’re not going somewhere warm: this ice blue cashmere cardi layered beneath the matching wrap.

+Great new arrival at VB. A denim coat cut like this will take you all kinds of places.

+Some epic finds in Neiman’s sale section if you’re willing to dig a bit (permit me to do this for you): Zimmermann statement dress; our beloved Agolde Parker shorts; Manolo BBs for under $350.

+Cute (!) sweatshirts for kids on sale at Rylee + Cru. BTW the absolute cutest sweat sets for boys are at Zara. They look intentional and fashion-y. I love the fit! I’ve purchased my son three sets this season.

+Colbys restocked in a cool rust color, and a reminder that Buck Mason restocked their fabulous $48 pima cotton tee (a shrunken fit, FYI).

My book, Small Wonders, is now available for pre-order! This is a collection of essays, musings, and list poetry on the art of paying attention, noticing love in its smallest denominations, and finding the miraculous in the mundane.  It is an extension of the writing here on the blog, and is organized around the themes we often discuss here: the dance of motherhood, inheritances and intimacies, the natural world, and the wide world of language. I am so proud of it and hope you will find it a worthy companion for your legato-style mornings.

Image above taken at the charming Beacon Hill Bookstore when I visited my sister in Boston last fall!

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