A few weeks ago, I put some posts across my social media channels asking all of my followers to recommend me one book I should read in 2026. I’ve then chose 12 and assigned them to each month of the year so I’ll be reading one book a month from the list!
I love doing this as not only does it get other people involved in my reading but it acually introduces me to so many books I’d never even heard of that ended being absolutely fantastic!
Last year, some of my favourite books ended up being from this list of 12 and, as I said, I hadn’t even heard of half of them before you lot recommended them to me!
So here we go again, I’ve asked you the question and you’ve all responded in your droves. I’ve had over 150 replies across my social channels on this question.
How did you decide which books?
The initial books I picked simply off of popularity. I looked for the responses that then had the most likes and the books tht ahd been recommended the most amount of times – simple as that really – those were then added to the list!
Next up, I then did some research it the next range of most popular books to see what their reviews were liek to see if others also thought they were good or if they were a rare recommendation.
Then my final filter was simply books that I felt I wanted to read – there were a couple of books on the list I did recognise and definitely wanted to try in 2026 anyway, so made sure these were on my list
How did you decide the order?
As with choosing the books, there were a number of things to consider when picking the book Libby audiobook, paperback release or simply nothing to read that month.
You’ll note in my descriptions of why I’ll be reading each book below the reason it’s been chosen in the month it has but the general three reasons are that the audiobook will become available via Libby in a certain month or that the paperback doesn’t come out until a certain month.
I’m a big paperback person (well actually I’m mostly made of skin and bone) so I much prefer to pre-order these and then deciee when I’ll be reading them based on that.
So here are the twelve books I’ll be reading throughout 2026 based on your recommendations:
January
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
I really want to get into graphic novels in 2026 – I’m a big nerd, I’m very much a visual person and I also feel like they’ll be far easier for me to pick up physically and finish than actual books (I struggle to find time to sit and read).
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore is a book I know is considered one of the greatest in the genre and is absolutely riddled with political intrigue. It is on the older side and the DC Compact version I’ve ordered is a little small to read but so I’m about halfway through it and enjoying it so far!
February
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
I don’t think it’ll be a huge surprise to anyone who’s read my reviews on here that I’m a big Fredrik Backman fan. So when I saw someone recommend My Friends as a recommendation, it was an easy add to the list.
Like you’ll find with a lot of the books on this list, I’ve done very little research into their actual plot as I love going into these completely blind. The reason I’ve chose it to be read in February is because 1: I was already reading V for Vendetta and 2: the paperback came out 22 January in the UK so would be easy to pick up in February.
March
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
We continue on into March with another book, Broken Country by Leslie Hall, that I know absolutely nothing about but a book that received a couple of recommendations and so I checked out when it might be best to read this. The paperback comes out 12 March so I might be leaving it a little tight to finish this one by the end of the month but I know it’s quite short, so fingers crossed!
Interestingly, this was also Amazon’s Book of the Year, so that suggests it could be quite bloody good!
April
The Names by Florence Knapp
A book that was recommended a whole bunch of times and I’ve seen doing the rounds across social media as a fantastic book was The Names by Florence Knapp.
I’m not sure what it’s about but I have heard that it has a really interesting premise from the videos I’ve watched about it online and an “interesting premise” always had me intrigued.
It also features on Times’ Best Books of 2025 and Guardian’s Best Books of 2025 list.
It comes out 26 March in paperback, so that’s why I’ve chosen to read it in April!
May
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
Coming out in paperback on 7 May and thus why I’ve chose to read it in May, The Artist by Lucy Steeds will be my May read.
I read a book last year called Orbital which I wasn’t the biggest fan of – it felt more like an essay on a critique of humanity from the point of view people space than it did a science fiction novel. I could see why people liked it – it was very smart and written very well, but it just wasn’t for me.
I have no idea at all, but I fear The Artist may be something like this. I’m not the biggest art fan and thus if this is anything about art, I may struggle to get into it, but we’ll see. It comes with high accolades and positive reviews everywhere!
Also, it was Waterstones’ Book of the Year for 2025, so it must be fairly decent!
June
Alchemised by SenLinYu
One of the books I’m most excited to read this year is Alchemised by SenLinYu. Originally a work of Harry Potter fan fiction called Manacled, focusing on Hermione and Draco Malfoy, SenLinYu’s story became so popular that it was rewritten to exclude any HP references (to avoid the obvious copyright) and retitled Alchemised.
It has then gone on to receive a lot of positive reactions again. Now – I do fear it’s going to fall into another romnatasy genre and I hope there’s enough actual plot here to keep me intrigued.
I’m also really interested to read it as I’m a big HP fan and so reading anything where it might feel like alternative or extended lore sounds quite fun to me. I’m also interested now the book’s been tweaked quite a bit to very much not be about HP, whether i’ll be able to pick up on any references or liken the characters to their HP counterparts.
The reason I’ve chose to read this in June is, based on my basic calculations, the Libby audiobook should be available to read sometime in May and being over 700 pages long, I know I’m going to need plenty of time to get this read!
July
The Eights by Joanna Miller
A book that I’d already seen getting some praise on my social feed before anyone mentioned it above was The Eights by Joanna Miller. So when it was recommended, I was more than happy to include it in my list.
In fact, a bookshop called Bert’s Books who I follow on social because they post very amusing daily board signs and have great interaction voted it as their book of the year which has got me really hyped!
The paperback comes out 4 June so I thought I’d comfortable be able to get this read in July. Who knows how long Alchemised is going to take me!
August
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Another book that comes out on 4 June (not sure if it’s the same publisher?) is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Now, the original cover for this is not one that I would usually be that interested in but the paperback cover does look slightly more interesting!
Again, I have no idea what this is about but I again it comes with some high praise from those that recommended it and it’s another book I’ve seen doing the rounds on social media as well as being on the Times’ Best Books of 2025 list.
September
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Then to get my fantasy fix in this year (ignoring the absolute behemoth that is Alchemised, a fair few people recommended The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson.
As well as their recommendations, I was actually suggested to read this by my brother who very rarely talks to me about books. He doesn’t read and simply saw it on his TikTok so sent the video to me and said “apparently this is good.” So I thought I’d put it on my list and elt him know if it is in fact any good or not.
The rest of these books I’ve added on to the end oc the year because they’re either already out or it doesn’t matter when I read them!
October
Flesh by David Szalay
A book that I’d seen a lot of coverage on before I began compiling this list was Flesh by David Szalay (a name I just know I’m going to continuously butcher in my videos, so apologies David). It’s a book that features on the Guardian’s Best Books of 2025 list, the Times’ Best Books of 2025 list and was the winner of the 2025 Booker Prize winner.
So yeah, it’s got a lot of accolades so fingers crossed I like it as much as critics do.
November
As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
A book that apparently was also recommended to me multiple times was As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh. I say “apparently” because I swear I’ve only seen it recommended to me once but either way, a quick look into it and a quick look at the front cover and I was absolutely sold!
You can’t judge a book my its front cover of course but itcomes with high recommendations too, so let’s hope its as good as they say!
December
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page
Then last but by no means least was actually my most interacted-with respond on X, This Book Made Me Think by Libby Page.
I did actually look into the plot of this one – it seems like a great idea. Essentially a woman receives a call from “her husband” but her husband died. The call says he’s left her one book for each month of the year (sound familiar?) but she’s not actually a big reader so this begins a big reading journey for her. Apparently the books all
Have you read any of these then?
Let me know if you’ve read any of these books yet or if there are any on this list you’re hoping to get round to this year! I’m always interested to know!
