Must-Read Book List: My Top 26 Book Recommendations For 2026
- Laura Faconti
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
I read between 75 and 100 books a year. I also review the books I read on my blog and Instagram (bookstagram) account, @lauralovesbookishthings. Over the years, this has made me the friend people call upon when they’re stuck, feeling uninspired, or searching for their next great read. My personal taste tends to run toward books that challenge. I enjoy the emotional, psychological and social tensions; stories that make you think and sit with you long after you’ve turned the final page. This thoughtfully curated list brings together 26 of my favourite reads from last year, from the modern classics to the contemporary. A healthy mix of quietly devastating novels, intensely propulsive reads and stories that ask difficult questions; often rewarding close attention. If you relate to this, I am confident that your next great read is right here in this list.
Modern Classics: Interior Lives That Last
Timeless stories of desire, longing, identity, and the human condition. Start here if you enjoy novels that explore ideas and choices that define us in ways modern audiences can continue to appreciate.
A great introduction to existentialism and the anti-hero. A man who refuses to lie or play by society’s rules faces the consequences of living on his own terms.
Two girls, a complex childhood friendship in a small Black community. This beautifully heartbreaking story explores love, loyalty, and the price of rebellion and conformity.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
A beautifully melancholic exploration of forbidden love, longing, and identity in bohemian 1950's Paris, where desire, denial and shame collide.
Madonna in the Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali
A hauntingly tragic love story about longing, vulnerability, and the ache of feeling out of place in the world. A story within a story with much to say about attachment, gender and what it means to love.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A young mothers descent into madness during a summer of prescribed rest. A short but powerful early feminist critique of patriarchal ideas in marriage and healthcare.
Badly Behaved Women: Women Who Refuse to Conform
Wild, messy, and impossible to forget. If you love a problematic protagonist who breaks the rules, challenges expectations, or makes decisions you can’t stop thinking about, this shelf is for you.
Surprisingly funny, messy and terribly compelling. A woman navigates complex, emotionally crippling, unnamed mental illness alongside shame, family dynamics, marriage and heartbreak.
A sharp, black comedy about a young woman using provocative photography to push the boundaries of self-discovery. Clark is the queen of this category.
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown
Poetic, topical, teen nostalgia. Three young women wrestle with themselves and each other. Intimate, bold and boisterous. It's Shakespeare meets Doncaster Wetherspoons.
The Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su
Surreal, playful, and utterly unique. A story about love, insecure attachment, and emotional growth. Her life is a mess! But is Bob (the sentient blob she finds outside a bar) the answer to all her problems?
Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux
A brief but unflinching memoir/novella about an affair with a well-known married man. Starkly detailing the effects of an all-consuming attraction. A woman's desire... raw, unfiltered and unforgettable.
Historical Fiction: The Past is a Lesson
When literature brings the past to life, historical novels remind us that the past is never truly gone - it still informs, shapes and challenges us. These books will transport you and remind you of what is universally human.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Renaissance Italy. Appearances are deceiving. A young woman fights for autonomy and survival. Trapped in an arranged marriage, certain that her husband will kill her.
18th C. Oxfordshire. Five orphaned sisters become targets of village paranoia when accused of turning into dogs. A drought and rising hysteria make way for mob mentality.
Set in pre-Civil War America. A smart and satirical reimagining of Mark Twain's 'Huck Finn'. Jim gets to tell his story this time, with intelligence and humanity. The pen is mightier than the sword.
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
1960's - Post WW1 Netherlands. A quietly intense, forbidden erotic bond and the unravelling of family secrets tied to the war. Subdued, lyrical prose explores autonomy, historical guilt, political revisionism and queer desire.
Quietly Unsettling: Controlled Damage
Subtle, precise, and quietly devastating. Not every book needs fireworks to leave an impression. These stories are subtle; they creep into your thoughts, challenging the way you see people, society, and even yourself.
One woman’s refusal to conform spirals into a haunting exploration of body, mind, and what rebellion means. Deeply disturbing and unforgettable.
Exposes historical trauma, patriarchal violence, and silence surrounding Palestinian suffering, hauntingly precise prose forces readers to confront uncomfortable truths.
A dreamlike atmosphere captures a young woman's self-discovery and the fraught intimacy of a mother/daughter relationship. Masterfully claustrophobic and intense.
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Captivating, strange, and tender. A unique narrative voice explores our relationship with spirituality, grief, inanimate objects, mental health and the world around us.
Tender but Brutal: Soft Voices, Hard Outcomes
Delicate prose with heavy emotional punch. These novels are gentle on the surface, but they will break your heart and linger in the delicate cracks of your mind forever.
A tender, visceral and heartbreaking story of young love, survival and the harshness of a childhood in a poverty-stricken hometown.
A quiet, intimate exploration of love, family, heartbreak, grief and the small but unavoidable emotional fractures in life. Fueled by dialogue-driven scenes of human vulnerability.
Reflective, nuanced and quietly profound. A 'sliding doors' moment asks what is in a name?. How a single crucial decision can change the trajectory of our lives and those we love.
An intimate, piercing page-turner about a Ghanaian-British woman's emotional crisis as a catalyst for her personal growth. Multi-generational voices explore friendship, womanhood, belonging, memory and the effects of secrets spanning three decades.
Dark, Smart, Contemporary: Modern Anxiety, Sharpened
Propulsive, morally alive, socially acute. If you want unputdownable tension, moral complexity, and characters that feel real in all their flaws, this shelf will keep you reading late into the night.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
A modern Dickensian epic set in Appalachia; brutal, compassionate, and utterly compelling. Unflinching exposure of systemic injustice and an emotional roller coaster ride of masterful storytelling.
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Unpredictable twists, secrets, lies and obsession collide in this unputdownable psychological thriller. A popular podcaster meets her 'birthday twin' and finds out that even 'professional' curiosity can be dangerous.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
A suspenseful contemporary Nigerian gothic novel. Compelling and intense storylines filled with grief, family drama, heartbreak and generational trauma.
An emotionally complex and morally intricate, enticing small-town narrative. A novel about grief, motherhood (or absence of it) and the lasting impact of teenage pregnancy, what-ifs and life-changing choices.
Taken together, these books reflect what I value most as a reader: strong interior lives, moral complexity, characters who resist easy categorisation, and writing that doesn’t rush to comfort or resolution. Whether the tension comes from history, family, desire, or the mind itself, each of these novels left a mark on me and ultimately earned its place here. If you’re looking for books that challenge, move, and linger rather than temporarily distract and entertain, then I'm sure you’ll find your next favourite book recommendation right here.
Love Laura x
Note: Click the images/titles of the books to access the blurb on bookshop.org - I have an affiliate account, and I receive a tiny commission if you choose to purchase any books through this link. If you're not familiar with Bookshop.org - it is a great way to support your local independent bookseller while enjoying the convenience of buying online.
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