With only two months of the year remaining, time is running out to successfully meet your reading goals. Whether you set out read one or 100 books in 2026, there are so many options to choose from. There are tempting new releases such as book six in Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series, or classics including Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice worth revisiting, with two new Jane Austen adaptations this year.
If you’re more interested in which titles people selling books are picking up, look no further than the Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist. Nominated by booksellers from across the country, the annual awards features a selection of 20 works published over the last 12 months. READ MORE: Douglas Stuart, Maggie O’Farrell and David Byrne shortlisted for literary award Scottish author Douglas Stuart’s novel John of John is among those recognised, alongside two fellow Booker Prize nominees; The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout and May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry.
Other fiction on the shortlist includes Land by Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s new young adult mystery The Heirs and Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke’s buzzy debut novel Yesteryear, which will soon be turned into a feature film starring Anne Hathaway. There are also a number of non-fiction titles selected, such as Patrick Radden Keefe’s gripping London Falling and Ottolenghi’s latest cookbook Simple Too, as well as Sleeping Beauties, a book from Talking Heads frontman David Byrne which explores dormant ideas and how they can be revived.
If you’re looking to expand your TBR list, here the 2026 Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist in full – including what each book is about and where you can buy them.
