The Best Fiction Books of 2026

The best fiction books of 2026 are the titles most recommended across the year's most credible lists, ranked here by our transparent Consensus Score.

2026 is still early — only J.P. Morgan has published 2026 picks so far. Year-end lists from The New York Times, The Economist, the Financial Times and more land through the fall.

Light and Thread
Han Kang

J.P. Morgan — J.P. Morgan Summer Reading List 2026

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Light and Thread
Han Kang

The Best Fiction Books of 2025

2026 is still early, so here's the complete 2025 archive — every credible fiction list from that year, by source.

The New York Times — The 10 Best Books of 2025

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The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Kiran Desai
Angel Down
Daniel Kraus
The Director
Daniel Kehlmann
The Sisters
Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Stone Yard Devotional
Charlotte Wood

The Economist — The Economist's Books of the Year 2025

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Archipelago of the Sun
Yoko Tawada
The Eleventh Hour
Salman Rushdie
Flashlight
Susan Choi
Flesh
David Szalay
The Lack of Light
Nino Haratischwili
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Kiran Desai
Once the Deed Is Done
Rachel Seiffert
Perfection
Vincenzo Latronico
Vulture
Phoebe Greenwood
We Do Not Part
Han Kang
What We Can Know
Ian McEwan
Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy

The Booker Prize — The Booker Prize 2025 Shortlist

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Flesh
David Szalay
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Kiran Desai
Audition
Katie Kitamura
The South
Tash Aw
Endling
Maria Reva
Universality
Natasha Brown

The Wall Street Journal — The Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Books of 2025

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The Remembered Soldier
Anjet Daanje
Ruth
Kate Riley
The Wayfinder
Adam Johnson

Women's Prize for Fiction — The Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 Shortlist

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The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden
Good Girl
Aria Aber
All Fours
Miranda July
The Persians
Sanam Mahloudji
Tell Me Everything
Elizabeth Strout
Fundamentally
Nussaibah Younis

The Guardian — The Best Books of 2025

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Shadow Ticket
Thomas Pynchon
The Eleventh Hour
Salman Rushdie
What We Can Know
Ian McEwan
Dream Count
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Kiran Desai
Helm
Sarah Hall
Flesh
David Szalay
The Book of Records
Madeleine Thien
Dream State
Eric Puchner
Flashlight
Susan Choi
Saraswati
Gurnaik Johal
The South
Tash Aw
The Tiger's Share
Keshava Guha
Audition
Katie Kitamura
Gunk
Saba Sams
Seascraper
Benjamin Wood
The Pretender
Jo Harkin
Slags
Emma Jane Unsworth
Havoc
Rebecca Wait
Endling
Maria Reva
Eden's Shore
Oisin Fagan
The Names
Florence Knapp
Fundamentally
Nussaibah Younis
The Benefactors
Wendy Erskine
Nova Scotia House
Charlie Porter
Open, Heaven
Sean Hewitt
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh
Colwill Brown
To Rest Our Minds and Bodies
Harriet Armstrong
Rejection
Tony Tulathimutte
Every One Still Here
Liadan Ni Chuinn

McKinsey & Company — McKinsey Annual Book Recommendations 2025

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The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
All Fours
Miranda July
Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Dinosaurs
Lydia Millet
The God of the Woods
Liz Moore
The Life Impossible
Matt Haig
The Maniac
Benjamin Labatut
Olga Dies Dreaming
Xochitl Gonzalez
Orbital
Samantha Harvey
The Personal Librarian
Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Precipice
Robert Harris
Presumed Guilty
Scott Turow
Trust
Hernan Diaz

Bloomberg — Bloomberg's Best Books of 2025

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Drayton and Mackenzie
Alexander Starritt
Orbital
Samantha Harvey
Le Barman du Ritz
Philippe Collin
Flesh
David Szalay
The Doorman
Chris Pavone
Horror Movie
Paul Tremblay
The Black Loch
Peter May
The Secret of Secrets
Dan Brown
Recursion
Blake Crouch
Culpability
Bruce Holsinger
American Apocalypse
Kurt Schlichter
Wind and Truth
Brandon Sanderson
The Favorites
Layne Fargo

Bill Gates (Gates Notes) — Bill Gates: Five Books to Read This Winter (2025)

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Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt