Best Adult Books of 2026 (so far)
Summer is a great time to get lost in a book (or two) and escape to other worlds. I’ve made a list to highlight some of this year’s best books. Whether you’re looking for a beachy read, engaging nonfiction, a fascinating memoir or anything in between, we’ve got you covered.
Are you looking for personalized recommendations from our librarians? Let us help you find your next great read! Tell us what you’re in the mood for, and we’ll do the rest.
The Paris Match
Author: Kate Clayborn
Genre: Contemporary romance
Call Number: ROMANCE CLAYBORN
Find a copy of The Paris Match
Summary: Physician Layla Bailey has spent over a year telling herself she’s moved on from a painful but amicable divorce from her college sweetheart. Staying friends with her ex seemed like the mature thing to do. However, when Layla is invited to her former sister-in-law’s destination wedding in Paris—where Layla once spent her own honeymoon—she knows her commitment to maturity might be her worst enemy, especially since her ex isn’t attending alone. When what Layla thought would be a harmless conversation about her past choices leads the bride to get cold feet, Layla finds herself facing down the groom’s mysterious, taciturn best man, Griffin, who will do anything to make sure this wedding happens.
Vigil
Author: George Saunders
Genres: Literary fiction, magical realism and fantasy
Call Number: FICTION SAUNDERS
Summary: With the wisdom, playfulness and explosive imagination, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time—the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress—and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution. The novel follows a spirit guide who must usher an unrepentant oil CEO into the afterlife while supernatural visitors demand a reckoning for his corporate greed.
You’ve Changed: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation
Author: Benoit Denizet-Lewis
Genre: Self-help
Call Number: 158.1 DEN
Summary: A timely, provocative and deeply moving exploration of personal transformation in a period of roiling uncertainty. You’ve Changed investigates how we remake ourselves—and how identity, belief and belonging shift in a world that won’t stop repeating the same.
Mother Tongue
Author: Sara Novic
Genre: Memoir
Call Number: B NOVIC
Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of True Biz retraces her path out of the hearing world and into the deaf community—and seeks to understand what it means to raise children who are different from her—in this emotionally rich memoir.
Kin
Author: Tayari Jones
Genre: Historical fiction
Call Number: FICTION JONES
Summary: Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood, but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at eighteen for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and discovers a whole new world. Annie, abandoned by her mother as a child and fixated on finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, culminating in a battle for her life.
Even More Recommendations
