2026 Book List

Well, look at us waking up in 2026 and making my end-of-year recap and 2026 book list posts back to back. Just like the good old days. Maybe this year I'll get back into some kind of blogging rhythm. 

(I wouldn't make any bets on that if I were you, but if we can't be optimistic at the beginning of a new year, when can we really?)

Listen you guys, I have like, my next four years of book lists mapped out. Ridiculous? Maybe, but I just have so many ideas for book lists and I can only put them into action one year at a time. This year's plan is to round up every book I ever put on a book list and make a new list out of all the ones I never got around to reading. Everything added up, that came out to twenty-one books, plus I added five more including the Shakespearean plays I want to read this year and, of course, a presidential biography. (Technically, the biography could be considered part of the round-up of books from past lists, but I'm not trying to put that kind of pressure on myself with the presidents. I know you probably don't care about this kind of nerdy minutiae or the inner workings of my mind, but this blog isn't just for you, okay? It's for me too.)

Anyways, when all is said and done, I have a starting list of twenty-six books for 2026, and you guys, I just realized it as I typed it out: 26 in '26! Truly a coincidence, but how serendipitous. 

Here's the stack:

Let's go through them one by one, shall we?

Walking with God Day by Day : Martyn Lloyd-Jones

President James Buchanan : Philip Shriver Klein

Merry Wives of Windsor : William Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus : William Shakespeare

A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears : Jules Feiffer

from my 2015 book list

When God Writes Your Life Story : Eric & Leslie Ludy

The Quiet Little Woman : Louisa May Alcott

The Red Badge of Courage : Stephen Crane

Adopted for Life : Russell Moore

from my 2019 book list

Crime and Punishment : Fyodor Dostoevsky

1984 : George Orwell

from my 2020 book list

The Age of Innocence : Edith Wharton

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking-Glass : Lewis Carroll

from my 2022 book list

Housekeeping : Marilynne Robinson

from my 2023 book list

The Case for a Creator : Lee Strobel

As I Lay Dying : William Faulkner

A Gentleman in Moscow : Amor Towles

Carry On, Jeeves : P.G. Wodehouse

The Chosen : Chaim Potok

The Starless Sea : Erin Morgenstern

A Red Herring Without Mustard : Alan Bradley

from my 2025 book list

Living Life Backward : David Gibson

Hannah Coulter : Wendell Berry

Brideshead Revisited : Evelyn Waugh

A Farewell to Arms : Ernest Hemingway

I'm really excited with how this list turned out, but it does feel a little daunting too. (Although can we all breathe a sigh of relief that David Copperfield didn't carry over into another new year?) With working full-time outside my home again, I've had to get really intentional with my reading time and there was definitely a period of adjustment with that, but I'm excited to tackle this list and finally check these books off my unread shelf. 

From our crazy hats to yours, here's to a very merry 2026. Let's read all the best books this year!

Are you optimistic about fresh resolutions at the beginning of a new year? Or is it just another day? Any books you're especially excited to get to this year? Would you like to read any from my list with me?