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The 2026 Lariat Reading List is here!

The goal of the Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List is to highlight outstanding fiction that is “simply a pleasure to read.” To that end, a committee of librarians from the Texas Library Association annually selects 25-30 outstanding fiction titles.

2026 Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List 

  • Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books / Penguin Random House) *
  • Back After This: A Novel by Linda Holmes (Ballantine Books / Penguin Random House) *
  • The Blackbirds of St. Giles by Lila Cain (Dafina/ Kensington Publishing)
  • The Book of Lost Hours: A Novel by Hayley Gelfuso (Atria Books / Simon & Schuster)
  • Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall (Simon & Schuster) *
  • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (Tor Books / Macmillan)
  • The Correspondent: A Novel by Virginia Evans (Crown / Penguin Random House) *
  • Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau) *
  • The Dream Hotel: A Novel by Laila Lalami (Pantheon/ Penguin Random House)
  • The Favorites: A Novel by Layne Fargo (Random House / Penguin Random House)
  • Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley / Penguin Random House)
  • Hollow Out the Dark by James Wade (Blackstone Publishing)
  • The Human Scale: A Novel by Lawrence Wright (Knopf / Penguin Random House) *
  • I See You’ve Called In Dead by John Kenney (Zibby Media) *
  • Julie Chan Is Dead: A Novel by Liann Zhang (Atria / Simon & Schuster)
  • Make Your Way Home: Stories by Carrie R. Moore (Tin House / Zando Publishing)
  • The Names: A Novel by Florence Knapp (Pamela Dorman Books/ Simon & Schuster)
  • Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis (Hillman Grad / Zando Publishing)
  • The Once and Future Me: A Novel by Melissa Pace (Henry Holt & Co/ Macmillan)
  • Promise Me Sunshine: A Novel by Cara Bastone (Dial Press / Random House) *
  • The Road to Tender Hearts: A Novel by Annie Hartnett (Atria Brooks / Penguin Random House)
  • Salt Bones: A Novel by Jennifer Givhan (Mulholland Books / Hachette)
  • The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau: A Novel by Kristin Harmel (Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster)
  • This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (Sourcebooks Landmark / Sourcebooks)
  • What Kind of Paradise: A Novel by Janelle Brown (Random House / Penguin Random House)
  • When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (Tor Books / Macmillan)
  • The Whyte Python World Tour: A Novel by Travis Kennedy (Doubleday / Penguin Random House)*
  • Wild Dark Shore: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books / Macmillan) *
  • Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkley / Penguin Random House) *
  • You Deserve to Know by Aggie Blum Thompson (Forge Books / Macmillan)