The BBC's Best Books of 2026 (So Far)

[00:00:04]Hello and welcome to Supposedly Fun. My name is Greg. I'm here today to look at the BBC's list of the 10 best books of 2026. So far, if you know me, you know I love a best of list, and we're at the or approaching the midpoint of the year.

[00:00:20]I've already covered the New York Times and their list of the best books of the year so far. I'll have a link to that video down below if you haven't seen it yet. Now, we're going to dive into what the BBC says. Now, I'll have links to all of the books down below as well.

[00:00:34]Those will take you to bookshop.org. If you want more information about the book, you can go there, but you can also purchase the book there. And uh that would give me a little bit of a kickback if I help inspire some interest in you in that book. Otherwise, support your local independent bookstore and support your local library. You can look for these books there. Every single book on the list is available in the United States. So, that's good news cuz sometimes there's like an outlier that you might have to order from overseas.

[00:01:00]Everything is available in the United States. Let's get going. All of these books happen to be fiction, which is fun for me because I mostly read fiction.

[00:01:10]So, it just kind of leans into the area that I am most interested pretty naturally. And let's get going. I have peaked at what's on the list obviously since I know that they're all available in the United States. There are two books that I'm unfamiliar with. So, the description that they have will be the first that I am finding out about these books. I love to use these as tools of discovery. Obviously, there is at least one book on this list. Actually, there are two on this list that I have read and there are a couple of others that I'm already interested in. The books you're interested in might be different from the ones that I'm interested in.

[00:01:49]that is totally fine. And I'm not trying to review books that I haven't read. I'm just gauging my interest in them. Okay, with all that said, let's get going and start in on this list. The first book on the BBC's Best Books of 2026 so far is Yester Year by Carol Claire Burke. A bit of a controversial book. People have very like lovehate reactions to this book. This is one of the ones that I have read. I listened to it on audio and personally I enjoyed it. I thought it was a wild ride and it was just absolutely fascinating. I did talk a lot more about it in a weekly wrap-up. I will link the weekly wrap-up where I go at length about my opinion of the book down below if you want more of that. In the meantime, here is what they say about yestery year by Carol Claire Burke.

[00:02:48]Daring, deranged, cleverly written is how Vogue describes the buzzy debut by Carol Claire Burke. In this satirical thriller, Tradife influencer Natalie inexplicably wakes up in the year 1855 in a crumbling homestead. The harsh reality of rural existence in the 19th century soon becomes clear. Yesterday year says the LA Times offers a bitingly funny and occasionally heartbreaking twist on the classic Instagram versus reality story. Natalie is a quote deliciously unlikable protagonist who is objectively off-putting which makes her bitingly human end quote. The novel is due to be adapted for film with Anne Hathaway producing and starring.

[00:03:33]And by the way, they announced that Anne Hathaway was gonna star in a film adaptation after I had just started the book, and that is perfect casting. I think she is going to be incredible in an adaptation of this book. I think part of the uh sort of cilantro, love it or hate it, reaction to this book is that Natalie is inherently unlikable, but you are not supposed to like her. And the book is pretty damning of her, but it's also damning of other aspects of the culture. And that is one of the things that I find really interesting about it.

[00:04:16]like my one of my sisters actually just finished this book and we had a very interesting conversation about the trajectory of Natalie and the trajectory of a woman that she knew from college and how playing the game in one way and playing the game in another and where you end up in in relation to each other.

[00:04:38]It's just a really interesting book to talk about. I think this would be a fantastic book for book clubs. It's really great if you know somebody else who can you can rant about and talk about all the different aspects of it.

[00:04:49]And that is why I think it is a good book. And the fact that it was also on the New York Times list makes me think that this is something that is going to keep popping up. Uh potentially when we get into book prize lists like the National Book Award, I don't know about the Booker, but National Book Award feels like a place that could lean into yestery year. And when we get into actual endofear lists, it's just a wild ride. And I I have quibbles with it.

[00:05:17]Again, check out the video where I talk about it a little bit more at length because I get into that. And I will just sort of tease you with one of them, which is that there are two plot lines.

[00:05:26]There's one uh in the present where uh Natalie is you get to know about her life and how it all works. And then in sort of alternating chapters, there's the part in the past. And the part in the past is really what hooks people into the book. This idea that she is suddenly in 1855. And to me, that was actually the least interesting part of the book. But I found it so interesting that I would still like recommend this book. Of course, depending on your tolerance for unlikable characters and all of that sort of thing, but right away this I can co-sign this book. I enjoyed this book. I think it's a really great book to talk about. I think it's cleverly done. There are aspects where you can tell it's a debut, but I think by and large it's a good book and it's a fun book to talk about with other people. The next book on the list is Transcription by Ben Learner. This is a tiny little book. I have not read it yet. I do have access to it on audio and I am hoping to catch up to it once we're on the other side of Pride Month because the audio is very short. I mean the book itself is really short. I have not read a Ben Learner book before. He is a Pulit surprise finalist for the Topeka school.

[00:06:44]So at some point I should go back and read that one, but I think transcription is probably where I'm going to start with him. Here is their description. In transcription, an unnamed middle-aged writer travels from New York to Providence, Rhode Island to interview Thomas, a 90-year-old former mentor and revered writer and filmmaker. The stakes are high. Thomas's recent bout of COVID means this interview could be his last, and the writer breaks his phone just before the interview, rendering him unable to record the esteemed artist's words. What follows is a reflection on technology, storytelling, and memory that The Guardian says is intricate, uncanny, sometimes breathtakingly realistic, while The New Yorker writes, "Nothing in this exquisite shape-shifting novel is what it seems.

[00:07:30]Words least of all." And given the stature of Ben Lerner and the reaction to this book, I think this is another one that we're going to be seeing a lot of as we head into the second half of 2026 uh in book prize lists and in ultimate best of the year lists potentially even heading into Pulitzer Prize predictions. He's already been a finalist before and it'll be interesting to see if this one has the legs to take him back there and we'll see about that ultimately. But I haven't read it yet.

[00:08:04]I'd love to hear what you thought of it if you have read it. That takes us to one of the books that I am unfamiliar with. So this description of the book is going to be my first experience of what this book is about. So, it's Look What You Made Me Do by John Lchester. And just a note, I am using the US versions of the book covers instead of the UK ones in even though BBC is obviously a UK entity just because if you are in the United States like I am, this is the version that will be available to you.

[00:08:41]Anyway, here is the description of this book. Gleefully nasty is how The Times describes John Lchester's widely acclaimed fifth novel, a black comedy of betrayal, revenge, resentment, and entitlement. At its center are affluent boomer Kate and younger screenwriter Phoebe. A rivalry between them begins when Kate recognizes intimate secrets from her 30-year marriage in a hit TV series. The novel seethes with female animosity and vengeance, says the literary review. skewed scenarios and retaliatory strategys are craftily deployed in a novel that's a kaleidoscope of tilting perspectives.

[00:09:20]End quote. Look what you made me do, it concludes, is a gleamingly accomplished black comedy. That does sound immediately interesting to me. I don't know that it was is something that I would prioritize. I obviously since I haven't read it, I can't attempt to gauge whether or not it'll be showing up in more conversations as we head into the latter part of 2026.

[00:09:49]So, I think what I'm going to do here is I'm going to I I might check out other reviews and maybe see if Kirkus has reviewed this book or anything like that. But if you have read Look What You Made Me Do by John Lchester, I would love to hear what you think of this book and uh let people know in the comment section. I love turning the comment section of videos like this into another resource. So, if there are books that you really love that are not on this list, recommend them down below. And if you have feedback about the books that you have read, please leave it down below as well. Uh, it just helps people make informed decisions about what they want to read. Helps me make infor informed decisions about what I want to read. So, I'm potentially interested in Look What You Made Me Do. I don't know that I'm going to commit to it just now.

[00:10:33]All right, then we get to The Keeper by Tana French. I believe this was also on the New York Times because I was sort of asking, is this a good starting point?

[00:10:40]It's not. It's an installment in a series, so I should really go back and read the first one if I were going to do that. Um, here's what they say about it.

[00:10:50]French is a best-selling author described by the New York Times as one of the most consistently exciting mystery writers around. The Keeper is the final installment in a trilogy that stars retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper, who becomes imshed in the intrigue of the fictional Irish village of Ardelty.

[00:11:07]As the body of a young woman is found in a river, Hooper is drawn into investigating the case. Amid the town's bitter feuds and long-standing grudges, he grapples with the future of this rural community. Dense, compelling, and superbly atmospheric, says the Guardian.

[00:11:23]Now, I haven't read Tana French. feel like if I were going to read one of her books, I might start with uh In the Woods, but there were a lot of people who have enjoyed this trilogy and say starting with the first book might be a good way to go. So, if you're a Tana of French reader, let me and let other people know. Is this something that they is this series something they should jump into or is there a different starting point? The next book is Departure Z by Julian Barnes. Julian Barnes is um a known author. I have read I think two books by him. This book came out in January, at least in the United States, and I never heard any feedback about it. I haven't run into anybody who has read it or recommended it to me. So, it is a little interesting. I mean, if it's going to show up on a best of the year so far list, I'm not surprised that it's the BBC given that Julian Barnes is a UK author, uh if I'm remembering correctly. Here's what they say about this book. Blending memoir and fiction to explore memory, aging, and love.

[00:12:27]Julian Barnes's self-declared swan song, Departures is brief and with only a sketchy plot. One of the books threads is a romance between the narrator's friends Steven and Jean, who were in love in their university days, then reconnected again in old age. The narrator, meanwhile, reflects on memory, aging, and love. Departures is a validtory flourish, says The Atlantic.

[00:12:51]The whole package is a culmination of sorts. Shimmering with his silky ariodite pros. Beneath the suave surface is an earnest investigation into the mysterious ways of the human heart. And it will be interesting to see if this starts showing up on more lists as we head into the second half of the year.

[00:13:09]Uh, you know, Julian Barnes is a UK author. It'll be interesting to see if it ends up on the long list for the booker prize, anything like that. Um, I am not feeling committed to reading this one myself, unless it does start showing up on more and more lists, but if you've read it, I would really love to hear what you thought of it. Okay, that takes us to questions 27 and 28 by Karen Tay Yamashida. And this is another one. I think there are actually three books that I was unfamiliar with because this is another one that I don't know anything about. So, let's have my first experience of the plot of questions 27 and 28. Yamashida's first novel in 16 years centers on a dark period of US history, the internment of Japanese immigrants during World War II. Under the order of President Franklin D.

[00:14:01]Roosevelt, hundreds of thousands of people were taken from their homes on the West Coast and put in camps throughout the US. Questions 27 and 28 were part of a questionnaire prisoners were given to assess their loyalty.

[00:14:13]Yamashita's historical novel, which blends real and fictional events with composite characters, examines the period and the ensuing internal battles that arose around the loyalty test.

[00:14:24]Yamashita is at her best when she zooms out and meditates on the greater stakes of these scattered lives, writes Huasu in the New Yorker. We feel the weight of the past, all these accumulated voices and perspectives within and between Yamashida's novels as well as the process through which disperate stories, anecdotes or experiences might coalesce as history. And I'm immediately interested in this. I am similarly wondering if it's something that I would commit to reading soon or wait and see if I get to it. So, this is another one where if you have read it, I would love to hear what you thought. But I am going to probably look for other reviews again, see if Kirkus has reviewed this book and get a little bit more feedback, but it sounds like something that would be really fascinating to read about that is a dark period of US history, and I'm potentially interested in that one. The next book I haven't read, but it is the only book on the list that I actually have a copy of. It's This is Where the Serpent Lives by Danielle Munadine.

[00:15:27]I have an advanced reader copy of this book. He is another person who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the past. So, I'm sort of also kind of thinking about this as I'm already thinking about what could be Pulitzer contenders for next year. That's just the way I operate.

[00:15:45]Here's what they say about this book, which was also on the New York Times best of the year so far. By the way, having been a Pulitzer finalist back in 2010 for short story collection in Other Rooms, Other Wonders, Danielle Munedine now returns with a highly acclaimed novel exploring how power, class, and the legacy of feudalism shape live shape lives in modern Pakistan. The novel follows overlapping narratives of the landowners and staff of a familyrun farm. This is where the serpent lives is sensitive and powerful, says the New York Times. Munedine makes the reader care about the romantic relationships and the pages turn themselves. It is a serious book that you'll be hearing about again later in the year when the short lists for the big literary prizes are announced. And there you go right there. So, this is definitely a book that I want to catch. It's something I was obviously interested in right away.

[00:16:36]It came out in January and I haven't gotten to it yet, but the fact that it was on the New York Times list and now the BBC list and that they're saying that it will be popping up later in the year or predicting that rather, uh, this is definitely something that I would like to catch up to in the second half of 2026.

[00:16:52]And we'll have to wait and see if it does start to show up on prize long lists or short lists and more best of list. I think the fact that it's been on two best of lists so far is a pretty good indicator that this is a title people are going to continue to be talking about.

[00:17:09]All right, that takes us to Kin by Tayari Jones. Announcing Kin as one of her book club picks, Oprah Winfrey described Tayari Jones's fifth novel as a masterpiece that contemplates the meaning and complications of friendship.

[00:17:26]Motherless since they were infants, Venice, I'm sorry, Verice and Annie are cradle friends who come of age in Honeysuckle, Louisiana in the 1950s US.

[00:17:35]As they grow, the friends drift apart.

[00:17:37]One goes down the path of college and relationships, the other in pursuit of the mother who abandoned her. A lush, beautiful novel, writes Readika Jones in the New York Times. When reading Kin, I wanted nothing more than to keep reading it. I've heard a lot of really good things about this book. I have been hesitant because I heard a lot of really good things about Tauri Jones's previous novel, An American Marriage, which I did not enjoy. I'm a minority opinion on that book, I know, but I did not particularly enjoy it. So, it kind of feels like history repeating potentially where a lot of people are enjoying Kin and I'm worried that if I read it, I'm also going to be underwhelmed. Uh, and so we'll have to see because the recommendations that I have been getting are good enough that I feel confident that this is a book that people are going to continue talking about in a major way in the latter part of 2026 and that maybe I should try to experience for myself. And sometimes, you know, you don't like a book by a writer, but it turns out you do like their other work.

[00:18:37]That happened to me with Anne Patchet.

[00:18:39]The first book of hers that I read was Run, which I did not like. And subsequently, I have become a huge fan of Anne Patchet. Maybe that will be the case with Tyari Jones. We'll see. Then we have The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Stout. I read this book. I loved it. I listened to it on audio. I think it is fantastic. Here's what they say about it. Pulitzerinning author Elizabeth Stout is known for her series of novels featuring iconic characters Olive Karidge and Lucy Barton and her deaf portrayals of small town life in all its fraught familial complexity. The Things We Never Say is a standalone novel about Arty Dam, a high school history teacher who is navigating loneliness and a changing world as he confronts a lifealtering secret. There is so much here to explore, so many endless human mysteries, says The Guardian. Let's hope that this fine author continues steadily along her path, delivering unto her loyal readers story upon story, gift upon gift. I think one thing about Elizabeth Stout is that she creeps up on you. I will admit in the beginning like the first 100 pages or hour of the audio or so I was thinking this is a good book it's fine.

[00:19:50]I didn't think it was going to last or like stay with me in any way. But as you build to the conclusion it resonates so powerfully with you that I I definitely teared up a bit by the time I got to the end or at least parts of the ending. It's it's a very powerful and resonant book and it completely creeps up on you and I would highly recommend it. I this is another one that I talk about at length in a weekly wrap-up. So, I will link the weekly wrap-up where I talk about it in the description box. You can go there if you want more. All right, our final book on the BBC's 10 best of the year so far is another one that I was unfamiliar with.

[00:20:28]The Palm House by Gwendalyn Riley. In the US, it's published by the New York Review of Books. And again, that is the cover that I am going with here in this video. So, let's find out what this is about, cuz I have no idea. Full of pathos and humor, according to the Times, The Palm House centers on a pair of spiky middle-aged colleagues, Laura Miller, a writer and the novel's narrator, and Edmund Putnham, an older editor who is leaving his job at a highbrow literary magazine. The Friends conversations in London pubs over drinks and shared packets of crisps are interspersed with often heartbreaking recollections about their pasts. Critics have praised the novel's dialogue, which Riley writes, "The LRB, wields like a Swiss Army knife, now corkcrewed, now serrated, but always coming to a short, sharp point."

[00:21:19]That does sound really interesting.

[00:21:22]I don't know that it's something that I would run out and try to read in like July, as soon as I'm on the other side of Pride Month. I have a lot of other priorities that I would like to get to, but it sounds really interesting to me.

[00:21:34]So again, if you have read The Palm House by Gwendelyn Riley, I'd love to hear what you thought of it and if you think it is something that is worth prioritizing and trying to get to soon or, you know, maybe save it down the road. I do think it would be worth me looking up to see if like Kirkus or somebody else has a a review of it that I can check out just to get more information about it, but I feel like I'm kind of inclined to focus on the priorities that I have already set rather than add this to that list. So, that is the BBC's 10 books of 10 best books of 2026 so far. Again, I'd love to hear what you think of this list. If there's something that's not on the list that you think should be there, and if you have recommendations based on all of this, feedback about the ones that you have read, let me and everybody else know in the comment section down below.

[00:22:24]As always, I really appreciate your time, and I will be back. Until next time, happy reading.