Explore The New Yorker‘s Best Books of 2026 so far, grow your nonfiction stacks with the NYT‘s summer picks, and find out why public libraries are addressing e-book pricing. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The New Yorker‘s Best Books of 2026 So Far
The publication we keep in stacks around our homes to let everyone know how smart we are has announced its list of the best books of the year, so far. The list compiles 2026 books recommended by The New Yorker editors and critics. It’s quite long and includes some buzzy titles like John of John by Douglas Stuart, Kin by Tayari Jones, London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, and Famesick by Lena Dunham, but also, as you might expect, some under the radar and indie reads. I’m happy to see two of my most anticipated books on the list: This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin, which also made the NYT best books so far, and The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, translated by Jordan Stump.
The New York Times Chooses Summer’s Best Nonfiction
And if you need more nonfiction to stack for summer reading, The New York Times has released a list of nonfiction’s summer It Girls. These are nonfiction books with June-August 2026 pub dates and include memoirs, guidebooks, and biographies. I have my eyes on a culinary memoir by an Indigenous chef (Our Knives Will Save Us by Nephi Craig), a linguistic history of a racial slur by the scholarly daughter of a comedy great (Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor), and a new Harry Belafonte biography (Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro).
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Public Libraries Address e-Book Pricing
Organizations representing a broad swath of public libraries in the U.S. and Canada signed a letter urging the Big Five publishers to improve e-book pricing models. Current costs have become unsustainable if not outright untenable, especially for smaller libraries, according to Association for Rural and Small Libraries executive director Kate Laughlin. The group argues that patrons, publishers, and libraries would benefit from open, solutions-driven conversation at a time when digital circulations usage is booming and audiobooks and e-books come with higher price tags than physical copies.
So You Want to Be Well-Read
If you’ve been putting that goal to read the classics on the back burner and need some motivation and assistance, we’ve got you covered. Find a list of classic and contemporary must-reads and a couple helpful guides to boot. Enjoy a sample and unlock the full list by subscribing to All Access.
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