Ashley's Favorite Reads of 2026 - Part 1

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@ashley_dicksonellison)

Here we are with our mid-year updates on favorite reads so far this year! I have to say that, especially compared to last year (which was generally a slow and rather cumbersome reading year for me), I am off to a fun and exciting start this year with lots of great, impactful, and well-loved books that I haven't been able to put down, so that has been amazing.

So far in 2026, I've really been following the leads on books that have been highly recommended to me (and ignoring a lot of other ways that I usually pick books), and that has been fun. At the beginning of the year, I put holds on Libby copies of a long list of those recs, and I've been reading them as my holds have come in. That's been a great way to keep my reading momentum going. It was hard to narrow it down for this post, which is a good sign for my reading in 2026!

Annie Hartnett's The Road to Tender Hearts (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

I read this because poet Kate Baer has recommended it many times, and Hartnett's compelling story and darkly comic situations are whimsical and fun despite the heavy content. We first meet Pancake, a mercurial and loving cat who can sense death approaching for the humans around him and who plays an important role in the development of relationships around him. The precipitating event is really dark but leads toward the unlikely pairing of 63-year-old PJ Halliday and two 9 and 10 year old siblings, Ollie and Luna Mecklin, who are the children of PJ's estranged brother. PJ's only living daughter, Sophie, gets sucked into the shenanigans when it becomes apparent that PJ needs help with the new situations he's encountering. This one centers on found family, the long arm of grief, our limitations as humans, and just how far we will go for each other despite our failings. (I shared about this one recently in my post about books for your beach bag.)

Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Phew, I'd been considering reading this one for ages, but I also knew it was devastating, so I had put it off. I'm so glad that I finally picked it up, and I do plan to watch the film adaptation as well. (Alone. With tissues.) This is the gorgeously-imagined story of Will Shakespeare's family, and although it focuses on his son Hamnet (whom many in the literary world will know died when he was 11, but whose reason of death historically is unknown), we get to know his wife Agnes, her family, his parents, and their children. This plot moves between a sweeping expanse of Agnes and Will's lives and a fixated focus on a pivotal moment when twins Judith and Hamnet become sick with the plague. It's the story of how far we'll go for those we love and of the moments that shape the entirety of our lives.

This is a great choice for our book to award-winning film adaptation category with the Unabridged Reading Challenge, and I know some of you have been reading it with us this spring. You can check out our book club discussion here.

Taylor Jenkins Reid's Atmosphere (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Wow, this phenomenal book will grab your attention and keep it. We meet astronaut Joan Goodwin as she becomes one of the first women scientists to become part of the NASA team. Joan quickly gets to know the other trainees who will become part of her future flight teams. As her life drastically and abruptly changes, some things remain constant, including the important role Frances, her young niece, plays in her life. The timeline alternates between a vivid depiction of a critical moment in a 1984 mission and then the backstory of everything in the years leading up to that moment in time. I could not get enough of this captivating story and the portrayal of Joan at its center.

John Schu's Louder Than Hunger (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

I absolutely loved this middle grade novel-in-verse, although I did find it heartbreaking. Though the story is fiction, Shu's commentary in his author's note indicates how much he relates to his fictional character, Jake, and how he shares a lot of his own struggles with disordered eating during his adolescence. I found so many messages to be so powerful in this work: progress with eating disorders is slow and can be very painful; repair is possible even when relationships are far from perfect; and positive change can happen even in the most difficult situations, just to name a few.

Clint Smith's How the Word Is Passed (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

This brilliant book is one I'll be thinking about for a long time to come. This narrative nonfiction account moves through nine key locations, exploring the history of slavery and its present-day impact on each location. Smith invites readers into what he learns about each of the locations he studies, and his reflections, interviews, and research show the complexity of exploring the US's history with slavery and also the ways that some people and some locations are working to reckon with that history while others are seeking to erase or even to glorify it. I loved the way that Smith moved through the geographic locations and the way he wove his own family history into the narrative. I found the work to be so moving and so important. I was behind on reading this one and am so glad I finally read it.

We hope you have read some books you've loved this year! We'd love to hear about your favorites from your reading so far.

#bookishfaves #unabridgedfavorites #unabridgedawards

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Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.

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