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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsLooking for your next great read? These 20 books were chosen by Los Angeles Times contributors as titles they are excited about in 2026—not ranked or scored as a contest. The list moves from noir and suspense to short stories, poetry, essays and memoir, with recurring interests in friendship, family, identity, borders, faith and hope.
The publication dates below are those reported by the Los Angeles Times on January 30, 2026. They are not independently confirmed here against current publisher catalogues, so check a bookseller or publisher for the latest availability.
Literary and historical fiction about family, place and belonging
These novels take up relationships and the forces that shape a life: family history, faith, identity and the meanings attached to home.
Tangerinn by Emanuela Anechoum
Marked “Out now” in the January 30 list, Anechoum’s debut, translated from Italian, follows a woman who returns to the Calabrian coast to help run her father’s bar. The return prompts questions about belonging and the ties that pull someone back to a place.
Salvation by C. William Langsfeld
Scheduled for February 3 from Counterpoint Press, this debut novel is set on Colorado’s Western Slope. A Lutheran pastor faces a crisis of faith while a young fugitive enters the story.
Clutch by Emily Nemens
Due February 3 from Tin House, the novel brings five college friends together in Palm Springs. Their reunion tests a friendship shaped by years of different private struggles and changing lives.
Kin by Tayari Jones
Knopf’s February 24 novel follows two motherless young women from Louisiana along diverging paths: one goes to Spelman College, while the other searches for her mother. The story places questions of family and the lives women make for themselves at its center.
No Way Home by T.C. Boyle
Scheduled for April 21 from Liveright Publishing, this novel connects an L.A. hospital with a Nevada town through a love triangle. Its protagonist is coping with his mother’s death and navigating a relationship that may prove treacherous.
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Coming May 5 from Grove Press, Stuart’s novel is set on Scotland’s Isle of Harris. Cal, a gay man, returns to a family home marked by emotional difficulty and pushes back against his father’s control.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
Knopf’s June 2 novel begins in Ireland in the late nineteenth century. Mapping, family history and myth converge with the land itself as a central presence.
Suspense, noir and stories with stranger edges
For readers drawn to danger, dark humor or the unsettling oddities of ordinary life, these selections offer distinct kinds of tension.
Warning Signs by Tracy Sierra
Viking/Pamela Dorman Books listed this suspense novel for February 10. A boy on a father-son ski trip in the Colorado Rockies faces escalating danger as disappearances, violence and an avalanche close in.
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The Dial Press scheduled Samek’s debut story collection for February 24. Absurdist situations, dark humor and contemporary social commentary shape its stories.
Day Care by Nora Lange
Due April 7 from Two Dollar Radio, this short-fiction collection explores family dynamics and the strangeness of contemporary life through surrealism and shifting timelines.
A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper
Mulholland Books listed this neo-noir for April 28. Three compromised Los Angeles insiders investigate connected crimes and a conspiracy, bringing the city’s power structures into the case.
American Spirits by Anna Dorn
Scheduled for April 14 by Simon & Schuster, Dorn’s novel isolates a pop star and her fan-turned-assistant together during the pandemic. Fame, fandom and pop music frame their relationship.
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Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee
St. Martin’s Press listed Lee’s novel for July 7. The Los Angeles Times contributor anticipated a sexy, socially observant story and described Lee’s previous work as difficult to pin to a single genre; the article offered little plot detail, so readers have less to go on about this title’s premise.
Books that look directly at history, power and public life
Several selections engage with race, borders, social inequality and the way history shapes the present. Their forms differ, from historical fiction to personal nonfiction.
Now I Surrender by Álvaro Enrigue
Riverhead Books scheduled this translated historical novel for March 3. It reimagines the American West and the Mexican-American border through an Apache raid and the perspectives of competing armies.
Backtalker: An American Memoir by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
Coming May 5 from Simon & Schuster, Crenshaw’s memoir recounts formative experiences in the life of the scholar known for her work on intersectionality and critical race theory.
Best Value
Triage by Claudia Rankine
Graywolf Press listed this book for August 4. It blends fiction with other forms while examining hardships in Gaza, extending concerns with race and privilege associated with Rankine’s earlier writing.
Girlhood, Translated by Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell
Penguin scheduled this book for September 8. It explores teenage girls’ inner lives and questions how “therapy-speak” can oversimplify distress.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Essays, poetry and books of ideas
These works turn from conventional plot toward reflection, language and the possibility of change.
The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on the End of the World by Rebecca Solnit
Haymarket Books listed Solnit’s book for March 3 as a sequel to Hope in the Dark. It extends her argument for collective possibility and social change.
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The Complete Works of Ricardo Reis by Fernando Pessoa
New Directions scheduled this bilingual edition for April 21 as part of its Pessoa series. It focuses on Ricardo Reis, one of the author’s invented authorial personae.
On Witness and Respair: Essays by Jesmyn Ward
Due May 19 from Scribner, Ward’s collection brings together essays, speeches and creative nonfiction. Its title pairs witness with “respair,” a word the Los Angeles Times article describes as fresh hope after despair.
How to choose your next read
- For suspense: Try Warning Signs for a perilous mountain trip or A Violent Masterpiece for neo-noir and a conspiracy in Los Angeles.
- For friendship and family: Consider Clutch, Kin, John of John or Land, each approaching relationships and belonging from a different angle.
- For short fiction: Choose between the absurdist, socially observant stories of I Am the Ghost Here and the surreal family worlds of Day Care.
- For history and borders: Now I Surrender reimagines conflict in the American West; Land connects a nineteenth-century Irish setting with family history and myth.
- For nonfiction and ideas: Look to Backtalker for memoir, On Witness and Respair for essays and speeches, or Solnit’s book for reflections on collective possibility.
The selections reflect contributors’ personal anticipation, not a shared rating system. Their variety is the point: a reader seeking an escape, a family story, historical perspective or a book of ideas can start in a different place.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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