A very special splainer reading challenge
Editor’s note: For the first Advisory edition of the year—like every year—our former book editor Anushree Kaushal is back with the immensely popular splainer reading challenge for 2026. She has drawn up a diverse list of fiction and nonfiction titles for every mood—jump right in to explore.
You can reach out to Anushree at kaushalanushree@gmail.com to share notes or just to say hi!
Written by: Anushree Kaushal
*****
Hello old friends,
It is time to read and feel alive again.
Even though the year past has felt like a wretched test, let’s not forget the bright sparks that defined 2025. Global poverty fell, life expectancy doubled, medical breakthroughs accelerated, and there were books: fantastic, original, bold, diverse, inspiring, incomparable books that uplifted us in times of despair, weathered storms with us, and kept us company in moments of joy and sorrow. I had an amazing reading year; I read books that spoke to me in the moment. I encountered new heroes and villains, adventured with detectives and astronauts, dreamt of dishes made in Rome and Krakow, fought djinns and befriended scientists. Once again, my love for stories was restored anew, and I’m thrilled to start the new year reading.
Below is my reading challenge for you for the year 2026, and I hope it will help you read more intentionally and closely. The prompts are ideas that have stayed with me and represent part of my own reading plans. I hope they serve you if you’re ever stuck trying to decide what to read next. Against each prompt are books that I have either read myself or that are on my immediate TBR. They span genres and ideas, but mostly, I find that they represent real people. I hope at least a few of them strike your fancy and you choose them as your next read.
I wish you the most interesting reading year ahead, and I hope you will write to me to share your bookish adventures as the months progress.
Happy new year!
Anushree
A rediscovered classic that’s actually fun to read
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Imagine it’s the early 20th century, and your familial circumstances have left you a spinster. As you slowly grow past the age of marriage, what choice do you have but to become a witch?
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
A brilliant, miserable queer graduate student is determined to sabotage the wedding of her identical twin in this tragicomic novella from 1962.
New thrillers with a twist
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
A fantastic premise—a young woman has seven days before she dies, after she was viciously attacked. In that week, she is determined to find who killed her.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
A chilling premise—Lucy wakes up after a party to learn her best friend has been murdered. She can’t remember the previous night, but the blood on her dress makes everyone around her think she did it. Years later, a podcaster approaches her in an attempt to solve the murder. Lucy makes for a wry, witty narrator plagued by emotions that read truly genuine.
Book club pick
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A queer love story set in the 1980s around NASA’s first female astronauts. TJR has been on a winning streak since The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but this one, despite its popularity, has been polarising. We’re discussing this in my book club in January!
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Another book club pick of ours and a Booker contender, this chunkster of a novel brings Desai back to fiction after a nearly 20-year hiatus. The eponymous duo meet and part across years and continents in an epic tale of love, family, tradition, and modernity.
When you need a warm hug
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, starting with All Systems Red
The name may suggest otherwise, but this sci-fi series starring a security unit who has hacked its governor module to become sentient is the all-too-relatable tale of self-discovery, loyalty, and found family, with a healthy dose of murder, mystery, and mayhem thrown in.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
A sweet, tender epistolary novel about an inveterate letter-writing septuagenarian who receives a letter one day that changes her life forever.
Nonfiction that captures the moment
This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev
Information has been weaponised, and truth is under attack. Ukrainian-born Pomerantsev, a journalist and author, examines the disinformation age as it’s shaping contemporary politics and society through reportage and family history.
Cloud Warriors: Deadly Storms, Climate Chaos―and the Pioneers Creating a Revolution in Weather Forecasting by Thomas E Weber
As climate change worsens, the weather becomes more unpredictable. This deeply-researched account reports on how meteorologists, scientists, and officials track and prepare for major weather events, and how the world can understand weather phenomena better.
Easy nonfiction for if you want to be “disgustingly well-read”
Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
Surprisingly, YA author John Green is one of the most visible champions of tuberculosis treatment and eradication in the world. The earnest, well-researched story of Henry, a young TB patient in Sierra Leone sits at the heart of this history of tuberculosis and the way the disease has impacted and shaped contemporary society.
Feminist City: A Field Guide by Leslie Kern
The city, as it stands, is designed for men, with little consideration for the needs of women as individuals, mothers, and carers. Kern, a professor of geography, gender studies, and the lived environment, exposes the hidden inequalities built into our streets, buildings, and neighbourhoods, and offers an alternative vision for what a city built with women in mind can look like.
Shocking and awe-inspiring memoirs
Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams
In my favourite memoir of the year, Wynn-Williams, former director of public policy at Facebook, pulls back the curtains to reveal the shocking practices of her former employers, in an examination of unchecked power, unstoppable ambitions, and a truly murky work culture.
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Roy untangles her complicated relationship with her mother—the woman who shaped her—in this moving memoir. It also has my favourite book title of the year.
Food, history, and the world
Around the Table: 52 Essays on Food and Life by Diana Henry
An essay a week on the joys of good food, from an author that brings the whole world to the table.
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica B Harris
Acclaimed cookbook author Harris tells the delectable story of the evolution of African American cuisine, from Africa across the Atlantic to America, in this deeply researched history.
Funny, irreverent, so-damn-good coming of age
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
How do I describe this book? According to the publisher, it’s “a brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three.” Sure, that works, but I urge you to pick this up and take this incredible journey yourself.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
With romantic disasters and friendships galore, this book is a sharply funny examination of a young man’s heartbreak and his quest to understand the “why” of his breakup.
Historical fiction to break your heart
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Perry’s The Essex Serpent was my favourite book two years ago, and while her Booker-longlisted latest doesn’t have the same heft, it’s still an exquisite tale of an unconventional friendship across the years, deeply intertwined with themes of astronomy and love in all shades.
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
In 1963, former nuclear specialist Valery Kolkhanov is plucked from a Siberian gulag and sent to City 40, where he is asked to study the effect of radiation on local animals. His work soon leads to more questions than answers, and the gentle, thoughtful, and upstanding Valery must reckon with his circumstances in order to do what’s right.
Melancholic detectives
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
Brooding detective Aaron Falk must investigate the disappearance of a woman from an office retreat in the unforgiving Australian bushlands. P.S. For those who like their detectives handsome, the very good looking Eric Bana plays Falk in the movie adaptation.
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
Cynical about everything except his profession, brilliant and sensitive chief homicide inspector Arkady Renko must solve a triple murder in Cold War-Moscow, locking horns with the KGB and harbouring complicated feelings towards a dissident.
Fantastical and otherworldly
A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark
In an alternate Cairo, a mysterious death caused by an unknown power plummets queer detective Fatma el-Sha’arawi from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities into a dangerous magical case that may be more than she bargained for.
The Astral Library by Kate Quinn
In this fantastical adventure, books are doorways to new worlds, new lives, and new futures, and orphaned Alix Watson takes refuge in her favourite books—until a shadow enemy threatens to destroy everything that the Astral Library has worked for.
The short story form with a twist
Midnight Timetable: A Novel in Ghost Stories by Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur)
Set in a mysterious research centre that houses cursed objects, this novel-in-ghost-stories follows a night shift employee who soon learns of the horrors that exist in the Institute.
The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Rushdie’s first piece of fiction since his nonfiction about his attempted murder, the quintet draws from the author’s life and explores his past while firmly establishing the new person he has become since his attack. In his signature style, as the promotional materials describe, Rushdie “strikes into the heart of our fractious times”.
The vampire renaissance continues
Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson
In the winter of 1975, Duane Minor is fighting to get his life back together after the Vietnam War, only to have his plans disrupted by a vampire. Driven by grief and burning for vengeance, Minor sets out in a frenzied pursuit of the vampire.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab
Spanning three timelines, Schwab’s moving tale of hunger, immortality, and three unique women defies genre in what is a unique take on the vampire story.
In discovery of a new place
Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent
In this love letter to Iceland, Kent, the award-winning author of Burial Rites, recounts her first brush with the country and its distinctive contribution to a revered guild of storytellers that are read across the world.
A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle by Raja Shehadeh
Award-winning writer Shehadeh traces the footsteps of his great uncle Najib Nassar, an Ottoman journalist, and through him, discovers an untold history of Palestine and the disputed Jordan Rift Valley.
Quiet and contemplative
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
In my opinion the deserving winner of the 2025 Booker Prize, this soft, short novel about a shanker suddenly woken to his dream of becoming a folk musician is the perfect read for a quiet winter evening.
A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts by Nigel Slater
Slater, a British food writer, journalist, and broadcaster, is the chronicler of small things. For years, he has recorded “curiosities and wonderings” at kitchen tables around the world, and now, they’re here for us to enjoy and savour.
The world is a melting pot
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cora Zeng’s sister was pushed in front of a train in front of her eyes—a hate crime that ended with the murderer yelling “bat eater”. Cora’s ensuing grief culminates in horrific ways as she continues her job as a crime scene cleaner.
The Family Recipe by Carolyn Huynh
The blurb from the publisher says it best—”a stunning family dramedy about estranged siblings competing to inherit their father’s Vietnamese sandwich franchise and unravel family mysteries.” Food and family, the ultimate combination.
Simply horrific
Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield
A young woman takes up the graveyard shift harvesting sugar beets to pay the bills, only to notice eerie occurrences around the farm and the gradual disappearance of her colleagues. The beets themselves have never looked so good, though…
When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
A woman and a young boy find themselves on the run from the boy’s deranged father, only to be confronted by their most twisted fears.
The social and the anthropological
You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney
There is a lot to be said in favour of gossip, and McKinney handles that deftly in this sociological examination of everyday storytelling.
Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children by Mac Barnett
An intimate look at how we interact with children’s literature and the importance of storytelling and literacy among children in a world ravaged by despair and disinformation.
The ocean—and undersea cables—are calling me
Twist by Colum McCann
In this novel, an Irish journalist is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. As he learns more about what it takes to maintain the digital world in which all mankind exists, he is confronted with questions of truth and human connection.
The Web Beneath the Waves:The Fragile Cables that Connect our World by Samanth Subramanian
The acclaimed journalist travels across remote Pacific islands to understand the highly secretive cable-laying operations that ensure the world doesn’t go offline. He chronicles the “geopolitical tensions, corporate power grabs, environmental risks, and quiet heroics involved” in maintaining this critical undersea infrastructure.
A moment in time
The Death of Stalin by Sheila Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick is the undisputed doyenne of Soviet history, and in this compact book, she unpacks the tremors that went through Soviet society upon Stalin’s death. At once an examination of the Cold War and a reflection of the present, it’s a revelatory and exciting read.
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
The bestselling, prize-winning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain is back, this time with the story of a 19-year-old’s inexplicable decision to jump to his death, the devastation that caused to his family, and the shocking revelations that came to life soon after.
Sibling, sibling
The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
Two women thrown unexpectedly into sisterhood navigate ambition, sacrifice, academic perfection, betrayal, and estrangement in this sharp, emotional debut set in Singapore.
Dust Settles North by Deena ElGenaidi
In 2012 Egypt, two siblings arrive from America to bury their mother and are faced with secrets, a challenge to their beliefs, betrayal, and the high emotions—personal and political—of the Arab Spring.
Women, revealed
What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan
Palestinian-American Mia, a fact-checker by day and a standup comic by night, takes big, bold risks that may have unwelcome consequences for her conservative family.
The Bombshell by Darrow Farr
A politician’s daughter vacationing in the Mediterranean is kidnapped by militants fighting for Corsican independence and soon finds their political philosophy taking root in herself.
Heart aflutter <3
The Shippers by Katherine Center
A destination wedding! On a cruise ship! A super cute childhood-friends-to-lovers romance! Yay!
Missed Connections by Tia Williams
I have faith in Williams’ distinct take on traditional romance, and this one—about a woman searching for her handsome seatmate on a European flight—sounds like it’ll be another triumph for her.
*****
Anushree Kaushal is an editor, writer, and researcher.
souk picks