The 16 books that made it onto the list of finalists for Barnes & Noble’s Best Book of the Year include six novels, seven nonfiction books, and three books for young readers.
Viral sensations, award-winning authors, and debuts are represented among the finalists, which historically tend toward commercially successful, buzzy, book club-friendly reads. BIPOC authors are far less represented on this list, touted as the books beloved by B&N booksellers.
The 2026 Barnes and Noble’s Best Book of the Year Finalists
- Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
- Whale Harbor: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane
- Partita: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
- Land: A Novel by Maggie O’Farrell
- The Calamity Club: A Novel by Kathryn Stockett
- Cool Machine: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden
- Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up by David Byrne
- This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark by Craig Fehrman
- The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris
- Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War’s Most Extraordinary Spy by Ben Macintyre
- Ottolenghi Simple Too: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
- This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri
- Is This a Plum? A Peek-Through Picture Book by Dan Ojari, Finn Ojari
- The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan by Jasmine Warga
Barnes & Noble earlier published their picks for the best books of 2026 in 17 categories. Their Book of the Year will be announced on November 12th.