2026年の読書リストに追加する10冊

If you are the kind of person who makes a ‘to do’ list but for reading, then here are ten books to add to it. Published throughout next year, this roundup includes Deborah Levy’s latest work of fiction, centred on the life and influence of Gertrude Stein, and a forensic deep dive into the cult TV show Twin Peaks by entertainment journalist Scott Meslow. In What Am I, A Deer? Polly Barton renders a droll portrait of a skittish young woman in the clutches of limerence, while Ben Lerner’s new novel Transcription asks discomforting questions about society’s dependence on technology. From art history to sociology, 1940s wartime Italy to 90s Tokyo – there are places to go within these volumes and plenty to keep you turning pages in 2026. 

From 29 January

An embittered professor – reputation and marriage in tatters – views a beautiful, rural house: somewhere he can reconnect with nature and escape from the women who he believes ruined his life. The house, explains the realtor, was once home to the enigmatic, artistic Helen. Seduced by the sound of a woman who lived life so fearlessly on her own terms, the professor is keen to find out more, not least when it becomes clear that he could easily access some of Helen’s wisdom. The price he will pay, however, is more than he could ever imagine. Set out in acts, but very much written as prose, Helen of Nowhere is unlike any other fiction – unique in its blend of surrealism, philosophy and satire – while also raising questions about feminism, success, marriage and sacrifice. Every single sentence works hard and yet reads effortlessly. Brilliant. 

From 24 February

Hailed as a forgotten classic, Lee and Elaine was first published in 2002 before all but disappearing. New audiences, especially those with a penchant for autofiction or interested in the lives of great artists will be quickly seduced by the premise of Rower’s fiction. Recently separated from her long-term partner and at the start of an affair with a much younger woman – an unnamed protagonist escapes New York and heads to East Hampton to work. She becomes fixated on the nearby Green River Cemetery – where painters Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning are buried, and before long, the friendship between Krasner and de Kooning takes centre stage in her mind. Gossip and historical fact inform Rower’s storytelling, which asks questions about ambition, sexuality and a woman’s place in the world. 

Read Ann Rower and Chris Kraus in conversation here. 

From 24 February

It was the TV series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost that garnered a cult following of fans hooked by its thrilling surrealism and mystery – not least because there was a 25 year gap between its second and third (and final) seasons. Now, for the first time, the comprehensive history of Twin Peaks will unfold in one fascinating book, thanks to forensic research by entertainment journalist Scott Meslow, who includes extensive reportage and interviews with the show’s cast and creators. Readers will get to go behind the scenes into the production decisions and plot twists (both in the script and among execs) and even get an insight into what was left on the cutting room floor. Everything you wanted to know about how the show was made – and why – is found in these pages. 

From 17 March

First published in Japan in 2023, Mieko Kawakami has already won plaudits and prizes for Sisters in Yellow. Set in 90s Tokyo, the novel follows the life of Hana, a teenager who is coming to realise the depressing limitations of class and poverty. Salvation appears in the form of an ambitious, dazzling older woman who Hana begins to see as a mentor as they navigate the seedy underbelly of the city’s nightlife together, which includes opening a bar of their own, Lemon. Themes of neglect, survival and belonging weave through the chapters as Kawakami redefines what family means.  

From 24 March

Former lawyer Constance Debré is better placed than most authors when it comes to writing about crime and courtrooms. Based on a true story, Offenses is set in modern day Paris and tells the tale of a disillusioned young man who brutally murders his neighbour to settle a minor debt. With her typically sparse use of words, Debré deftly tells the backstories of both perpetrator and victim, using the narratives as a sociological study: what sort of people are capable of violence? But what sort of people carry out violence? The gulf between the answers to those questions is at the core of this rigorous examination of a senseless act. 

From 9 April

Any novel that begins with the narrator proffering an excruciating childhood memory of singing a Celine Dion number acapella in her mother’s gold nightdress to a horrified school auditorium is going to make a reader sit up. In What Am I, A Deer?, her debut novel, Barton, a skilled translator from Japanese to English, has concocted a character who invites readers immediately into her interior world and charms with such a unique and singular voice. The narrator – once an awkward child, now an awkward adult working for a gaming company in Germany – falls in love (or is it just pure limerent yearning?) on a tram and copes with the excitement of it by drinking and belting out pop songs into karaoke microphones. This is a love story, yes, but it is also a shrewd commentary on existentialism and what it means to be an authentic person. Anyone who has ever felt obsessed with someone and/or humiliated by simply being themselves will not only devour this – as funny as it is tender – but feel totally seen. 

From 9 April

Is technology a blessing or a scourge on human connection? This question underpins Transcription, a novel which sees a writer prepare to conduct an interview with his 90-year-old college mentor. However, after his smartphone and toothpaste-laced sink water accidentally meet, the writer is left with no way other than his own human faculties to record the conversation. Not that he admits as much: he has been anxious about making some sort of recording-related mistake since the opening page of the novel. Lerner perfectly captures the sense of panic and pathetic “what am I supposed to do now?” vulnerability of losing a smartphone – as well as confronting the manic eagerness to fumble and bluff oneself away from error and recrimination, before posing daunting questions about how we process information and what memory is. 

From 16 April

Fans of Deborah Levy won’t be disappointed by her latest novel, ostensibly an exploration into the life and work of American avant-garde poet and thinker Gertrude Stein, but at its heart, a story about how we choose to navigate our own lives and anxieties. You don’t need to know much, if anything, about Stein to become immediately swept up in the story. Readers accompany the narrator as she navigates her own life in modern day Paris with two new friends and their somewhat chaotic lives, with questions about Stein never far from her mind. Through her characters – and her own rendering of Stein – Levy ruminates on the pleasures and sorrows of friendship and how our own stories evolve.

From 7 May

Ben Faccini’s new novel spans the Italian resistance during the Second World War right up to 21st-century London. It centres on Tommaso, who is juggling an intense and busy career with the challenge of winning over his girlfriend’s children. But the heart of the story is with his Italian grandmother, Alma, who, as old age begins to take hold, becomes fretful as memories from her distant past start to emerge. As unsettling as this is for Alma, so it is for Tommaso, who begins to question how much he knows about his own family history. In this deeply moving novel, Faccini manages to tell two parallel tales, a romantic comedy and a tragedy.

From 3 September

Written as a blend of memoir and reportage, I Don’t Remember (published by Penguin) reflects on the AIDS crisis in 80s New York when curator and award-winning theatre critic Als was a young gay man embracing his sexuality in a way he had not thought possible during his childhood in a rough pocket of Brooklyn. He writes of the connections he made in among Manhattan’s nightlife and art scene – where he discovered acceptance and friendship, including with Jean-Michel Basquiat – and how this newfound community would face unimaginable tragedy as well as prejudice. Als’s recollections are set to be deeply personal and tender as he seeks to examine the intersection of race and sexuality. 

If you are the kind of person who makes a ‘to do’ list but for reading, then here are ten books to add to it. Published throughout next year, this roundup includes Deborah Levy’s latest work of fiction, centred on the life and influence of Gertrude Stein, and a forensic deep dive into the cult TV show Twin Peaks by entertainment journalist Scott Meslow. In What Am I, A Deer? Polly Barton renders a droll portrait of a skittish young woman in the clutches of limerence, while Ben Lerner’s new novel Transcription asks discomforting questions about society’s dependence on technology. From art history to sociology, 1940s wartime Italy to 90s Tokyo – there are places to go within these volumes and plenty to keep you turning pages in 2026. 

From 29 January

An embittered professor – reputation and marriage in tatters – views a beautiful, rural house: somewhere he can reconnect with nature and escape from the women who he believes ruined his life. The house, explains the realtor, was once home to the enigmatic, artistic Helen. Seduced by the sound of a woman who lived life so fearlessly on her own terms, the professor is keen to find out more, not least when it becomes clear that he could easily access some of Helen’s wisdom. The price he will pay, however, is more than he could ever imagine. Set out in acts, but very much written as prose, Helen of Nowhere is unlike any other fiction – unique in its blend of surrealism, philosophy and satire – while also raising questions about feminism, success, marriage and sacrifice. Every single sentence works hard and yet reads effortlessly. Brilliant. 

From 24 February

Hailed as a forgotten classic, Lee and Elaine was first published in 2002 before all but disappearing. New audiences, especially those with a penchant for autofiction or interested in the lives of great artists will be quickly seduced by the premise of Rower’s fiction. Recently separated from her long-term partner and at the start of an affair with a much younger woman – an unnamed protagonist escapes New York and heads to East Hampton to work. She becomes fixated on the nearby Green River Cemetery – where painters Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning are buried, and before long, the friendship between Krasner and de Kooning takes centre stage in her mind. Gossip and historical fact inform Rower’s storytelling, which asks questions about ambition, sexuality and a woman’s place in the world. 

Read Ann Rower and Chris Kraus in conversation here. 

From 24 February

It was the TV series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost that garnered a cult following of fans hooked by its thrilling surrealism and mystery – not least because there was a 25 year gap between its second and third (and final) seasons. Now, for the first time, the comprehensive history of Twin Peaks will unfold in one fascinating book, thanks to forensic research by entertainment journalist Scott Meslow, who includes extensive reportage and interviews with the show’s cast and creators. Readers will get to go behind the scenes into the production decisions and plot twists (both in the script and among execs) and even get an insight into what was left on the cutting room floor. Everything you wanted to know about how the show was made – and why – is found in these pages. 

From 17 March

First published in Japan in 2023, Mieko Kawakami has already won plaudits and prizes for Sisters in Yellow. Set in 90s Tokyo, the novel follows the life of Hana, a teenager who is coming to realise the depressing limitations of class and poverty. Salvation appears in the form of an ambitious, dazzling older woman who Hana begins to see as a mentor as they navigate the seedy underbelly of the city’s nightlife together, which includes opening a bar of their own, Lemon. Themes of neglect, survival and belonging weave through the chapters as Kawakami redefines what family means.  

From 24 March

Former lawyer Constance Debré is better placed than most authors when it comes to writing about crime and courtrooms. Based on a true story, Offenses is set in modern day Paris and tells the tale of a disillusioned young man who brutally murders his neighbour to settle a minor debt. With her typically sparse use of words, Debré deftly tells the backstories of both perpetrator and victim, using the narratives as a sociological study: what sort of people are capable of violence? But what sort of people carry out violence? The gulf between the answers to those questions is at the core of this rigorous examination of a senseless act. 

From 9 April

Any novel that begins with the narrator proffering an excruciating childhood memory of singing a Celine Dion number acapella in her mother’s gold nightdress to a horrified school auditorium is going to make a reader sit up. In What Am I, A Deer?, her debut novel, Barton, a skilled translator from Japanese to English, has concocted a character who invites readers immediately into her interior world and charms with such a unique and singular voice. The narrator – once an awkward child, now an awkward adult working for a gaming company in Germany – falls in love (or is it just pure limerent yearning?) on a tram and copes with the excitement of it by drinking and belting out pop songs into karaoke microphones. This is a love story, yes, but it is also a shrewd commentary on existentialism and what it means to be an authentic person. Anyone who has ever felt obsessed with someone and/or humiliated by simply being themselves will not only devour this – as funny as it is tender – but feel totally seen. 

From 9 April

Is technology a blessing or a scourge on human connection? This question underpins Transcription, a novel which sees a writer prepare to conduct an interview with his 90-year-old college mentor. However, after his smartphone and toothpaste-laced sink water accidentally meet, the writer is left with no way other than his own human faculties to record the conversation. Not that he admits as much: he has been anxious about making some sort of recording-related mistake since the opening page of the novel. Lerner perfectly captures the sense of panic and pathetic “what am I supposed to do now?” vulnerability of losing a smartphone – as well as confronting the manic eagerness to fumble and bluff oneself away from error and recrimination, before posing daunting questions about how we process information and what memory is. 

From 16 April

Fans of Deborah Levy won’t be disappointed by her latest novel, ostensibly an exploration into the life and work of American avant-garde poet and thinker Gertrude Stein, but at its heart, a story about how we choose to navigate our own lives and anxieties. You don’t need to know much, if anything, about Stein to become immediately swept up in the story. Readers accompany the narrator as she navigates her own life in modern day Paris with two new friends and their somewhat chaotic lives, with questions about Stein never far from her mind. Through her characters – and her own rendering of Stein – Levy ruminates on the pleasures and sorrows of friendship and how our own stories evolve.

From 7 May

Ben Faccini’s new novel spans the Italian resistance during the Second World War right up to 21st-century London. It centres on Tommaso, who is juggling an intense and busy career with the challenge of winning over his girlfriend’s children. But the heart of the story is with his Italian grandmother, Alma, who, as old age begins to take hold, becomes fretful as memories from her distant past start to emerge. As unsettling as this is for Alma, so it is for Tommaso, who begins to question how much he knows about his own family history. In this deeply moving novel, Faccini manages to tell two parallel tales, a romantic comedy and a tragedy.

From 3 September

Written as a blend of memoir and reportage, I Don’t Remember (published by Penguin) reflects on the AIDS crisis in 80s New York when curator and award-winning theatre critic Als was a young gay man embracing his sexuality in a way he had not thought possible during his childhood in a rough pocket of Brooklyn. He writes of the connections he made in among Manhattan’s nightlife and art scene – where he discovered acceptance and friendship, including with Jean-Michel Basquiat – and how this newfound community would face unimaginable tragedy as well as prejudice. Als’s recollections are set to be deeply personal and tender as he seeks to examine the intersection of race and sexuality.