Big Books of 2026

Listopia > Book Lists Voted on by Max Rohleder (16 Lists)



Sharp Teeth by Toby BarlowSir Gawain and the Green Knight by UnknownPunching the Air by Ibi ZoboiThe Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Novels in Verse
427 books — 757 voters
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared DiamondA People’s History of the United States by Howard ZinnThe Histories by HerodotusDiscipline and Punish by Michel FoucaultZealot by Reza Aslan
Best History Books
3,728 books — 3,766 voters

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm XInvisible Man by Ralph EllisonKindred by Octavia E. ButlerThe Collected Poems by Langston HughesThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Best African American Books
1,043 books — 1,139 voters
Neverwhere by Neil GaimanStorm Front by Jim ButcherAmerican Gods by Neil GaimanDreams Underfoot by Charles de LintMoonheart by Charles de Lint
The Best Urban Fantasy
4,423 books — 12,563 voters

The Golden Compass by Philip PullmanThe Secret History by Donna TarttA Game of Thrones by George R.R. MartinThe Eye of the World by Robert JordanImajica by Clive Barker
Best Books of the Decade: 1990s
3,129 books — 3,678 voters
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy TooleBlood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthyFoucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Best Books of the Decade: 1980s
2,258 books — 2,433 voters

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. TolkienKindred by Octavia E. ButlerGrendel by John Gardner
Best Books of the Decade: 1970s
1,955 books — 1,880 voters
Silent Spring by Rachel CarsonPoems of Akhmatova by Anna Akhmatova
Best Books of the Decade: 1960s
1,360 books — 1,777 voters

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Best Books of the Decade: 2010s
7,688 books — 14,218 voters
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.A Prayer for Owen Meany by John IrvingInvisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Best Books of the 20th Century
7,899 books — 49,787 voters

The Doors of Stone by Patrick RothfussThe Ministry of Necessity by Scott LynchInherit the Night by Scott Lynch
Hurry Up and Release It!!!
250 books — 3,785 voters
Binti by Nnedi OkoraforWho Fears Death by Nnedi OkoraforHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThey Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif AbdurraqibInvisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Black History Month
553 books — 493 voters

The Iliad by HomerThe Odyssey by HomerThe Epic of Gilgamesh by AnonymousThe Oresteia by AeschylusHistory of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Best Books of the Ancient World
277 books — 294 voters
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen1984 by George OrwellThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Readers' Picks
15,438 books — 17,775 voters

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna ClarkeTapping the Dream Tree by Charles de LintPretty Monsters by Kelly LinkMoonlight and Vines by Charles de LintSmoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Best Fantasy Short Story Collections
525 books — 295 voters
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DíazNo Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthyThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafónThe Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Best Books of the Decade: 2000s
7,187 books — 28,370 voters