RA for All: The February 2026 Booklist is a Spotlight on History and Historical Fiction (with extra genre resources)

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

The February 2026 Booklist is a Spotlight on History and Historical Fiction (with extra genre resources)

On the Cover From Junie, by Erin Crosby Eckstine, a Top 10 Historical Fiction Debut. Design by Elena Giavaldi, illustration by Sarah Madden. Used with permission from Ballantine.

For the next three days I am going to have posts about the February 2026 issue of Booklist. Today will be about the Spotlight and then since I have 4 reviews in this issue, I will split them up on Wednesday and Thursday.

Back to today.

The February Spotlight is on History and Historical Fiction. Below I have the current articles and Adult top 10 lists with 5 years easy backlist access. You can use all of the titles from the past 5 years for sure bet suggestions, check the lists and make sure you have these titles in your collections, and why not get up a display of historical fiction. Yes you have a Black History Month display up, but use another surface to also do historical fiction.

But before I get to those lists, I thought today would also be a good time to remind you all that all Booklist Spotlight issues are not only useful as a resource, but they should also serve as your reminder to get up to speed on those genres. In other words-- let's talk Historical Fiction genre resources!

To help you, here is a list of some of my favorite and go-to resources for Historical Fiction:

Your first stop to get in genre shape should always be the RUSA CODES Reading List. Click here to see every list from last week's 2026 announcement back to 2014. Historical Fiction is a category each year. They pick a genre winner and give it 3 readalikes, plus up to 4 runner up titles. Up to 16 sure bet historical fiction titles each year. When you peruse the last few years, you can see trends as well.
The most current Goodreads Reader's Choice results for Historical Fiction are here. And if you scroll down, every list of winners and nominees going back to 2011. Please remember, these are reader driven lists. Yes, many of the titles are not critically acclaimed and the lists tend to be overly white BUT, used in tandem with other resources, you get a sense of what readers have most enjoyed over the last few years in Historical Fiction and you can use that knowledge to suggest readalieks from a wider range of voices.
The best place to stay up to date in real time (not just end of the year lists like the first two resources) is Reading the Past. Sarah Johnson is THE authority on Historical Fiction in Libraries. From her bio on the blog:

"Collection management librarian, readers' advisor, avid historical fiction reader, NBCC member. Book review editor for the Historical Novels Review and Booklist reviewer. Recipient of ALA's Louis Shores Award for book reviewing (2012). Blogging since 2006."

The Historical Novel Society. Their slogan is "History in the Writing." Founded in 1997, we’re a community of historical fiction lovers. Our members include established and yet to be published authors, readers and publishers.