Summer Reading 2026: LitHub's Ultimate Summer Reading List

Back in December, I had this post about one of my favorite end of the year Best List-- LitHubs's Ultimate Best Books List. 

What I love about this list is how it crowd sources dozens of major publications' "Best Lists" from all over and totals them all up to see what the most popular "Best" titles are. It gives you a survey of the entire "Best" landscape in an easy snapshot. If you look at that post, you can get current and backlist lists that look at all the lists. While that is a lot of instances of the word list, you get what I mean. LitHub's "Ultimate Lists" are an excellent resource because by definition they are crowd sourced.

That's a general PSA for all of their "Ultimate Lists," but right now I want to focus on the current 2026 Ultimate Summer Reading List.

Author Emily Temple read 25 summer reading lists, which recommended a total of 419 individual books and crunched the numbers. 60 books were mentioned 3 or more times. This is THE summer reading list you need for your patrons because it is comprised of all the lists.

The most lists a book was on was 13 (out of 25) and the Temple includes appears 3 times. You can click here to read The Ultimate Summer 2026 Reading List.

And please scroll to the end to see the links to all of the lists she used to build her "Ultimate" list. Not only do I love a list that cites its sources, but also by making them clickable, you can dig even deeper to find more titles.

Of course, many of these books will be checked out all summer, but many of these authors have older books you can suggest to readers while they wait.

Post this list online and in your libraries as the "Best of the Summer Reading Lists." Put up a sign and then fill the display with Summer Reading titles that are on the shelf. Use titles from previous years (use my Summer Reading tag for help with that). Also include previous titles by the authors on this year's list and readalike titles for the authors.

You have plenty to fill the display. And again, there is no library jail. No one is going to get upset or punish you if you use titles adjacent to this year's specific lists. In fact, just the opposite, When you include 

I feel like a broken record, but it bares repeating. Books do not have to be from this exact summer to be great summer reads. You have plenty to fill the display. No one is going to get upset or punish you if you use titles adjacent to this year's specific lists (as opposed to those literally on them). In fact, just the opposite. When you include titles from this year, previous years, readalikes for those authors, titles that you think would be a great summer read, anything I have posted using the summer reading tag, etc...., people will thank you.

Your patrons want a good book to read over the summer. They have no idea where to start. When you widen the net of option, when you get creative in your "summer reading" marketing, while making sure the books are solid reads, you will draw more readers to your display. When you provide them with a book they end up loving, you have hooked them for life. They will come back for more. They will tell their friends. You have won.

But in order to do that you have to stop being so literal. A great place to start is the backlist. The last few years of Summer Reading hot picks will be on the shelf. They were summer reads in the near past. They are great books that people missed. They are still great reads. Allow them to shine

Speaking of....here is the link to pull up the Ultimate Summer Reading Lists going back to 2022. As well as using my "summer reads" tag.

This is also a great time to use my conversation starter to display posts (and handout with examples) to ask your staff and readers to share this favorite "Summer Reads." Note, I did not say, favorite Summer Reads out in 2026. Keep it broader. Find out what they have loved the most. From that poll, you can not only make a display, but also get some in real time feedback about what your patrons like to read in the summer. And it makes for an easy, interactive display that SHOWS your patrons that you are listening to them. Again use my directions on how to have that conversation here.

Be creative and broad with your "Summer Reading" lists, suggestions, and displays. Include titles from year's past, include other books by the authors on this year's lists, include readalikes for these authors... You get my point. Be as open as possible.

Give people more options that what they see in that one list they saw on that one website. No one is going to "check your math," and be like, "Umm....what list told you this was a "best" summer read." Of course not. They trust you to help them find the books they wouldn't find without you. They expect to fond things at the library they wouldn't see other places. This is where we excel and leave a mark on those we assist with their leisure reading. Embrace it and go for it.

And a great place to start that process is LitHub's Ultimate Summer Reading Lists. 

Another Great Summer Reading Program Idea That You Need to Save and Use Anytime of Year via LitHub

This year I have been posting about non library summer reading programs for adults for a variety of reasons. 

First, I know your summer reading programs are already in full swing, but while something is happening it is actually the best time to gather information and learn from others doing the same thing.

Second, many of you still do not have adult reading programs even though you should. I wrote about this at length a few weeks ago here. Please go back and read that. The important parts are bolded. The fact that non-library places are doing them, spending money to create them, giving prizes....all of this should make you both realize it is something you should be doing and also, it should make you mad that they are filling a hole you could have filled much more easily. We are losing readers to places like the NYT and LitHub

Third, these non-library summer reading programs are the right kind of gate opening programs. Why does that matter? Well our summer reading programs, in fact most of what we do for adults, has way too many rules and barriers. Why does a grown ass person have to follow themes and/or number of minutes reading in order to participate in the joy of summer reading? Why do we gate keep reading for adults? Their lives are busy enough and just the fact that they want to use a summer reading program as a reason to read more should be enough. 

I need to say this to all of you-- just because your library uses a theme for summer reading and just because the kid's program has a bunch of rules does not mean you have to do the exact same thing. Too many rules and too many restrictions will drive your patrons away. And, mostly importantly, YOU WILL NOT GO TO LIBRARY JAIL IF YOU ALLOW ADULTS TO READS WHAT THEY WANT. 

In fact, just the opposite, if you increase circulation, participation, and door count of adults during the summer, you will be celebrated and praised for it. 

Now, if your library requires you use the theme, that's fine. Mine did back in the day. So you know what I did? I used the branded material and then told my adults, here is the theme; here is a list of titles you can read it you want to fit the theme; but also, just log the books your read whatever they were. They all count. 

The adult summer reading programs I am reposting here, from these non library spaces, understand all of this better than most of you. Again, I wrote about the NYT summer reading program here. Today I want to point you to an even better program, one that you can insert into your current summer reading programs seamlessly, right now. It is from LitHub. Here is their summer reading program with challenges we can use anytime.

Talk about gate opening. These are lists of 10 books that come out every 2 weeks, and they suggest you pick just one to read in that time frame. The themes they have created are very flexible and fun:

• Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages
• The Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 pages
• The 60 Best Campus Novels from the Last 100 Years
• The Greatest Coming of Age Novels
• The Greatest Summer Novels of All Time
• The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Over 500 pages

They even created this FREE graphic for people to fill out as they completed the challenges.

This is such a great idea for libraries to use all year long. It reminds me of my conversation starter to display concept; in fact I am adding this post to the handout for that. You could use this idea to create monthly mini displays ALL YEAR LONG. 

How would you doing this? Easy. Use the categories from this LitHub Summer Reading Program and/or the ones from the NYT Summer Reading Challenge and/or any conversation starter to display questions I have posted before.

Pick 12 themes. One for each month of the year. Make a sign with the title of the conversation starter. For example, "Best Books Under 200 Pages." And then do a small display of titles near it. Have your staff help seed the display at first, but then go here to learn how I suggest you poll all patrons to help build the list to keep it going. The questions here is "What are your favorite books under 200 pages?" These displays and the chance to allow patrons to add to the lists of titles needs to be in the building and online.

The great thing about these mini-displays with conversation starter questions is that they are evergreen. You can use them all year long or tie them to the season or indentity month. The titles you gather this year, can be entered into a document, and used the next time you do that display to get it all started. 

Start at any time. Ask staff from across the entire library, or if your library is small, from across your system to help build the lists. 

Now, I know many of you will still be making excuses are to why you cannot do this.

No space? Well it can be as small as a sign on your desk with a vertical stack of 3-5 books. As they go, you add more books.

No time? I have given you a link to enough questions to use all year long.

Don't want to do the polling patrons part for (insert reason here), just do the mini displays themselves each month. Having a rotating small themed display is a great reason for people to come back and try another book. You are giving them the prompt and they can choose a book you have picked or think up their won answer to the question to find something to read they would not have thought about without your help.

To help keep this idea going, I am going to commit to being a resource to help all of you. Every month, on the 1st of the month, (or the week day closest to it),I will post a theme you can use as well as a list of ten titles to make your display. I will also post resources for more crowdsourced titles. This way you have no excuse NOT to do at least the mini display. I will remind you to change it and give you plenty of titles to get it started.

As you get more comfortable doing these mini displays on a monthly basis, I will challenge you to grow the program, get your staff and patrons involved, and more. Let's get better at serving our adult readers together. I know it is hard to get a new habit started. We are all very busy, but I am committed to being there to help you give it a try.

The NYT Gamifies Summer Reading (Gift Link)

I know many of us have worked to gamify our summer reading for many years now. As we have learned, adults love checking off boxes or completing BINGO cards for prizes as much (maybe more) than kids do.

Reading challenges are around all year long, but many people are intimidated by joining the ones that start in January. A year of reading seems like a big commitment to people who haven't read more than a book or two for fun in years. However, when you take the same idea of a challenge and market it as "Summer Reading," many people jump at the chance to give it a try.

Summer is three months. Summer gives people time to be outside and relax-- even if just on a few weekends. Summer holds fun memories of childhood summer reading.

Last week, the New York Times Book Review launched their "Summer Reading Bucket List" (gift link here). They have ten items that are very general and easy to complete. And there is even a box to check for reading a book from the library (with bonus points if you talked to the library worker to get the suggestion).

What I love about this summer reading game is that it easy to complete. They are only challenging you to get to 5 of the 10 options before Fall. It gives some direction, but not too much. Five books seems like a doable number for those who are not regular readers. Pretty much any book is an option. Literally. And they have a way for you to turn in your sheet and be eligible for a prize.

The New York Times has prioritized gathering data from actual readers for a while now. All of those checklists for their "best books" to have people mark if they read a book or want to read a book, etc... This is a grab for user data that I can get behind because they are using it to actively craft their book coverage, to make sure they are covering the books that people actually want to read, not just what the snotty literati think we should read.

This is a huge shift in the NYT Book Review over the last few years and I am here for it. We are in a landscape where most papers have dropped their books coverage, but the NYT is trying to fill that gap. Yes they provide reviews and commentary about the most important literary titles, but as I have been covering here as well, they are also making an effort to cover genre and even backlist titles. They want to help you-- all of you, any kind of reader-- find a book that you will love and get you back into reading. 

And bonus because they always support libraries. Yes they added us to their list, but it is more than that. See this post I had last week (with a gift link) for another example.

But here is another important point I want to make today, many libraries still do not offer a summer reading challenge or program for adults. I don't understand it myself. I made sure my library always had summer reading for adults to match the ones we had for children (going back to 2000). They are important both because when parents read with kids, kids do better with their own reading.

But also, Adults need the chance to have fun reading a book, to complete their checklist, and earn a prize. Life is short, things are awful, why are we not offering adults books with a side of joy.

Don't we want our adults coming back to the library again? Don't we want the people who pay the taxes to fund us and come to the polls or board meetings for us when we need their support to feel like we care about them too? Why do we ignore the recreational needs of our adults? 

So I am sharing this to help all of you who do NOT have a summer reading program already. Go here and use the NYT Summer Reading Bucket List to make your own to hand out for adults. Summer reading starts this weekend at most libraries. They have all been working on it for months, but you...the library that isn't offering an adult program....you can still do something right now.

And for those of you who already have a summer reading program, this is a great resource to enhance what you are already offering. Maybe you don't have a BINGO card yet? Maybe you have a full program with your themes and lists all set up, but you know that it will be too restrictive for some readers. Here you go. 

[Side note, I hate putting restrictions on reading for adults and making them follow our themes. Themes are great to guide those who want to follow, but it should not restrict if people can participate-- adults or kids. We want them to read. We don't want to create more obstacles to stop that. We need to stop being Gate Keepers and start being Gate Openers. Click on this link for more about that.)

And for those of you who are all set and have the perfect, flexible summer reading program set to start for adults in a few days, great, but you can still save this link and use it for Fall Reading or Winter Reading or even next year's planning. It is NOT tied to a specific year or trend or even season. Just change the one that is season specific to whatever season you use this in.

I have posted the graphic from the article below in case you want to just print it out and hand it off to people. If you do this and you have NYT access for your patrons, this bucket list can serve to also advertise your NYT access. I talk to people all the time who have no idea that most of the major newspapers are available at the library, from home even with your card. Make the list available in print and online with a note to remind people of their access available with their library card.

This post is here to get you to think about all the ways you can use this ready made summer reading resource to help your readers have a fun summer-- whether you have it all planned and ready to roll out this weekend or not. 

How will you use this list with your readers? If you have summer reading plans you want me to share with my readers, contact me and we can see about a guest post here on the blog.

RA for All Off for the Memorial Day Weekend But First....

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of Summer here in America, so before I head off to spend some time with the family, here is great, diverse Summer Reading list of 15 books that will satisfy just about every reader via the NPR Books We Love Team of staffers and critics.

Hope you have a good book to read this weekend. I am very lucky to have the upcoming Alma Katsu and Rachel Harrison both on deck with reviews due to Booklist next week.

Back Tuesday with new posts.

The Goodreads Guide to Summer Reading 2026

Goodreads published their 2026 Summer Reading Guide this week. They offer a variety of entry points for readers as well. From setting, to expert recs, to reader driven lists, genre, and more. And not everything is NEW right now.

Use the linked list titles below to explore one by one or simply use this link to bring it all up on one page. And after this year's entries, read on to find my backlist access to past year's lists as well.

Summer reading is here! Discover readers' most anticipated books for the season, plus our intel on the biggest books coming later this year. Find your reading match with our staff recommendations, scope out our great genre guides, and more!

• The Big Books of Summer (and the Rest of the Year): Take a peek at the season ahead with readers' most anticipated summer reads, plus our bonus preview of buzzy fall titles!
• 112 (Very Literal) Escapist Reads to Sweep You Away: Need to get away from it all? We're here to help! Take a mental break with our cheeky take on escapist reading.
• The Goodreads Staff Share Top Reading Recommendations: Don't know what to read next? Let our bookish colleagues guide you to your next favorite title with their most tried-and-true suggestions.
• A Month-by-Month Guide to Summer's Biggest Mysteries & Thrillers
• Spice Up Summer with 69 Hot New Romances & Romantasies
• Highly Anticipated Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Horror Hitting Shelves This Summer
• Have a Blockbuster Summer with Adaptation Reading

You can access the Goodreads Guide to Summer Reading for past years by clicking on the year in the following list:

• 2025
• 2024
• 2023
• 2022

Don't underestimate the treasures you will find on past year's lists.

Want even more Summer Reading suggestions? Use this link to pull up all of my posts tagged summer reading in reverse chronological order. 

Download Booklist's Readers' Advisory Fortune Tellers

Booklist Online has made the fun RA fortune tellers usually only available at conferences available for every library to download and use for free!

They are organized by genre, and the link goes to 7 examples with folding directions, ready to print. Use the templates to make more of your own. 

Fortune tellers are a fun interactive RA activity, especially for those titles with long holds queues because for those titles, this allows your readers to feel like they are "doing something" while they wait. Don't underestimate how much more fun and interactive a fortune teller is for them to identify their next read than using a "While You Wait" list-- EVEN WHEN THE TITLES THEY ARE CHOOSING FROM ARE EXACTLY THE SAME.

Yes you can take that "While You Wait" title list and put them into a fortune teller and I promise you, people will be less cranky about waiting. 

You can do these with your patrons or leave them out near displays, while you wait lists, or at your desks for them to do alone. They are cheap to recreate so if they "walk off," no big deal.

You also still have time to make some of your own for you Summer Reading Programs as well (using the Booklist templates). Consider not just fortune tellers for choosing a title to fit your themes, but also, to have people choose an activity (for those of you who do that as well). 

Click here for the templates. And thank to Booklist for sharing their conference booth fun with everyone.  

Download Booklist's Readers' Advisory Fortune Tellers

Dog Man, Freida McFadden, Stephen Graham Jones--your patrons love these big authors and series, but what should they read while they are waiting for the newest Sarah J. Maas to hit the shelves (or, more realistically, when they are number 98 on that holds list?) Could there be a way to select a book club pick that leaves the final choice up to fate? And where the heck do you start with tween readers?

We have the answer with our handy readers' advisory fortune tellers! With youth and adult picks, you can find everything from Biography/Memoir recommendations to YA Eco-Horror.  

Download Booklist's reader's advisory fortune tellers now!

PW Summer Reads 2026: An Epic Year Round Resource

The PW Summer Reads 2026 database is now live! Always the first one of the year to pop up, PW's Summer Reads is also one  of the best YEAR ROUND Resources hands down. Why? Well let's start with a screen shot of the main page.

The PW Summer Reads database is more than the sum of its parts, those parts being the wide swath of categories offered. Every genre, nonfiction, and books for kids of all ages, each has their own tab with picks.

As you can see, they also make backlist access of every Summer Reads and year end Best Books list going back to 2012 easily accessible from the top of the page.

Let that sink in.... EVERY SINGLE SUMMER READS AND PW YEAR END BEST LIST IN ONE PLACE. This is AWESOME!

Nowhere will you find a resource that puts this many "sure bet" options in front of you so easily. There are literally hundreds of titles here, at your fingertips, both old and new, that you can confidently suggest to readers immediately. And so many readers. Readers who read across all age levels [down to infants] and in just about every genre. 

And, since every title is annotated, you also have a book talk [or annotation] for each title right there. You don't have to have read the book to suggest it. [Reminder: Use the Words of Others.]

I could keep gushing about how much I love this resource but I would rather you played around with it yourself.

Click through, check out the upcoming titles, but also look back at older titles, read the annotations, check genres you love and those you don't normally read, especially those you don't normally read because you will learn much about the current state of that genre [trends, popular authors] this year and by going back a few years. You can literally watch trends as they happened. You can both get access to some great sure bet suggestions AND brush up on your genre knowledge all in one place.

Spend some time really getting to know this resource. And then use it-- all of it-- including past years and both summer and year end lists-- to make your own lists for your readers. Make displays and lists [online and in the building], make suggested reading lists by genre, by year, by whatever you want. Just embrace the wealth of information available to you with one click and help readers in ways they would not think to help themselves.

Proof reading this post before publishing it, I realize how many times I am repeating myself about using the entirety of the information that PW is making available here, but I also know from years of suggesting this resource to people that you don't always listen to me. And so, I will keep beating this drum of using best lists all year long and especially checking the backlist until I run out of breath [or strength to type].

Go check out this database of "sure bet" reads for any season, and keep it bookmarked for use anytime you need a solid suggestion [especially for those hard to satisfy readers].

It is NOT just for Summer.

The Annual Shelf Care Podcast [via Booklist] Featuring Everything You Need to Know About Summer Scares

After a few days of more serious posts, today I want to focus on one of my favorite annual Summer Scares  resources-- our annual visit to Booklist's Shelf Care Podcast. We have a whole bunch of Sumerm Scares folks, including the announcement of New York Public Library joining our team as an official partner with Summer Scares. WOW!

See the full post here or below, including this link to access the audio.

Finally, click here to access the Summer Scares resource page, where you can find also find Summer Scares 2026 Programming Guide

Booklist's Shelf Care 

Booklist's bookish library podcast

Welcome to Booklist’s Shelf Care, where we bring all things readers’ advisory, collection development, and reference right to your earbuds. Hosted by Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management and Library Outreach, each episode of Shelf Care will introduce you to rock star librarians, hot topics in publishing, and books you need to know from colleagues at Booklist.

Subscribe to Booklist’s Shelf Care on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app. 

Listen to the Latest Episode: 

Folks are probably well into planning for summer reading programs, so now is the perfect time to talk about Summer Scares! On this Episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, host Susan Maguire talks to the folks involved. First, this year’s celebrity spokesperson, author Jennifer McMachon, joins Susan and readers’ advisory and horror expert Becky Spratford to talk about the adult and YA Summer Scares titles, and Jennifer’s journey from misfit girl to capital-H horror writer. Then, Booklist’s Julia Smith talks to Susan about the middle-grade Summer Scares titles. Finally, Susan sits down with HWA Library Committee co-chair Konrad Stump along with New York Public Library’s Allison Nellis and Kate Federiconi to talk about programming and NYPL’s best-of lists.

Here’s what we talked about:

(* indicates a Summer Scares 2026 title)

Readers’ Advisory survey (it’s quick!)

Summer Scares Resource Page (RA for All)

Summer Scares Middle-Grade Panel (March 12)

Summer Scares YA Panel (March 23)

Summer Scares Adult Panel (March 26)

*A Botanical Daughter, by Noah Medlock

*Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr.

*Maeve Fly, by CJ Leede

iRead Summer Reading 2026: Plant a Seed, Read

*What We Harvest, by Ann Fraistat

*Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, by Linda Cheng

*Our Shadows Have Claws: 15 Latin American Monster Stories, edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz, illustrated by Ricardo López Ortiz

Stay Buried, by Jennifer McMahon (coming August 2026)

“Monster Girl: How Horror Gave Me a Place to Belong,” by Jennifer McMahon, in Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, edited by Becky Siegel Spratford

*This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

*It Came from the Trees, by Ally Russell

*Garlic and the Vampire, by Bree Paulsen, art by the author

The Lion’s Run, by Sarah Pennypacker

Max in the House of Spies, by Adam Gidwitz

Max in the Land of Lies, by Adam Gidwitz

Summer Scares 2026 Programming Guide

NYPL’s Best New Horror for Adults 2025

Dollface, by Lindy Ryan

Headlights, by CJ Leede

Kiss, Slay, Replay, by Rachel Harrison

Japanese Gothic, by Kylie Lee Baker

Abyss, by Nicholas Binge

Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape, by Manchán Magan