Recommended Reading: 2026 Anticipated Releases

Happy holidays! The New Year is approaching and if you’re anything like me, you’re planning your reads for 2026 so you can meet your new year’s resolution of, ambiguously, “reading more.” Last year, I wrote a blog post about the Caldwell Public Library staff’s anticipated releases for 2025, and ended up reading several of the books my coworkers recommended on the way to blowing past my goal of 100 books read in 2025! This year, CPL staff recommendations are a little less book-heavy, but look just as enticing. Hope you enjoy them!

Michael (2026)

Recommended by Ginny

This 2026 release follows the life of music icon Michael Jackson, who will be portrayed by his nephew Jafaar Jackson. It releases on April 24 and will likely hit home video (and therefore library shelves) in the summer. While you wait, take a look at this biography of the King of Pop, or read about him through his own eyes with his autobiography, Moonwalk. You might also listen to some of his music on CD.

Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall

Recommended by Virginia

Hell’s Heart will be bestselling author Alexis Hall’s first foray into science fiction. Marketed as Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick, Hell’s Heart puts a queer sci-fi spin on the Herman Melville classic. It will release on March 12th, so while you wait, you might read or reread Moby-Dick to best appreciate Hall’s retelling, or read some of her other works. I recommend Boyfriend Material.

Read This To Look Cool: Essays and Overthinkings by Maeve Dunigan

Recommended by Erica

Writer for the New Yorker Maeve Dunigan’s first full book is a witty essay memoir collection. Featuring essays about everything from Victoria’s Secret to her elderly cat to the time she endured a ruptured appendix in McDonalds so as to seem cool and undramatic, it will be a hit with satire fans. If you liked I Might Regret This by Abbi Jacobson, Read This To Look Cool will be up your alley.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire

Recommended by Michael

This video game’s art style is loosely based on early sketches from the Mickey Mouse cartoons. The first-person shooter is being developed by Fumi Games and published by PlaySide Studios Limited for a March 19 release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. While you wait for release, check out Cuphead, which some have said is an inspiration for Mouse: P.I. For Hire.

Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)

Recommended by Ginny and Erica

The sixth installment in The Hunger Games film franchise will feature Joseph Zada, Ralph Fiennes, McKenna Grace, and many others. Adapted from Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel of the same name, the story follows 50th Hunger Games victor Haymitch, who fans of the series will recognize as Katniss’ alcoholic mentor. While you wait for its November 20 release, read Sunrise on the Reaping or the original trilogy.