When the month begins, I wait until I have a pocket of time where no to-do list awaits my attention and I start to fill up my reading list. April 1 brought with it a couple of auto-adds to my tbr, as the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist was announced only the previous evening. Out of the six titles this year, five are by women—the only one by a male author is The Director and features a genius German film director forced to become a part of the Nazi propaganda machine in 1930s Germany. Another follows an Iranian family over four decades as they flee from, then return, to their homeland. A Bulgarian novel, She Who Remains, examines gender and identity, while a Portuguese title, On Earth As It is Beneath, takes us into a violent, male-only penal colony where prisoners were rehabilitated but forever trapped. And those are just the Booker-related books. Then come the barrage of new titles getting published in April, including a new one by Rainbow Rowell that sounds equal parts messy and fun. Another is Emma Straub’s latest, American Fantasy—about a boy band and three thousand of their fans aboard a cruise ship. (Obviously, a lot can—and will—go wrong.)
While we’re adding these books to our cart, we’ve also got a recommendation for you to add to yours—our next book club pick (which we’re announcing super soon)—so watch this space for more!
