Lariat Adult Fiction List

Here are recommended fiction titles for adults from the 2026 Lariat List! The Lariat List features outstanding fiction titles for adults, published within the current and previous year, that are simply a pleasure to read! That's it. That's the criteria. The Lariat List is selected by a committee of Texas librarians and is one of 10 reading lists from the Texas Library Association. Visit txla.org/reading-lists for the full list and lists from previous years.


Updated January 13, 2026
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Culpability
Holsinger, Bruce W.
Paper Book
Oprah's Book Club Pick * New Yorker Best Books of 2025 * 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist * Kirkus Best Books of 2025 * Real Simple Best Books of 2025 * Washington Post Noteable Fiction 2025 * NPR's 2025 "Books We Love" * Minnesota Star Tribune 20 Best of 2025 ...
SALT BONES : a novel
GIVHAN, JENNIFER
Paper Book
Wild dark shore
McConaghy, Charlotte
Paper Book
An ENTHRALLING new novel from the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon. Dominic Salt and his...
Whyte Python world tour : a novel
Kennedy, Travis
Paper Book
It's Los Angeles, 1986, and metal rules the world. When aspiring drummer Rikki Thunder gets a shot to join L.A.'s hottest new band, Whyte Python, he soon has a hit single scorching up the charts, and the life he always dreamed of. But good fortune can be deceiving. With the Cold War...
The favorites : a novel
Fargo, Layne
Paper Book
To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession. NATIONAL BESTSELLER * An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice "Part...
Broken country : a novel
Hall, Clare Leslie
Paper Book
" A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing. "The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him."<...
Atmosphere : a love story
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * From the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go...
Back after this : a novel
Holmes, Linda, (Radio talk show host)
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo, a podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating--but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love? "Romantic, smart, and exactly the book...
The Book of Lost Hours: A GMA Book Club Pick (a Novel)
Gelfuso, Hayley.
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled...
Bury our bones in the midnight soil
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
The Heart-Stopping International Sensation! Instant No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller No. 1 New York Times Bestseller The Radio 2 Book Club Pick From V. E. Schwab, a genre-defying, unforgettable novel to sink your teeth into . . .
The correspondent : a novel
Evans, Virginia
Paper Book
The dream hotel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
* LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 * * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK MARCH 2025 * 'A gripping, Kafkaesque foray into an all-too-plausible future' JENNIFER EGAN'So cleverly conceived, so relevant, that everyone should read it and...
Harlem rhapsody
Murray, Victoria Christopher
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! "A gripping narrative, don't miss this historical fiction about the woman who kicked off the Harlem Renaissance."-People Magazine "A page turner and history lesson at once, Harlem Rhapsody reminds us that our...
The human scale
Wright, Lawrence
Paper Book
In this sweeping, timely thriller, a Palestinian American FBI agent teams up with a hardline Israeli cop to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and The End of October. "A layered tale of...
I see you've called in dead : a novel
Kenney, John
Paper Book
Julie Chan is dead
Zhang, Liann
Paper Book
The instant internationally bestselling outrageously unputdownable debut for fans of Bunny, Bat Eater and Yellowface 'An absolute masterpiece' STYLIST 'You'll enjoy this nail-biting life-swap ride through the glossy influencer scene'...
The names
Knapp, Florence
Paper Book
The story of one family told three different ways, leading to three different fates--a dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life? In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's...
Promise me sunshine
Bastone, Cara
Paper Book
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Beautifully devastating' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Astonishingly warm, funny, reassuring, and soul-satisfying' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Oh my heartstrings!' ...
The road to tender hearts : a novel
Hartnett, Annie.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush--bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death--by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely...
The stolen life of Colette Marceau
Harmel, Kristin
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author who "is the best there is at sweeping historical drama" (Kelly Harms, author of The Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a...
This book will bury me
Winstead, Ashley
Paper Book
The group dives into its research dutifully, but when three college students are viciously stabbed to death, seemingly at random, the entire online-sleuth community is set ablaze. Jane and her team decide to take their investigation into the real world, travelling to small-town Idaho to find answers...
What kind of paradise : a novel
Brown, Janelle
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation to discover that her whole life is a lie in this "absorbing and well-crafted" (The Washington Post) novel from the New York Times bestselling author...
When the moon hits your eye
Scalzi, John.
Paper Book
New York Times bestseller John Scalzi flies you to the moon with his most fantastic tale to date: When the Moon Hits Your Eye The moon has turned into cheese. Now humanity has to deal with it. For some it's an...
Witchcraft for wayward girls
Hendrix, Grady
Paper Book
"Superb ... a perfect horror for our imperfect age." - The New York Times AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER They were never girls, they were witches . . . . They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who...
You deserve to know
Thompson, Aggie Blum
Paper Book
A brand new suspense novel from "the master of the suburban scandal" (Samantha M. Bailey), Aggie Blum Thompson. Neighbors Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa share more than playdates and coffee mornings on their tranquil street in East Bethesda. They confide their deepest secrets, navigate...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.