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Spring Reading 2026

The arrival of spring signals the end of our Spring Reading contests. Many thanks to all who entered --- and a big congratulations to our winners! Below are the books that we think you will be talking about over the next few months.

» Click here to see the winners of this year's Spring Reading contests.

Fredrik Backman, author of My Friends

Most people don’t even notice them --- three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that unexpectedly will be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.

Week of July 20, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of July 20th include MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman, an unforgettably funny and deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life 25 years later; THE FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, an emotional story about family, sacrifice and transcendent love from Dean Koontz, in which a girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose; Francesca Serritella's FULL BLOOM, a stunning novel about ambition and untapped desire that finds a woman's life forever changed by a mysterious perfume; and POSITIVE OBSESSION by Susana M. Morris, a magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, Octavia E. Butler, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work.