The best books to read right now
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
If you’ve been on a quest for the best books to read right now, you’re not alone.
Every month, thousands of readers embark on this journey, seeking that one book that will transform their thinking, ignite new ideas, or simply transport them to a world richer than their own. However, with millions of titles available and new releases emerging weekly, selecting the right book can feel like an insurmountable task.
That’s precisely why this guide exists.
Instead of presenting you with a random list, we’ve meticulously curated a selection of books that are trending, critically acclaimed, and genuinely impactful across various genres, including fiction, self-help, business, and memoir. Whether you’re craving a page-turning novel, a mindset upgrade, or a book that broadens your perspective, you’ll find something here that’s worth your time.
By the end of this blog, you won’t merely have a reading list; you’ll have your next great read.
Let’s embark on this literary adventure together.
The Delhi Gambit
SALIS MANIA CHOICE AWARDS 2026 NOMINEE
What happens when a democracy dares to challenge Silicon Valley's global dominance?
When India's Prime Minister Arjun Mehta announces policies that threaten trillion-dollar American tech monopolies, the CIA launches Project Garuda, the most sophisticated regime change operation since the Cold War. Can a twelve-month campaign of political manipulation, economic warfare, and media disinformation topple the world's largest democracy?
But what if the target has been watching the hunters all along?
Mehta is no ordinary politician—he’s a former spymaster who activates the Chanakya Protocol, turning America's own intelligence weapons against them. As fabricated scandals destroy reputations and cyber warfare rages in digital shadows, one question becomes paramount: Who is really controlling this deadly game?
When false flag terrorism threatens innocent lives, can ancient strategic wisdom defeat cutting-edge technology? In boardrooms and safe houses, through honey traps and financial warfare, two civilizations clash in a shadow war where the stakes are nothing less than the future of global power itself. Will America's intelligence supremacy prove unstoppable—or has the hunter finally met his match?
The Delhi Gambit proves that the most dangerous opponent isn't the one with superior firepower, but the one who knows that every strength contains the seeds of its own destruction.
Yesteryear
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A GMA BOOK CLUB PICK
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)
A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.
"A bold and biting satire, Yesteryear…will have you cackling and gasping right to the final page." —Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid series
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning, she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday, Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.
Dolly All the Time
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A hardworking single mom returns to her seaside hometown and stumbles into a fake dating situationship with a wealthy, workaholic scion, from the New York Times bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script.
“A luminous story of love, duty, and the tension between the two, Dolly All the Time is less like a novel and more like a place I never wanted to leave. This might be my new favorite!” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author
If they start by pretending, can they end with something real?
Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.
So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?
“This book is like a spicy margarita…sweet and a little salty, tart and hot…I have fallen in love with Dolly and with funny, fizzing Annabel Monaghan!” —Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich
Not so Happily Married
SALIS MANIA CHOICE AWARDS 2026 NOMINEE
He didn’t believe in love.
She dreamed of nothing else.
Their marriage was never meant to be a fairytale—until it started to feel like one.
Ayush Singhania, heir to the Singhania Industries empire, has no time for romance—or marriage. As the driven CEO, his focus is on building his legacy, not settling down. But when family pressures force him into an arranged match, he reluctantly agrees. And then he meets her—Khanak.
Khanak Tyagi, a spirited architect with dreams of love and success, never imagined her parents would corner her into marriage. But bound by duty, guilt, and something she doesn’t understand, she says yes, too—hoping to find companionship, maybe even love. What she finds instead is a harsh reality far from all her dreams and expectations.
Inside the opulent Singhania Mansion, her dreams begin to shatter. But something else starts too—something raw, unexpected, and deeply human.
Because real life doesn’t end with the wedding; it begins there.
Will Ayush and Khanak find love in the middle of the mess? Or will they always remain not so happily married?
The Stubborn Wolf
SALIS MANIA CHOICE AWARDS 2026 NOMINEE
The Stubborn Wolf is a story about two people who don’t believe in settling — neither in places nor in love.
Aarya is a documentary filmmaker who chooses roads over roots, stories over comfort, and truth over safety. She doesn’t belong to cities, families, or expectations. She belongs to movement. To unanswered questions. To the quiet strength of walking away when staying would mean losing herself.
Arjun is a man shaped by responsibility and restraint, carrying a past he rarely speaks about. When their paths cross, it isn’t fate or romance that binds them — it’s friction.
Two stubborn minds.
Two guarded hearts.
And a journey that refuses to stay simple.
As miles pass and conversations deepen, the road becomes more than a destination. It becomes a mirror — forcing them to confront loneliness, fear, love, and the cost of choosing freedom in a world that demands conformity.
This is not a story about perfect love.
It’s about choosing someone without owning them. About staying without trapping. About loving a soul wild enough to walk away — and strong enough to come back.
For readers who believe some people are not meant to be tamed, only understood.
All the Way to the River
By Elizabeth Gilbert
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK
“A delicious mashup of narrative that’s by turns harrowing and healing.” –People
“Entertaining, insightful, wrenching … punch-to-the-gut powerful.” –The Washington Post
“A blockbuster: brutally honest, lurid, transcendent, and compelling…Gilbert is undoubtedly a force.” —Boston Globe
In her first nonfiction book in a decade, the #1 bestselling writer who taught millions of readers to live authentically (Eat Pray Love) and creatively (Big Magic) shows how to break free.
In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.
What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening?
All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love—or to any other passion, substance, or craving—and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.
Small Things Like These
By Claire Keegan
NEW YORK TIMES TOP 100 BOOK OF THE 21st CENTURY
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is a poignant novella set in a small Irish town during the winter of 1985. The story unfolds in the weeks leading up to Christmas and follows Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, as he navigates his modest life and work.
The novella grapples with the challenges of doing the right thing in the face of societal and institutional pressure. It highlights the importance of family and small acts of kindness, emphasizing how these small things can have a profound impact. Keegan subtly critiques the oppressive power of the Catholic Church in Ireland and its role in perpetuating societal injustices, such as the operation of Magdalene laundries.
As Bill goes about his deliveries, he discovers unsettling truths about the local convent, which operates a Magdalene laundry where women are exploited and mistreated. This revelation forces him to confront his conscience and decide whether to take a stand, even if it means risking his own family's stability.
Keegan's prose is sparse yet deeply evocative, capturing the essence of a working-class life and the moral dilemmas that arise in it. Her writing is rich in atmosphere, creating a vivid sense of place and time.
Small Things Like These has been praised for its quiet power and emotional depth. It was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and has been celebrated as a modern classic for its timeless themes and exquisite storytelling.
This novella is a powerful reflection on courage, humanity, and the ripple effect of small acts of decency in a flawed world.
