13 Books That Made Me Forget About My To-Do List

Posted May 11, 2026 by Prairie Wife -

If you’re looking for some books worth reading in 2026, this list below is full of stories that completely pulled me in. Life has been busy, loud, chaotic, and full lately, which honestly made getting lost in a really good book something I needed to stay sane. The books on this list pulled me out of my own head for a little while and dropped me into stories and perspectives I couldn’t stop thinking about even after I finished the last page (or hit the end of my audiobook)!

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

I know that I’m a little bit late to the “Hamnet” party…The movie has already come out and won tons of awards, but better late than never! As a huge Shakespeare fan, I found this historical fiction book about his wife and family captivating. Frankly, I feel like Shakespeare himself actually has a minor role in this book! I found myself comparing this book to “The Red Tent” because of the deep connection I felt to his wife and the profoundly and heartbreakingly beautiful descriptions of childbirth and motherhood.

The Restoration of Celia Fairchild by Marie Bostwick

Celia Fairchild is a well-known advice columnist known as ‘Dear Calpurnia’. Her marriage ends unexpectedly, and with it her hopes of becoming a mother through adoption. But as fate has it, Celia receives an answer to her “Dear Birthmother” letter, and so she decides to prove that even though she would now be a single mother, she’s the right person for this baby! What follows is the captivating story of Celia, her trauma-filled childhood, and the importance of surrounding yourself with friends who love you like family.

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden

In March 2020, Belle Burden was living the life of her dreams with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard. First, her husband of 20 years announces that he will be leaving her, and then COVID hits. Burden’s memoir is brutally honest, with details that will make you gasp, and descriptions of her grief and heartbreak that are both powerful and insightful.

The Bookbinders Secret by A.D. Bell

Lily is an apprentice Bookbinder in Oxford, England, in 1901. While working on a book, she finds hidden letters. At first, it seems that the letter simply describes a forbidden love, an affair from 50 years ago. As she finds more books in the series with hidden letters, Lily becomes obsessed with finding them all and learning the ending to this love story. But it soon becomes apparent that she isn’t the only one looking for the letters, and that the love story doesn’t have a happy ending. This story has unexpected twists and turns, and an ending that will have you wanting to reread the book to discover all the details you missed!

The Friendship Fling by Georgia Stone

This book is perfect for the beach or for sitting outside on your deck and reading in the sun. It’s a lighthearted (and yes, predictable) romance novel about Ava and Finn. Ava is pessimistic with an edge, and Finn is the eternal optimist, the human version of a Golden Retriever. They meet at the London coffee shop where Ava works, and what begins as a summer-only friendship begins to turn into something more as the days tick by. But, will Ava and Finn decide to make a go of a relationship or let it fizzle out as Summer ends?

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

It’s the 1920’s in Chicago, and Hadley Richardson is living a quiet life…until she meets a man named Ernest Hemingway. Their love is fierce, and they head to the city of Paris after their whirlwind romance and wedding. While there, they fall in with other literary giants of the time (though they were all just getting started), like Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The fast-paced life full of drinking, questionable relationships, big egos, and angst-filled late nights where Hemingway ponders his worth, starts to chip away at their marriage. This Historical fiction novel is well-written, and even if you already know what will happen to their marriage, you won’t want to put it down.

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown

It has been 10 years since Maya graduated from Princeton, and while on campus for her reunion, she’s looking forward to spending time with her little sister Naomi, who is currently attending the school herself and about to graduate. When she receives a phone call that her beloved sister’s body was found at a nearby park, she knows that it wasn’t an accident. She is taken back to her own time at the University and her membership in Stirling Club, the most exclusive eating club on campus. She can’t stop thinking about the tragic death of a friend of hers. Against her advice, her sister joined the same club, and Maya fears that its dark, hidden secrets are behind Naomi’s death. Will solving what happened to her friend lead to answers about what happened to her sister?

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

This fun fantasy novel is about a third-generation Book Witch, Rainy March. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps in and out of novels to fix changes to the plot made by the enemy and rogue book characters that have left the pages to experience real life. Rainy always skirts along the edges of what’s proper, but falling in love with the character The Duke of Chicago is a definite no. She’s eventually caught and separates herself from him, but when her grandfather and the book her mother left her after her death both become missing, she decides it’s time to break ALL the rules.

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley

This book was our Prairie Wife Virtual Book Club pick for April 2026, and we all LOVED it. This book is set in a small town in Wyoming in the 1980s and follows a family whose mother is from India and whose father is an American oil field worker. While the book at first seems to be about the murder of their uncle, it’s really more about two young sisters and what it’s like to be someone caught in between.

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

This is the first book of 4 in Hilderbrand’s “Nantucket Series.” Book 3 in the series was made into a popular Netflix Limited Series, “The Perfect Couple.” Like many women, Claire has trouble saying no, and as a busy mom with several young children, she’s always feeling stretched thin. When guilt forces her to accept the position of committee co-chair for a large charity event on the island, she finds herself pulled in too many directions to handle. Will she deal with her stress by keeping her focus where it belongs, or will she become too distracted by the handsome Lock Dixon? This book is a fabulous beach read that will keep you captivated from beginning to end. And I’ve read two other books in the series and haven’t been disappointed!

The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston

Xanthe has always had a connection with the antiques she finds. When she touches them, she can sense the past they come from and the stories they hold, which helps her as she works with her mother, Flora, in the family’s antique shop. In the story, Xanthe and her mother leave London behind to take over an antique store in a small country village. While there, she has an intense connection to a beautiful silver chatelaine and knows she has to learn more! When she brings it back to the shop, she’s confronted by a ghost who uses her powers to transport Xanthe hundreds of years into the past to save the ghost’s daughter. The ghost makes it clear that if Xanthe fails in her mission, her mother will pay the price.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

It’s the 1950s in Washington D.C. and The Briar Club is a boarding house for women that’s full of many vibrant characters. Each woman has her own struggles, except for the newest boarder a beautiful and confident widow named Grace March. Her kindness brings all of the boarders together every week for a dinner. As we get to know the characters better as the books go on, the dark paranoia of the McCarthy era begins to erode the sense of peace and calm the women have created. There were so many great characters in this book that I can’t pick a favorite, which I think is the sign of a well-written book!

The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

This book is a lighthearted read with just enough eccentric British characters to keep you interested. Effie’s parents get divorced, and her father’s new (much younger) girlfriend decides it’s time to sell the massive estate that defined Effie’s childhood. Despite being estranged from her father, Effie wants to say goodbye to her childhood home. What happens next is a weekend full of sneaky plans, awkward run-ins, and secrets being overheard that change everything.

Do you have any book recommendations for me?! Leave them in the comments!

13 Books That Made Me Forget About My To-Do List

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