3 Must-Read Award-Winning Books to Add to Your 2026 Reading List

Every reading list should include a variety of books in my opinion. Mixing things up keeps reading exciting and can introduce you to stories you might not normally pick up. That’s why we decided to share our list of award-winning books to read in 2026. Keep reading to see which titles made the list!

Some of my all-time favorite books are ones I picked up on a whim. Most of the time, I stick to my favorite genres or authors because it feels like the safe choice. But after a while, reading books with the same style and format can start to feel repetitive.

One of the best ways to break out of that cycle is by checking out award-winning books that critics and readers can’t stop talking about. These novels are recognized for their storytelling, writing, and impact, which means they’ve already passed a pretty high bar.

This list highlights three such novels that we believe everyone should read at least once. Some are beloved classics, while others are modern books that are simply too good to miss. And who knows—you might even discover a new favorite author along the way. You can check out the full list below!

3 Must-Read Award-Winning Books

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Pulitzer Prize)
• Holes by Louis Sachar 
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen 

The Goldfinch

The first novel we chose for this list was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is a novel unlike any other you will read. Tartt is known for writing one novel a decade but those novels are always worth the wait.

Theodore Decker is a thirteen-year-old who is visiting The Metropolitan Museum or Art in New York City with his mother. During the visit, he gets separated from his mother and soon after, a bomb goes off, killing his mother and numerous other people.

Soon after the explosion, Theo meets a dying old man who tells him to take the painting The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius. In a panicked state, Theo grabs the painting and stumbles out of the museum. 

Theo is taken in by the family of his best friend. During school, he befriends Boris, a trouble making kid. Eight years later, Theo is working for Hobie at his antique shop, making furniture. Boris shows up in his life again and reveals a shocking truth related to the painting Theo has hidden away for all those years.

Now, Theo has to right a lot of wrongs that he has done. But it won’t be easy as he gets involved in the underground world of art. He also has to make it up to Hobie for what he has done and come to terms with his mother’s death, something that he hasn’t come to terms with after all these years.

I loved this novel and while it is a long novel, it is a beautiful story. You can’t help but feel for Theo as he tries to navigate life without his mother.

Even If you don’t care much for art and paintings, you will love this beautiful novel. There is a lot of commentary about love and loss and what effect trauma can have one someone, even years later.

Holes

A novel that I read when I was young that I loved before I ever fell in love with reading was Holes by Louis Sachar. The novel went on to win the 1998 US National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal. Even almost three deuces later, the novel still holds up well.

Stanley Yalnets is wrongfully sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake for stealing a pair of shoes. Just like everything else bad that has happened to the Yalnets family, Stanley blames the bad luck on his great-great-grandfather. He was cursed for not keeping his end of the deal a long time ago. Now, Stanley has to dig holes in the desert with other juveniles for the foreseeable future.

Digging holes is supposed to straighten out the kids that were sent to Camp Green Lake. But Stanley soon realizes that the warden, Ms. Walker, is searching for something. With the help of new friends, Stanley plans to find whatever the warden is digging for and help him escape the camp once and for all.

The Sympathizer

I love a good historical fiction novel and recently read The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It was a powerful novel and I can see why it won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Vietnam War is one that is often ignored and forgotten but it has also shaped the lives of millions of people. And they have story to tell.

The novel is set in 1975 and the following years and takes place in Vietnam and Los Angeles. The protagonist is unnamed and is a half-Vietnamese, half-French undercover communist agent. He was sent to the United States as a kid to be educated and has a firm understanding of both American and Vietnamese values. 

Throughout the book, the unnamed protagonist tells us his story and being a double agent, trying to survive in the U.S in the 1970’s. His job requires him to be close to the General and report to his bosses even after the fall of Saigon.

It is a story about identity, love, survival, and what it means to live thousands of miles away from home follows and is a breath of fresh air as written by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor. Novels like these are why the Pulitzer Prize Award was created and why I love reading award winning books.

Conclusion

These are just three of the many amazing award winning books out there that you need to read. I loved each of these novels and was glad that I gave them a chance. Sometimes you have to just give a new book a chance and hope for the best.

More often than not, award winning novels live up to the hype around them. It is also a great way to bolster your reading list. And when you read amazing novels, you will want to keep reading. Sometimes, I like to see the runner ups and read the ones that catch my eye.

My reading journey has been shaped by these three novels and I can’t imagine a world where I didn’t read them. I am lucky that Holes was taught in school and it is a novel that is close to my heart.

Which books from this list have you read or plan to read? What other award winning books would you recommend? Let us know int he comments below. Until next time, happy reading!

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