Unabridged: Most Anticipated Books of 2026 with Sara Hildreth and Cree Myles

Summary

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The Stacks Unabridged

Most Anticipated Books to Start Off 2026

Host: Traci Thomas
Guests: Sara Hildreth and Cree Myles
Date: January 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively annual tradition, Traci Thomas welcomes book influencers Sara Hildreth (Fiction Matters) and Cree Myles (curator of Penguin Random House’s Always Black) to share and discuss their most anticipated book releases for the first half of 2026. The trio also reflect on the previous year's uneven landscape in publishing, lamenting the lack of a clear "book of the year" in 2025, and muse about their reading habits and hopes for the coming months. The conversation is candid, humorous, and full of the joyful banter fans of The Stacks have come to expect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: All About Anticipation

• Annual Tradition: Traci emphasizes this is one of the most highly anticipated and favorite episodes for both listeners and the hosts.
• Format Note: There's an exclusive full episode for Patreon/Substack subscribers, with this public section serving as an enticing preview.
• Guest Introductions:
  • Cree Myles: Curator of Penguin Random House’s Always Black, known for literary advocacy, rap music analysis, and her online bookish presence.
    • “Maybe you know Cree from the rap. Maybe you know Cree from the books. Maybe you know Cree from both. Maybe you know Cree from her organizer days pre all of this, back when she was black Emily Dickinson. True that.” (03:08, Traci)
  • Sara Hildreth: The mind behind Fiction Matters, an ex-English teacher, substack author, and casual podcaster with “Books That Matter.”
    • “She is by far the smartest person in this group for sure, hands down. There’s like… not even close.” (04:06, Traci)

2. Reflecting on 2025: An Anomalous Year in Books

• Lack of Consensus:
  • Sara points out how 2025 broke trends: "2025 felt like an anomaly where the pendulum...shifted to the other side...in 2024, we had so much consensus around what the best books were, and then in 2025, it felt like we had no consensus." (05:24, Sara)
• Impact on Reading Enjoyment:
  • Traci admits that the search for the "it book" of 2025 left her underwhelmed by many reads, noting that perhaps with less pressure she might have enjoyed books more. (06:32, Traci)
• Personal Highlights from the Year:
  • Cree mentions Rob Franklin’s debut and “Black Minor Figures” by Brandon as personal favorites, along with Gloria Naylor’s Linden Hills.
    • "I loved that debut. I loved Black Minor Figures by Brandon... my favorite book of the year that I read was Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor." (07:01, Cree)
• Chasing Obscurities:
  • Cree advocates for reading beyond trends: “Stop with the trends. Just find an obscure ass book that you can fall in love with and tell everybody about.” (07:16, Cree)
• The Risk of No Consensus:
  • Traci blames Sara (tongue-in-cheek) for 2025’s chaos, recalling that Sara wished for "no consensus" in the prior year's episode. "You said you didn’t want consensus. You wanted more parity." (07:57, Traci)
  • Both Sara and Traci reflect on how end-of-year lists included many books they’d never heard of, making them question their taste and industry awareness.
    • “Do I have taste anymore? Or, like, am I… Do I have awareness of even what is publishing?” (08:47, Sara)

3. Hopes and Goals for 2026

• Desire for Balance:
  • Sara articulates a hope for equilibrium, where there’s both "personal discovery" and a few universally beloved “darlings.”
    • “That’s what I’m hoping for, a little bit more equilibrium this year where I don’t feel blindsided by the list, but that there’s still room for... personal discovery.” (09:29, Sara)
  • Traci echoes this wish: “I like a year where there’s some darlings and then there’s also some randos.” (09:45, Traci)
• Cultural Parallels:
  • Traci draws a clever analogy between literary prizes and the Golden Globes, wishing for predictable nominees but surprise winners:
    • “I want the National Book Award list to have, like, five books by just like, amazing old standard... but that... the person who wins is like, you know, the Rose Byrne of whatever.” (10:03, Traci)

4. Outlooks on Reading Approaches for 2026

• Backlist vs. New Releases:
  • Cree admits she's more interested in backlist titles than new releases for 2026, intending to seek inspiration from Sara and Traci’s anticipated lists. (03:46, Cree)
  • Traci inquires about whether the peculiarities of 2025 will impact their future reading habits, leading to a brief acknowledgment from Sara about her backlist focus. (10:50, Traci)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Traci, on audience demand:

  • “My people are just… They’re so bossy to me. I’m like, listen, I invented bossy. You don’t tell me what episodes you want. I tell you what episodes I want to give you, and I want to give you this episode.” (02:30, Traci)

• Cree, on status as personality hire:

  • “I’m the personality hire on this episode for sure...” (03:30, Cree)

• Sara, on her podcast philosophy:

  • “It’s like when I feel like talking to an author that I like, which is not often.” (04:44, Sara)

• Sara, reflecting on the year’s dynamics:

  • “Especially as all of the lists were coming out, I was like, do I have taste anymore? Or, like, am I… Do I have awareness of even what is publishing? Because I felt so surprised by a lot of the lists.” (08:47, Sara)

• Cree, on reading trends:

  • “Stop with the trends. Just find an obscure ass book that you can fall in love with and tell everybody about.” (07:16, Cree)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:47] Traci welcomes Cree and Sara; playful banter about anticipation for the episode
• [03:08] Traci introduces Cree and her multifaceted literary/rapping identity
• [04:06] Traci introduces Sara and her bookish credentials
• [05:05] Discussion turns to 2025 in review: was it a good year in books?
• [05:24] Sara describes the lack of consensus and the pendulum swing in 2025
• [06:32] Traci reflects on how the lack of a "book of the year" altered her reading experience
• [07:01] Cree and Sara enumerate their favorite reads from 2025
• [07:39] Traci blames Sara for wishing away consensus and contributing to 2025 chaos
• [08:47] Sara and Traci discuss feeling out of touch with best-of lists
• [09:45] Traci and Sara express hopes for a balanced 2026 reading year
• [10:03] Traci’s Golden Globes analogy on prizes vs. surprise winners
• [10:50] Reflection on shifting reading strategies for 2026

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Tone & Style

The episode is marked by playful teasing, open self-reflection, and candid critique of the current literary landscape, all delivered in the warm, humorous, and intelligent tone that characterizes The Stacks. Each participant brings their distinct personality: Traci’s boldness and humor, Cree’s offbeat energy and musical references, and Sara’s thoughtful, measured insights.

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Note: The conversation ends at about 11 minutes, with the remainder available exclusively for paid supporters on Patreon or Substack.

Transcript

[A]

Hey everybody, it's me, Tracy Thomas, host of the Stacks. And this is another episode of the Stacks Unabridged, our exclusive Patreon and Substack monthly bonus episode. Today is one of everyone's favorite annual traditions. I am joined by Cree Miles and Sarah Hildreth, two of my absolute favorite readers, to share our most anticipated books of 2026. From the start of the year through June, it's you are listening to this episode and it cuts off after about 10 to 15 minutes. That means you are not a paid subscriber to the Substack or the Patreon. And if you want to listen to the rest of the episode, you've got to subscribe on a paid tier. In addition to getting this episode today, you will also get access to all of the backlist episodes. And depending on if you join the Patreon on the substack, you will get different perks. I like to think of it like this. Patreon is more of a place around community, so we do our monthly virtual book club meetups. We have a very active Discord Channel channel that is going all hours of day and night. Then on the sub stack side, you're going to get more of my takes. It's more of me writing pop culture, book reviews, hot takes, things I love, things I hate. Both places do get access to my annual non fiction reading guide. They get to vote in the Stackies so it's a combination. But pick the place that feels right for you. You can do that by going to patreon.com the stacks to join the Stacks pack or subscribe to the newsletter by going to Tracy thomas.substack.com okay, that's enough. Now it is time for the most anticipated books of 2026 with Sarah Hildreth and Cree Miles.

[B]

All right, everybody. I have completely lost control of my own podcast because all of you listening at home, Patreon and Substack subscribers, you won't get off my back about when is this episode coming? I want to remind you, I make the show. Okay? This is my podcast and the episode.

[A]

Is on time, where it's always supposed to be.

[B]

The second to last Friday of January, we are doing our most anticipated books of 2026 Part 1, featuring good friends of the pod Cre Miles and Sarah Hildreth. Ladies, welcome back.

[C]

So excited.

[B]

I'm so excited. My people are just. They're so. They're so bossy to me. I'm like, listen, I invented bossy. You don't tell me what episodes you Want. I tell you what episodes I want to give you, and I want to give you this episode. It's the best thing we do every year, and it's one of the first things we do, and then it's just really, truly downhill until June when you guys come back and we reset. W. Lies.

[D]

Those are lies.

[C]

Yeah. That's not true.

[B]

People who don't know, I'm gonna give.

[A]

You the quick rundown.

[B]

Cree is the curator of Penguin Random House, is always black. She's an online book person. She got her own now. She does rap music. I don't know if you've ever heard of rap music.

[D]

I've always been a rapper.

[B]

You've always been a rapper, but now you're doing the rap music analysis aggressively on the social. So maybe you know Cree from the rap. Maybe you know Cree from the books. Maybe you know Cree from both. Maybe you know Cree from her organizer days pre. All of this back when she was black. Emily Dickinson. True that.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

I love that. Was a very comprehensive introduction, you guys. I'm the personality hire on this episode for sure, but really looking forward to Sarah Tracy's list.

[B]

I mean, I thought I was the personality hire.

[D]

No, I realized as I was putting this list together, I was like, I don't. Am I pressed about these 20, 26 releases? I'm trying to read some backlist, so I have a few for each month. But mostly I'm going to get inspiration from you guys.

[B]

Okay, great. And then my other guest is Sarah Hildreth.

[A]

She is the reader behind Fiction Matters, which is her Instagram and her sub stack.

[B]

She is by far the smartest person in this group for sure, hands down. There's like. It's like, not even close. She's a former English teacher, current English teacher to the Internet, and.

[A]

Well, I'm gonna let you guys talk.

[B]

About what you're both working on now, but.

[A]

And, well, you, I guess. Do you consider the new podcast endeavor, Sarah, to be part of Fiction Matters, or do you consider that its own separate thing?

[C]

I. I consider it to be part of Fiction Matters. Okay. In large part, it's called Books that Matter. Yes, it's called Books that Matter, and I'm. I'm not doing it on any sort of regular schedule.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Which is why I'm not considering its own podcast endeavor. Like, it's not weekly. It's barely even bi weekly. It's like when I feel like talking to an author that I like, which is not often.

[B]

You know, I usually, you know, unfortunately, got pigeon sold myself into talking authors, But I don't always like that.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah, dude.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Before we get to 2026. So let's quickly, quickly try to quickly, what did we make of 2025 as a year in books? Anything that we thought were great, any things that we thought were, we hope do not carry over into 2026. What's the takeaway?

[C]

I mean, I think folks have already said this. You talked about this on your best books of the year episode, Tracy. But 2025 felt like an anomaly where the pendulum swaying and swing swung. I don't know. English.

[B]

Swang, swank. Sounds like, inappropriate.

[D]

All language is made up.

[C]

There we go. The pendulum has shifted to the other side, where in 2024, we had so much consensus around what the best books were. And then in 2025, it felt like we had no consensus. I think both years are anomalies. And so I'm wondering if we'll reach some sort of equilibrium in 2026. But I think that was, like, the big talking point of 2025, that there wasn't a book that was, like, critically beloved, up for prize list and read by, you know, your aunt who you saw at Thanksgiving, like, that. There just wasn't a lot of crossover there. I think there were still some really good books, but I think that just made for a little bit of an unsettling year in reading.

[A]

I agree with that.

[B]

I feel like. Because I was always, like, searching for the book in 2025, I think I read a lot of things and wasn't, like, totally 100% wowed by them. I was like, oh, that wasn't good. But if they had shown up in a different year when I was sort of like, more like, I was like, okay, James is the book of the year. I can just read these other things and enjoy myself. I think I might have liked things more. And, like, maybe in retrospect, I'll be like, that book actually was pretty good. Um, though I still stand with. I think that 2025 was sort of a debt of a year.

[D]

But, I mean, I. Like, we were talking about Rob Franklin before you went live. I loved that debut. I loved Black Minor Figures by Brandon.

[C]

Yes, me too. It was one of my favorites of the year. Yeah.

[D]

And then, I mean, really, my favorite book of the year was that I read was Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor. So I don't know, I saw a book talk where it was like, stop with the trends. Just find an obscure ass book that you can fall in love with and tell everybody about. So that's what I am. You guys put down James.

[C]

Okay.

[D]

Go find something that we've never heard of.

[B]

Wow. A challenge. I do want to say I went back and listened to the beginning of last year's episode, and, Sarah, I do sort of blame you. And a little bit I blame myself for 2025 because what you said you wanted. Oh, in 2025.

[C]

I cursed us.

[B]

I remember you did. You said you didn't want consensus.

[A]

You wanted more parody.

[B]

You wanted to discover my book of the year.

[C]

Love that.

[B]

Well, I love it in theory, until it meant last year was the most chaotic year where every book that was on every list, I was like, I've. I've never heard of this book. That was what was crazy to me at the end of last year when all the lists came out and I was like, I read 70 books that came out in 2025. And, like, it would be like 100 best books of the year. And I. And I would be like, I read seven of those. Like, I'm just. How are.

[A]

How.

[B]

What happened? Like, it was like sort of a mind of a year. There were so many books that I was like, not. I've never heard of this. Like, how is this the best book of the year? But it's only showing up on this, like, one list. And then, like, it was just so. Anyway.

[A]

So, Sarah, your fault.

[C]

Well, yeah. That's what I mean by. It was unsettling. Like, I. I ended up. When I'm looking at the books that I read, I feel like I read some really good books. But I agree that especially as all of the lists were coming out, I was like, do I have taste anymore? Or, like, am I. Do I have awareness of even what is publishing? Because I felt so surprised by a lot of the lists. But I do. I do think I still would prefer that to, oh, yes, my number one book is everybody else's number one.

[D]

Right.

[C]

So. But I'm hoping we. That's what I'm hoping for, a little bit more equilibrium this year where I don't feel blindsided by the list.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But that there's still room for, I don't know, more personal discovery in the book.

[A]

Yeah, I. Like a year where there's some darlings and then there's also some randos.

[C]

Perfectly said.

[B]

That's what I want. Yeah.

[A]

Do you.

[B]

Did you guys watch the Golden Globes? Do you guys care about movies? Okay, so I live in la.

[A]

It's like something you have to do.

[B]

But I haven't seen a lot of the movies this year.

[A]

And what I loved about the Golden.

[B]

Globes this year is it was like every category that was like, someone nominated from Sinners and someone nominated for one battle after another, but in almost like all the categories those people never won. And that's sort of what I want, is like, I want the National Book Award list to have, like, five books by just like, amazing old standard. Like, everybody agrees, like, this Tayari Jones has got to be on the list, but that, like, the person who wins is like, you know, the Rose Byrne of whatever. No shade to Rose Byrne. But it's like, nobody thought Rose Byrne was gonna, like, win an award. And I should say nobody. I just me. Because I didn't even know she was in a movie this year. And again, I've not seen very many movies this year. So this is really a me thing. But you know what I'm saying.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you think you will change your.

[B]

Approach to reading in 2026 based off of your experience in 2025? Sarah K. I know your approach is backlist.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, that's it. If you want more of this episode of the Stacks on a Bridge, you must join the Stacks Pack on Patreon.

[B]

By going to patreon.com the stacks or.

[A]

Subscribe to my newsletter unstacked@tracy thomas.substack.com and remember, by joining either of those places, you make it possible for me to make the Stacks every single week free to all. Thank you so much for your support and we will see you in the snacks.