26 Book I'm Reading in 2026

A feral reading list for 2026: a year of reclamation, creativity, and seasonal living.

This article contains Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting For the Feral.

2 + 0 + 2 + 6, when totalled together, is a 10 year -
Symbolic of a cycle of endings, beginnings, and sovereign becoming.
It marks a peak, a cresting point, a moment where one chapter closes so a new one can open with clearer vision and renewed strength.

1 is the spark of initiation;
0 is the fertile void that amplifies everything it touches.

Together, they create a threshold year - an invitation to step away from what was and into what’s waiting.

So for a year shaped by portals and possibility, I’m choosing books that act as anchors, mirrors, and catalysts. Pages and authors that offer their support as I seek to shed old skins, honour instinct over obligation, and enter my next cycle with intention. A few here are re-reads (because some books deserve to travel with you more than once), but many have lived on my TBR for a while - making this a space I’ll return to for accountability and inspiration.

Below is the reading list I’ve curated for myself, 26 books I’m reading in 2026 - a mix of mythology, trauma-healing, creativity, philosophy, and feral feminine reclamation. Some books are for growth, some for escapism, some for grounding, and some for pure magic.

I hope something here sparks a little inspiration for you too.

And really, 26 books is just over two books a month. So this is a gentle challenge to keep our minds active, nourished, and alive.

Lilith — Nikki Marmery

You’ll walk beside the first woman as she refuses to submit and spends millennia reclaiming power that was written out of history.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January — Alix E. Harrow

If you’ve ever felt out of place, this portal fantasy hands you a keyring of doors to other selves and other worlds.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson

When you want gothic, feral, and off-kilter, this is your visit into a haunted household where sisterhood is both refuge and curse.

Walking in the Woods — Yoshifumi Miyazaki

This is your reminder to slow-walk through the trees, breathe, and let the forest quietly rewire your nervous system.

Katabasis — R.F. Kuang

Come with two disaster grad students as they literally descend into hell; it’s dark academia meets underworld love story and burnout.

Circe — Madeline Miller

If you’ve ever felt “too much” or “not enough,” Circe’s exile, witchcraft, and eventual sovereignty will feel like watching your own power return.

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself — Dr. Joe Dispenza

Here you’ll learn how to stop rehearsing your past and literally rewire your brain toward the version of you you’re becoming.

You Are the Placebo — Dr. Joe Dispenza

This one asks you to treat your beliefs like medicine and shows how thought alone can start shifting your biology.

Becoming Supernatural — Dr. Joe Dispenza

When you’re ready to get weird on purpose, this book takes you from “self-help” into energy work, coherence, and everyday magic.

The Power — Naomi Alderman

If you’ve ever fantasised about flipping the patriarchy, this is the electric thought experiment where teenage girls suddenly hold all the voltage.

The Pivot Year — Brianna Wiest

This is your pocket oracle for 365 days of tiny perspective shifts that quietly change the trajectory of your life.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous — Ocean Vuong

When you need language to rip you open gently, this letter from son to mother will hold your grief and your becoming.

Wintering — Katherine May

You’ll learn how to treat your hard seasons like winters—necessary, sacred, and rich with unseen growth beneath the frost.

Tender Is the Flesh — Agustina Bazterrica

This one drags you through a cannibalistic dystopia so you can’t unsee the horror of how we commodify bodies.

Belonging — Toko-pa Turner

If you’ve never quite felt like you fit, this is a dreamy guide to weaving your longing, ancestry, and dreams into a sense of home.

Useless Magic — Florence Welch

Think of this as Florence’s spellbook—poems, lyrics, and scribbled charms that invite you to turn your own life into art.

The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk

Here you’ll finally see how trauma lives in the body—and what somatic healing can actually look like in practice.

Untamed — Glennon Doyle

This is your yearly reminder that you’re allowed to leave the cages, stop people-pleasing, and build a life that actually fits.

How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell

When you’re done being harvested by the attention economy, this book helps you reclaim your focus as an act of quiet rebellion.

The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron

If your creativity feels blocked, this is the 12-week ritual that walks you back to your inner artist, step by step.

Braiding Sweetgrass — Robin Wall Kimmerer

You’ll fall in love with the land all over again as science, Indigenous wisdom, and gratitude braid into one long love letter to Earth.

Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert

Whenever fear is loud, this book reminds you that ideas choose you and that play, not perfection, is the way forward.

Women Living Deliciously — Florence Given

This is your hype-priestess text for building a life that feels juicy, liberated, and completely uninterested in patriarchal rules.

Year of the Witch — Temperance Alden

If you want your witchcraft rooted in your land and your seasons, this book helps you build an intuitive, place-based wheel of the year.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being — Rick Rubin

This one invites you to live like an artist in every moment, treating attention itself as your primary creative tool.

Women Who Run With the Wolves — Clarissa Pinkola Estés

This is the deep, dense initiation text—stories and Jungian mythwork that help you remember your own wild woman at the bones.

The Courage to be Disliked — Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

An additional bonus read exploring self-acceptance, emotional freedom, and the courage to live without external validation. Rooted in Adlerian psychology, this book challenges the idea that we must be liked to live well, encouraging a quieter confidence and a more intentional relationship with self-worth.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck — Mark Manson

A reminder to release unnecessary pressure and focus on what genuinely matters. This book explores values-led living, emotional resilience, and choosing where to place your energy with greater intention.

If one of these titles calls your name, trust it. Books have a way of appearing exactly when we’re ready to shift. Here’s to a year of deep roots, wild edges, and pages that meet us in our becoming.

What should my first read of 2026 be?

If you decide to design your own 26-book reading list for 2026, tag me on Instagram @for_theferal so I can cheer you on!

A note on sourcing books:

Where possible, I always encourage sourcing books from your library or second-hand - local charity shops, independent bookshops, or online resale platforms (Vinted, Ebay, Facebook Marketplace). It’s often more affordable, more sustainable, and feels truer to slow, intentional reading.

I’ve included Amazon links here for accessibility and ease, but I always recommend choosing the most conscious option available to you.

26 Books I’m Reading in 2026