The Book Times

What I Have Been Reading This Spring (And Why You Should Too)

By The Book Times

Published: 2026-04-11 20:12:33

There is something about spring that makes you want to start fresh. New routines, new energy, a new stack of books on the nightstand. I have spent the last few weeks diving into some genuinely wonderful reads, and I wanted to share the ones that stuck with me — the ones I found myself thinking about in the shower, on my commute, and at 2 a.m. when I really should have been asleep.

This is not a list of "the 50 most anticipated releases" or whatever the publishing industry algorithm spits out every quarter. These are books I actually read, actually enjoyed, and would actually recommend to a friend over coffee.

Let us get into it.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

I will be honest: I picked this up because it was a Reese's Book Club pick and I thought it might be overhyped. I was wrong.

Wild Dark Shore is set on a fictional island called Shearwater — a tiny, wind-battered rock in the middle of nowhere that happens to house the world's largest seed bank. A family of four lives there as caretakers. Then, during a catastrophic storm, a stranger washes up on shore. And everything unravels.

What makes this book special is not just the mystery (though the twists are genuinely shocking). It is the way McConaghy writes about grief, about parenthood, about the desperate things people do to protect the ones they love. The prose is gorgeous without being showy. You can practically taste the salt air.

It has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026 , and honestly, it deserves to go further.

📚 Read it if you loved: The Light Between Oceans , Station Eleven , or anything by Delia Owens.

Find Wild Dark Shore on The Book Times →

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

I have a soft spot for nature writing, and Robert Macfarlane is probably the best living writer in the genre. His new book asks a question that sounds philosophical but turns out to be deeply practical: should rivers have legal rights?

Macfarlane takes you to three places — the cloud forests of northern Ecuador, where gold mining threatens ancient waterways; southern India, where communities are fighting to save rivers from industrial death; and Quebec, where an Indigenous-led campaign has given the Magpie River its own legal personhood.

What struck me most was not the politics but the poetry. Macfarlane writes about water the way some people write about love — with awe, tenderness, and a genuine sense of loss when it is damaged. This is not a lecture. It is a love letter to the natural world, with enough science and storytelling to keep even sceptical readers engaged.

Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2025.

📚 Read it if you loved: Underland , Braiding Sweetgrass , or The Overstory .

Find Is a River Alive? on The Book Times →

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Yes, this one has been around since 2012. No, it has not lost an ounce of relevance. I re-read it this month because I was trying to fix my morning routine (again), and I forgot how good it is.

Duhigg is a journalist, not an academic, and it shows — in the best possible way. He tells stories. The chapter about how Target figured out a teenager was pregnant before her father did (based on her shopping habits) is still one of the most unsettling and fascinating pieces of non-fiction I have ever read.

The core idea is simple: every habit follows a loop of Cue → Routine → Reward . Figure out the cue, swap the routine, keep the reward. It sounds almost too easy, but Duhigg builds the case so convincingly — with neuroscience, corporate case studies, and personal anecdotes — that you finish the book genuinely believing you can change.

Three million copies sold for a reason.

Read it if you liked: Atomic Habits , Thinking, Fast and Slow , or Deep Work .

Find The Power of Habit on The Book Times →

Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I paired this with The Power of Habit because they complement each other perfectly. Where Duhigg focuses on individual habits, the Heath brothers tackle something bigger: how do you create change when the odds are stacked against you?

The metaphor at the heart of the book is brilliant. Imagine a person riding an elephant along a path. The rider is your rational mind — analytical, planning ahead, easily overthinking. The elephant is your emotional mind — powerful, stubborn, driven by feeling. And the path is your environment.

Most change efforts fail because people only appeal to the rider ("here are the statistics, here is the plan"). But the elephant is the one with the real power. If the elephant does not want to move, the rider cannot force it.

The book is packed with examples that range from inspiring to jaw-dropping. Medical interns who changed decades-old hospital protocol. A nonprofit that solved malnutrition not with money but by watching what healthy families in poor villages were already doing differently.

It changed how I think about everything from parenting to product management.

Read it if you liked: Nudge , Made to Stick , or The Tipping Point .

Find Switch on The Book Times →

Aleph by Paulo Coelho

I go back and forth on Coelho. The Alchemist changed my life at nineteen. Some of his other books left me cold. Aleph falls firmly on the good side.

The setup: Coelho is in a spiritual crisis. His writing feels stale. His faith feels hollow. So he does what Coelho does — he embarks on a journey, this time on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. Along the way, he meets a young Turkish woman named Hilal, and what follows is part travelogue, part spiritual autobiography, part past-life exploration.

I know that last bit sounds woo-woo. But Coelho writes about it with such sincerity and such beautiful, stripped-down prose that even if you are a committed sceptic, you find yourself carried along. The scenes on the train — strangers opening up to each other, landscapes blurring past, time bending in conversation — are some of the most evocative travel writing I have read.

It is not for everyone. But if you are in a season of your life where something feels stuck or stale, it might be exactly the right book at the right time.

📚 Read it if you loved: The Alchemist , Siddhartha , or The Prophet .

Find Aleph on The Book Times →

So, What Should You Pick Up Next?

Here is my honest suggestion: do not try to read all five. Pick the one that made you feel something just reading the description. That little spark of curiosity? Follow it. That is your book.

If you want something that will keep you up at night: Wild Dark Shore .

If you want to feel more connected to the natural world: Is a River Alive?

If you want to finally fix that one habit you keep failing at: The Power of Habit .

If you are trying to lead change at work or home: Switch .

If you need a spiritual reset: Aleph .

Whatever you choose, I hope it gives you that feeling — you know the one. Where you close the book, sit quietly for a moment, and think: that was really, really good.

Happy reading.

Explore more recommendations, reviews, and curated lists at The Book Times .

Books in this guide