Recommendation News: Winter 2026

Welcome to our Winter 2026 issue of the Rec News, an occasional publication featuring recommended recreational reading and the latest booklist suggestions from our SJPL Librarians. I will admit, it has been a little longer than I intended since I last sat down to highlight some reading lists to explore. As they say, life happens, but the good news is that with such a long wait since I last shared booklist updates, there are a great deal of updates to share. Let's jump right into some booklists that have had new entries added in the last several months.

Fresh Reads Added to Favorite Lists

As always, your SJPL Librarians have been scouring the shelves for the latest and greatest reads to fit all your reading tastes. Each of the lists below has had new titles added to it in the last few months. For many demographics, we actually have even more lists than this with recent updates, too many than is reasonable to link! Click on the heading to be taken to our library list-making profiles to discover all the lists we have on offer.

Adults

Teen/Young Adult (YA)

Kids (Young Readers, Elementary Readers, through Middle Grade)

Featured Booklists

Winter Reads for Adults

While many people love the changing of the seasons, I can't count myself among them. I lived in Sweden for a short time, and while I loved the country, culture, and people, I can't say I was the biggest fan of all the snow. I remember crying when it snowed roughly a foot in a short while in April while I was there. It's part of the reason I love the Bay; while we still have discernible seasons, the winters just don't winter like they do in other parts of the world. While I am quite content to live the rest of my days without a white Christmas or anything similar, I know that I am not the norm. Many people love a cold, wintery setting, and this booklist highlights about the only place I love a cold, wintery setting anymore- in a book. Each of the books on this list are "winter reads" in that the cold climate plays a role in the story. These books are from many genres, but will give the reader a taste of the season regardless.

Two NEW Booklists for Teens/Young Adults

Academies of Magic

Do young sorcerers ask their classmages to borrow a #2 magic wand? What does a magical promposal look like when you've settled on which witch to charm? When is the early admissions deadline for the College of Curses and Hexes? And can you join the varsity swim team even if you aren't a mermaid? Answer these questions with a book set in a magical school! This brand-new booklist for our library features a variety of stories that take place in-part of entirely in a school of magic. This list is for fans of the likes of the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson series, or the School for Good and Evil series, as they age out of middle-grade and into young adult reads. If you like reads where the mundane (going to school) collides with the magical (y'know, magic), you might study this list to find your next A+ read.

Best of YA Non-fiction

I know that a wiki article on the internet is most peoples' go-to to learn something new, but there are so many amazing non-fiction reads out there that I hope you all know you can always turn to the library for good information on the things you've taken an interest in; this list does a great job of rounding up a plethora of non-fiction works that are perfect for teens to young adults (or old adults like me...if you're reading, I know you're a young adult in your heart <3 ). This list doesn't focus on a specific topic. Instead, it aims to be an excellent cross-section of subjects of interest, with lessons delivered in a style that's easy to digest for this age group and beyond. This list also heavily features books that have won awards, or have had multiple starred review from literary publications, and there are several non-fiction graphic novels in the mix as well.

Kids - Lunar New Year

Happy New Year! This year, the Lunar New Year falls on February 17, and we will be kicking off the Year of the Horse. Were you born in 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, or 1930? Then you were born in the Year of the Horse (given you were born AFTER the Lunar New Year in that year). If anyone reading this was born in 1918 (also Horse), that's truly incredible! Celebrate this joyous holiday with a Lunar New Year story. All of these books are written for children, but of course, can be enjoyed by anyone of any age (even Horses born in 1918).

Browse Better With Booklists

There are a ton of upcoming observances, holidays, and celebrations you might choose to theme your reading around. You can search our catalog for our librarian-curated booklists using the instructions below to find reads for any occasion. Why not try searching for "Black History" or "Women's History" to see what kind of reading we recommend?

All our curated lists start with "SJPL Picks" or "SJPL Recommends"; this makes finding lists we make easy.

You can search for lists to browse curated picks! In the top-right corner of this page you will see our search bar. You need to change "keyword" to "list" from the dropdown menu to search for booklists.
Type SJPL Picks to pull up San José's lists first, and then try a genre or search term after. For example, let's try searching for nature/Earth oriented-books, called Green Reads, so we search for SJPL Picks Green Reads.
Hit the magnifying glass to search and you will pull up our related lists. To see the results of the Green Reads list search above you can click this link, opens a new window. You will see our four Green Reads lists for different age groups returned first, as well as some other lists from San José's librarians. Try this search strategy for a heritage month, your favorite genre, or even that niche subject you are looking for, and you'll be able to check out related lists in a jiffy.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Try looking at the profiles that host all our lists to browse everything we have on offer. Check out links that take you directly to our profiles in our Quick Links section at the end of this blog.

Of course, we also curate some pretty specific lists which may have unique titles quite like Green Reads used as our example above, and you may not know the term for it; if this is your situation, check our solution, directly below↓

SJPL 5forU, opens a new window

If you're looking for further recommendations and aren't in the mood to browse, let us do the browsing for you! San José Public Library's 5forU team offers personalized recommendations via email. You can also fill in the profile on someone else's behalf and we can find just the right titles - perfect for caregivers looking to recommend books to their children, for book clubs stumped on what to discuss next meeting, or if you're hoping to give the gift of literature. Just fill in the profile and we'll do the rest - and remember, the more information you give us in the profile, the better and more tailored your recommendations will be! Hearing exactly why you love or hate a book gives us more clues to find your new favorite- it just so happens to be what we love to talk about, too, so don't hold back. Ready to begin your 5forU journey?

Start your 5forU Request!, opens a new window

SJPL Picks: Quick Links

If this month's featured reads aren't quite what you're in the mood for, or you're looking to expand your browsing further, try checking out any and all of the lists from our librarians on our SJPL Picks team. All our lists will be labeled "SJPL Picks" or "SJPL Recommends".