Paperbacks to Look Out For in November 2026

It’s the slimmest of paperback pickings for November which includes two reissues, one to coincide with the publication of its long-awaited follow up, but I’m beginning with John Tottenham’s Service which follows John, a Los Angeles bookseller who’s failed at journalism and writing fiction. Now in his late forties, he’s dismayed at working in something he considers beneath him, irritated by his privileged customers’ demands, out of step with his younger colleagues and much of the rest of the world. ‘With dry wit, John Tottenham’s debut novel reflects on a farrago of contemporary afflictions: gentrification, debt, self-medication, male vanity, professional jealousy, the perils of political correctness, and the role of literature in the digital era’ says the blurb. I can’t resist a bookselling novel.

A surprise book of 2025 for me, Aja Gabel’s Lightbreakers follows Noah, who’s been invited to take part in what is essentially a time travel experiment funded by a billionaire, and his wife, Maya, stalled in her art and needing a direction, who accompanies him out into the Texan desert. Together for eight years, they’ve reached a stage where a decision must be made about having children, complicated by the loss of Noah’s daughter with his ex-wife and the grief that split them apart. Once inducted into the Janus Project, it’s clear that Noah’s to be the subject rather than involved in its design. I enjoyed this touching, immersive novel which makes a timely point about the ultra-rich’s desire to play God.

To coincide with the publication of his new novel, The Brightness, Chad Harbach’s publishers are reissuing The Art of Fielding published fifteen years ago. It follows three college students, and the daughter of their college president who’s returned home after a failed marriage only to find her father desperately in love. A badly aimed baseball throws everyone’s cards up into the air. I remember loving this much-hyped novel but need to pull my copy of the shelves for a refresher before reading his new one.

Similarly, Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News is getting a new lease of life thanks to the publication of Annie Proulx Stories . I remember selling shedloads of this Newfoundland-set novel which follows the newly widowed Quoyle home from New York City where he’s been living, taking his daughters with him. Established in his aunt’s childhood home and working as a reporter for The Gammy Bird, Quoyle begins to discover worrying secrets about his ancestors in what the blurb describes as ‘an irresistible comedy of human life and possibility’. Another novel well worth a reread.

I’m ending with Ingvild Rishøi’s Winter Stories whose characters struggle to cope with disadvantage, from a young single mother trying to support her daughter to an ex-con’s attempts to build a relationship with his son. ‘With empathy and sensitivity, Ingvild Rishøi beautifully illuminates the vulnerability of the human condition. In a time when levels of scepticism and distrust are rising, these stories remind us of the humanity that unites as all’ says the blurb which sounds right up my street.

That’s it for November. A click on a title will take you either to my review or to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with new fiction it’s here and here.