Somehow, it’s that time of the year again. Now, you might not be quite ready to deck the halls, break out the selection box, or crank up the Mariah Carey… but surely you’re ready for the Mr B’s Christmas Catalogue, which landed in-store last week, and is ready for some online perusal right here!
Our ultimate guide to gift-giving, the Christmas Catalogue features over 120 books and games, all handpicked and reviewed by the Mr B’s Team. Each team member has an official Book of the Year (featured in our Christmas Catalogue!)… but how can they possibly be expected to be happy with just one?
So, alongside their favourite, we’ve asked the Mr B’s team to give us their top 12 (or close enough!) reads of 2026. Each week we will bring you different members of the team so you can compile a brilliant selection of new favourites to add to your Christmas list.
Tom M’s Fave: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven
Tom M, our inimitable fiction lead (and the mastermind behind the Christmas Catalogue himself!) has put together a Top 12 of some of the best new fiction to be found, featuring big-hitters from Ben Lerner, Deborah Levy, and Elizabeth Strout. But he’s also gone digging for some old classics, which has lead him to Agota Kristof’s Notebook Trilogy, as well as his book of the year, B. Traven’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre!
Dobbs and Curtin, two American tramps in a Mexican oil town, team up with former prospector Howard, hoping to finally make their fortune. Chasing rumours of an untapped gold mine, they head for the Sierra Madre mountains… with predictably disastrous consequences. Tom says: Cannery Row-meets-The Call of the Wild in this gloriously entertaining cult adventure novel, now back in print for the first time in decades.
Nethmi’s Fave: Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
Nethmi, our resident horror fanatic (and newsletter champ!), has devoured some suitably spooky tomes this year… but she’s also dove headfirst into some family sagas, crime dramas, and an epic Western! Drawn to the speculative and the supernatural as well as deeply human stories in equal measure, it makes sense that Nethmi’s Book of the Year, Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim, brilliantly combines the two…
In this world, crossing borders splits a person into two halves – one who stays, and one who leaves. These instances might talk every day, or, like Soyoung and Rose, might part at the age of ten and reunite only years later for their grandfather’s funeral, wondering what life the other has lived. Nethmi says: A speculative novel that explores a question at the heart of the immigrant (and indeed, human) experience: what if?
Hannah’s Fave: The Monsters at the End of the World by Rebecca Orwin
Hannah, our children’s and schools lead, has just come back from maternity leave – and oh, how we’ve missed her! After welcoming her own little bookworm last year, Hannah’s gone even deeper into the wonderful world of children’s literature, and her list features some of the best new fiction across kids and teen, such as her Book of the Year, Rebecca Orwin’s dystopian middle-grade debut, The Monsters at the End of the World.
Sunny has always known the monsters from the water are dangerous, evil, and killing their land. But when she meets a monster, Mo, on the outskirts of their town and forms a bond with him, everything she thought she knew about her home and their world changes. Hannah says: “A beautiful, original story of friendship and bravery the likes of which I haven’t read before.”
Becky’s Fave: Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
Becky’s been holding down the fort whilst Hannah’s away, and her list features a brilliantly chaotic mix of middle-grade, teen, historical fiction, fantasy, and non-fiction – you can’t say the Mr B’s booksellers don’t have range! Even better, Becky’s book of the year is none of the above: Josh Silver’s adult debut, Fruit Fly – a slick thriller set in the literary-world.
Mallory, a struggling writer, is desperate for that bestseller and is inspired to ‘GO DARK, GO GAY and GO SAD’. Cue a twisted idea using Grindr to find her perfect authentic story in a man called Leo, a struggling addict with demons –exactly the story she needs. How far will Mallory go to pen the perfect story? Becky says: “A relentless, twisted story of obsession; my jaw never stopped hitting the ground.”