YouTube roundup: best books so far

BookTube’s “best books so far” videos are basically a midyear sorting tool. A creator reads through the first few months of the year, throws out the misses, and hands viewers a tiny shortlist worth paying attention to. That’s what happened here on May 5, when Petrik Leo posted a wrap-up video that doubles as his best-books-so-far list for 2026. (youtube.com) ### What actually got posted? The video is called “Wrap-Up and My Best Books of the Year So Far (2026),” and it came from Petrik Leo, a fantasy-and-science-fiction BookTuber with about 45.4K subscribers. The video had a little over 1,000 views within hours, which tells you this is not some mass-market publishing event. It’s a curator moment — one reader, one audience, one compact set of judgments. (youtube([youtube.com) is this one a little different? Because it isn’t a giant “top 10” or “quarterly favorites” dump. Leo says he read only three novels from February through April 2026, then turned that slowdown into the point of the video. That makes the list more selective than performative. Instead of breadth, you get a very tight signal — these are the books that survived a sparse reading stretch. (youtube.com) made the cut? The chapter list gives the three titles directly: *Scion* by James Islington, *Lonesome Dove* by Larry McMurtry, and *Once There Were Heroes* by Philip C. Quaintrell. Leo also says he found a new 5-star book, and the timing in the description points to *Scion* as the fresh standout. So the roundup blends one newer genre title with older or more established picks — exactly the mix that makes these videos useful. (youtube.com) ### Why do readers care about lists this small? Because a shortlist solves a real problem. Most readers do not need 40 recommendations in May. They need one or two books they can trust before the bigger summer and fall release machine starts shouting. A three-book list feels less like content and more like triage — especially when the creator is explicit about pace, enthusiasm, and what actually earned top marks. (youtube.com) ### Is this just one creator’s taste? Yes — but that’s also the value. BookTube recommendation culture runs on identifiable taste profiles, not fake objectivity. You can see the wider pattern in other 2026 videos: Emily Fox framed her own “best books” video around eight favorites from 36 books read, while another creator built a full video around the New York Times’ 13 best books of 2026 so far. Leo’s versi(youtube.com)ctrum. (youtube.com) ### So how should someone use a video like this? As a screening layer, not a verdict. Pull the two or three titles that match your taste, then check a sample, a review, or a synopsis before committing. That works especially well with a list like this one because the pool is so small. You are not being asked to absorb a whole season of publishing — just to notice the books one trusted reader could not stop thinking about. (youtube.com) ### What’s the bigger trend here? Turns out these “best books so far” videos are becoming a calendar marker in online reading culture. They land between new-release hype and year-end canon making. They are early enough to surface discovery titles, but late enough to show what actually stuck. That makes them useful not just for readers, but for publishers and authors watching which books are earning genuine word-of-mouth. (youtube.com) ### Bottom line This wasn’t a huge literary event. It was something smaller and, for many readers, more practical — a credible BookTube curator taking a thin reading stretch and turning it into three books worth your attention right now. (youtube.com)