Most book lovers would be happy to read books every day of the week, but with the demands of everyday life, that’s not always possible. This makes it all the more important to make the most of whatever time you get. And what better time to catch up on a great book than over the weekend?
For those of you looking for your next weekend read, there’s no shortage of great options out there from which to choose, but considering the sheer volume of books, new and old, that are available to readers today, it can be rather difficult to zero in on the really great ones. So, we’ve done the work for you. Here are three great books that we think you should read this weekend.
1
‘Dear Debbie’ (2026)
Freida McFadden Dear Debbie coverImage via Poisoned Pen Press
Written by Freida McFadden, Dear Debbie is a thriller novel that revolves around Debbie Mullen, the titular housewife and advice columnist who writes a weekly column for a local newspaper. After she and her family experience a string of unexpected misfortunes, Debbie sets out to seek vengeance against those she believes have wronged her. In the process, the story uncovers Debbie’s dark side and the complicated web of secrets surrounding her and her family.
Dear Debbie was quite warmly received by critics upon its publication in early 2026, earning praise for McFadden’s gripping narrative style and effective misdirections, which help the book’s final twists land all the better. It’s a great read for fans of female-led, character-driven psychological thrillers, particularly Gone Girl. A series adaptation of the book, developed by Amazon MGM Studios, was announced ahead of its publication as well.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
2
‘Sunburn’ (2023)
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle HowarthImage via Melville House
Irish author Chloe Michelle Howarth’s debut novel, Sunburn explores themes of LGBTQ+ romance and coming-of-age in the Irish countryside. The book is set against the backdrop of Ireland’s 1993 decriminalization of homosexuality, following Lucy Nolan as she explores her sexuality, enters into a passionate romance, and is eventually pushed to make a choice about her identity, all within the context of a rigidly conservative society. The book’s settings are partially inspired by the author’s own childhood, with the bulk of the story taking place in the fictional town of Crossmore.
First published in 2023, Sunburn made quite a splash with critics and earned several accolades, competing for the Polari First Book Prize, the Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction, the Readers’ Choice Award at the Diverse Book Awards, and the Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Presented through an intimate internal narrative, the novel contains depths of emotion and a beautiful prose style. Though it hasn’t been quite as popular with readers as it has with critics, the novel is certainly worth a read for fans of period queer romance.
3
‘The Bluest Eye’ (1970)
The Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonImage via Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
The debut novel of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye presents the heartbreaking story of a young African-American girl growing up in Lorain, Ohio, in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Raised with severe internalized insecurities about the “ugliness” of her dark skin and mannerisms, she dreams of having “beautiful” blue eyes. The narrative also reveals the pasts and struggles of her abusive parents and other members of the community.
These days, The Bluest Eye is most famous for the many attempts that have been made to ban it from schools and libraries, but that fact alone should tell you just how powerful the story really is. A searing narrative on race, class, love, trauma, and all their intersections, the novel easily ranks among the boldest and most brilliant works of American fiction written in the 20th century. It’s not an easy read — it’s not supposed to be — but it’s a genuine masterpiece that has been near-universally acclaimed ever since it was first published in 1970.
