If this month’s selections could be awarded superlatives, they’d include Longest (for Jill Lepore’s 720-page history), Shortest (for the under-200-pages “Pick a Color”), Most Striking (for Stephen Curry’s gorgeous autobiography) and Most Surprising (for David Gelles’s portrait of Yvon Chouinard). There’s a book for every attention span and every interest out there. Writers, journalists and authors continue to find stories and perspectives that surprise us. It’s your choice whether you want to escape or explore this world. Happy reading!
FICTION
Mercy By Joan SilberCounterpoint: 256 pages, $27(Sept. 2)
Silber’s “Mercy” is not strained, pace Shakespeare, but stretches easily to include “the mercy of untold secrets told.” Secrets abound among the characters whose brief encounter at a New York emergency room sets action across decades in motion: Ivan and Eddie, as well as Cara and Nina, are only tangentially connected. Yet Silber, winner of PEN/Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle awards, helps readers to see that even the most subtle moments can change lives and lead to peace.
The Wilderness By Angela FlournoyMariner Books: 304 pages, $30(Sept. 16)
Flournoy (“The Turner House”) tells the story of five female friends whose lives from 2008 into the near future rise and fall, with the added impact of their identities as Black Americans on both personal and societal events. As sisters Desiree and Danielle and their friends January, Monique and Nakia navigate adult life, they also confront racism, the global pandemic and their evolving dreams. This novel is a triumph.
Underspin By E. Y. ZhaoAstra House: 304 pages, $27(Sept. 23)
Zhao’s debut opens with the memorial service for competitive table-tennis star Ryan Lo, dead at just 24, told from the perspective of his grieving mother, Annie. The first half consists of narratives from Ryan’s training mate Kevin; a referee named Kagin; Ellen, whose skills don’t match her love for the sport; and finally Rahul, who wants to have a life instead of a regimen. But what role did Ryan’s coach Kristian play in pushing his top seed over the edge?
What We Can Know By Ian McEwanKnopf: 320 pages, $30(Sept. 23)
“My ambition in this novel was to let the past, present and future address each other across the barriers of time,” McEwan said earlier this year. It’s up to readers to determine whether he succeeded, but it’s a magnificent attempt nonetheless. In 2119, with Great Britain transformed into an archipelago by rising tides, a humanities professor named Thomas Metcalfe tries to solve the mystery of a lost poem. The real mystery, the author seems to believe, is human memory.
Pick a Color By Souvantham ThammavongsaLittle, Brown & Co.: 192 pages, $28(Sept. 30)
Thammavongsa lives in Toronto, the city to which her Lao parents immigrated from a Thai refugee camp when she was a baby. As a Canadian author, she won that nation’s prestigious Giller Prize in 2020 for her short-story collection “How to Pronounce Knife.” Her first novel is set at a North American nail salon run by the pragmatic and witty Ning, who was once a professional boxer. The narrative is less sucker punch than brilliant feints and jabs.
NONFICTION
All the Way to the River By Elizabeth GilbertRiverhead: 400 pages, $35(Sept. 9)
Gilbert’s journey from “Eat Pray Love” to “All the Way to the River” has been long and winding. Here she focuses on Rayya, whom she met in 2002 and for whom she left her husband in 2016. Both women struggled with addiction, and the narrative is harrowing, especially as Rayya grows sicker and then dies from cancer in 2018. What makes this book worthy is the author’s fierce self-reckoning: There’s no easy triumph, just more hard work.
Dirtbag Billionaire By David GellesSimon & Schuster: 320 pages, $30(Sept. 9)
Yvon Chouinard was a “dirtbag” — someone committed to an alternative lifestyle — long before founding outdoor giant Patagonia in 1970. His family’s move to California when he was 8 sparked his love for falcon nests and led to his passion for climbing. He built his company intentionally, and in 2022, its value at $3 billion, he sold it to a trust and nonprofit. The 86-year-old iconoclast is now sought after by corporations as a consultant.
Shot Ready By Stephen CurryOne World: 432 pages, $50(Sept. 9)
Divided into three sections — rookie, pro and veteran — basketball superstar Curry’s new book is less a memoir than a philosophic take on how to succeed at different stages of life, no matter who you are or what you do. Packed with 100 photographs, the book is “an in-depth look into my approach to the journey, built on preparation, growth, creativity, connection, mindfulness, and finding joy in everything along the way,” the sports icon says.
This Is for Everyone By Tim Berners-LeeFarrar, Straus & Giroux: 400 pages, $30(Sept. 9)
While Al Gore did not invent the internet, Tim Berners-Lee undeniably invented the World Wide Web, beginning his work in the 1980s at Geneva’s CERN laboratories. Given the satisfied tone of this memoir-cum-history, he’s unlikely to let anyone forget it. Nevertheless, his account of how he realized that layering hyperlinks could “connect everyone” and why he chose to keep his source code open to the public is truly fascinating.
We the People By Jill LeporeLiveright: 720 pages, $40(Sept. 16)
Historian Jill Lepore (“These Truths,” e.g.) emphasizes Article V of the U.S. Constitution, which outlines how the document can be amended. In Lepore’s view, the Constitution should be frequently changed, both because she believes that was the Founding Fathers’ intent and because it makes sense for a growing, changing nation to have a “living” code of governance. “We the People” is a timely and essential read.
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