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Readers' Most Anticipated Books for October
At the beginning of each calendar month, ŷ� crack editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books hitting shelves, actual and virtual. The list is generated by evaluating readers� early reviews and tracking which titles are being added toWant to Readshelves by ŷ regulars.
Each month’s curated preview features new books from across the genre spectrum: contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, nonfiction, and more. Think of it as a literary smorgasbord. Check out whatever looks delicious.
New in October: Author Nikki May reimagines Mansfield Park in Nigeria with This Motherless Land. Freida McFadden investigates brutal murders in New York City with The Boyfriend. And Jeff VanderMeer returns to the extradimensional Area X with Absolution.
Also on tap this month: Old West anarchists in Russia, a murder mystery in Scotland, and the latest from.
Add the books that catch your eye to yourWant to Readshelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments section.
Each month’s curated preview features new books from across the genre spectrum: contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy, romance, horror, young adult, nonfiction, and more. Think of it as a literary smorgasbord. Check out whatever looks delicious.
New in October: Author Nikki May reimagines Mansfield Park in Nigeria with This Motherless Land. Freida McFadden investigates brutal murders in New York City with The Boyfriend. And Jeff VanderMeer returns to the extradimensional Area X with Absolution.
Also on tap this month: Old West anarchists in Russia, a murder mystery in Scotland, and the latest from.
Add the books that catch your eye to yourWant to Readshelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments section.
Hailed as one of the major writers of the Native American Renaissance, Louise Erdrich is famously unafraid to tackle big subjects and themes—the burdens of history, the power of love. Her new novel starts with a wedding in North Dakota, then fractals out to consider questions about , the immortal soul, guardian angels, lapsed Goths, and our troubled stewardship of the natural world. Bonus trivia: Erdrich has a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award on her shelf, among several dozen other honors.
The latest from Anglo-Nigerian author Nikki May follows two childhood friends as they grow into adulthood, both nourished and haunted by their shared family history. But there’s another layer to this novel: Toggling between scenes in Somerset and Lagos, This Motherless Land borrows the general shape of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park—then scribbles happily outside the lines. More than a simple retelling, May’s story is a dual-character story wrapped in an extended meditation on identity, culture, and love itself.
This buzzy debut mystery-thriller from L.A. author Lauren Ling Brown follows Maya Banks, who returns to Princeton to investigate the mysterious death of her little sister. The search for answers brings Maya back within the orbit of the Sterling Club, the most exclusive social group on campus. Did little sister Naomi discover the dangerous secret society within the club? The secret society that Maya has tried hard to forget? Bonus trivia, and this seems relevant: Author Brown is a Princeton graduate herself.
New Yorker Sydney Shaw is suffering through a run of truly miserable dating experiences. So she’s deliriously happy when her latest date—a charming and handsome doctor—evolves into the perfect boyfriend. Meanwhile, NYC cops are baffled by a string of recent murders targeting single women. It seems the killer likes to date his victims before he dispatches them. This could be a coincidence, but it probably isn’t. Author and practicing physician Freida McFadden (The Housemaid) returns with another suspenseful mystery-thriller.
After a long estrangement from his daughter Maggie, UPS driver Frank Szatowski is thrilled to receive an invitation to her upcoming wedding. You can imagine his surprise when he arrives at a remote private estate to discover that the groom is Aidan Gardner, scion of a crazy-rich billionaire clan. The vibes are all wrong: Maggie is ignoring him, Aidan is setting off Frank’s spidey sense, and the locals are weirdly hostile. What’s a dad to do? Author Jason Rekulak (Hidden Pictures) is back with another tense psychological thriller.
Fans of old-school psychological thrillers—think Shirley Jackson or Patricia Highsmith—will want to check out the latest from Paula Hawkins, author of a modest little global blockbuster called The Girl on the Train. Featuring a tangle of past and present timelines, The Blue Hour has all the right ingredients: an isolated Scottish island with a menacing gothic air, an eccentric artist with a dubious reputation, a philanderer husband, an obsessive curator, and at least one piece of art with a human bone in it.
If you’re in the market for a different kind of fantasy, author Ann Liang (If You Could See the Sun) is doing interesting things with the historical epic variety. Her new book introduces beautiful young villager Xishi, recruited by a handsome military officer to join the royal court of the neighboring kingdom of Wu. Her mission, should she choose to accept it: Infiltrate the enemy palace, seduce the king, and stir things up. Liang’s work has its roots in actual folklore, as Xishi is one of the famous .
Sci-fi godfather and elder statesman Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash) is back on shelves this monthwith a historical fiction riff on his always-ambitious speculative fiction concerns. The split-timeline narrative moves between past and present, espionage and revolution, anarchists and gun runners. What starts in the American West moves through Lenin’s Russia and then to Washington, D.C. during the Great Depression. Polostanis the first installment in the planned three-novel Bomb Light cycle.
Generally acknowledged as the finest purveyor of working today, author Jeff VanderMeer has earned a loyal following among adventurous readers. His new novel, Absolution, is a kind of pleasant surprise—an unexpected fourth volume to his brilliant Southern Reach Trilogy, which spun off the very excellent 2018 film . The new book is said to provide some missing details on the strange and possibly extradimensional piece of Florida real estate known as Area X. “There were a few stories left to tell,� Vandermeer says.
Creepy and atmospheric, the new novel from Kay Chronister (Desert Creatures) might be termed Appalachian Gothic. It goes like this: For generations uncounted, the Haddesley family has tended their ancestral cranberry bog and honored an ancient covenant. The family performs a harrowing ritual sacrifice, and the land issues forth a “bog wife� to ensure continued fertility and fecundity. The latest generation of Haddesley siblings has hit a snag, however, and things are about to get really weird.
Author Sabaa Tahir is on a roll. Following her beloved YA fantasy series An Ember in the Ashes, Tahir’s 2022 novel, All My Rage, won a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. And now she’s back on shelves this fall with the first book of a new duology. Heir follows the intertwined fates of three young people—a skilled tracker, a desperate fugitive, and the crown prince of the realm. Together, they hope to save the devastated world they’ve inherited. Kind of like actual young people today, come to think of it.
High school senior Andrew Perrault and the boy he loves, Thomas Rye, have a good thing going. They’ve been collaborating on dark fairy tales—Andrew writes, Thomas illustrates—and their bond grows stronger with each story. The tricky part: Thomas� nightmare monster illustrations are actually coming to life in the nearby forest. Uh-oh. Australian author C.G. Drews explores new territories in YA horror, queer romance, and the old-fashioned supernatural mystery novel.
John Grisham, undisputed champion of the legal thriller, turns to a harrowing nonfiction topic in Framed, which documents 10 shocking cases of wrongful conviction in the United States� criminal justice system. That’s just a fraction of the actual numbers, but by spotlighting these representative examples, Grisham aims to shed light on an ongoing American tragedy. Coauthor Jim McCloskey is the founder of the nonprofit , which works to exonerate wrongly convicted prisoners.
Twenty-five years after his blockbuster debut, The Tipping Point, author and professional contrarian Malcolm Gladwell returns for another celebration of laser-focused curiosity. Gladwell has built his personal brand around questioning the received wisdom of institutional knowledge. His new book is themed around social engineering but tackles a wide range of topics—the COVID virus, the opioid crisis, race relations—and doubles back to revisit some concepts from his first book.
by Dava Sobel
A biographical portrait of the most famous woman in the history of science, this new book from author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dava Sobel extends the scope of the typical biography. In addition to profiling the formidable Mme. Curie, Sobel investigates the next generation of female scientists trained in her laboratory—including her elder daughter Irène, winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry. By tracking the enduring legacy of one pioneering researcher, Sobel brings a new kind of high-altitude perspective to the history of women in science.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-38 of 38 (38 new)
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I have The Boyfriend on my TBR and I want to add The Blue Hour and Don't Let the Forest In!
I’M READY FOR THE BOYFRIEND & JASON REKULAK!!! 🙌🏽🎉 I’m so excited and patiently waiting for my orders to hit my KU and physical copies in the mail too 😁😊📚🍿🍷
i am SO excited for ‘a song to drown rivers�!! i loved all of ann liang’s romcoms, so i’m very interested to see how she does fantasy!!
I’m interested in The Bog Wife. Let me know if any of you read it 😊🖤
This Motherless Land is brilliant! I read it twice (and then listened to the audiobook). Such a moving story with strong female characters and every emotion under the sun!
Louise Penny's much-awaited The Grey Wolf should be on this list
Tamara wrote: "I’m interested in The Bog Wife. Let me know if any of you read it 😊🖤"I'm about halfway through The Bog Wife and I'm really enjoying it so far!
Louise Penny's book The Grey Wolf for sure!!!
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst should be added.
I found several I want to read�..mainly Framed. Sounds very interesting
Can you start adding books from other countries? It’s usually only US and maybe South America every now and then.
Can confirm that I loved Heir by Sabaa Tahir.
These books are so interesting to me
reading The Boyfriend� have been excited for months lol
Anyone else hyped for Tom Rimer’s Buoygeist? 👀
Ginny wrote: "Louise Penny's much-awaited The Grey Wolf should be on this list"AGREED!
Where is Louise Penny's new book "The Grey Wolf"? Many of us are eagerly awaiting it.
Been waiting months for The Last One at the Wedding! The Blue Hour looks promising also!
What about Throne of Secrets?? Literally my most anticipated read of the year. Already read The Boyfriend and it was good!!
Concetta wrote: "Ginny wrote: "Louise Penny's much-awaited The Grey Wolf should be on this list"AGREED!"
I also AGREE!
Ginny wrote: "Louise Penny's much-awaited The Grey Wolf should be on this list"Yes - cannot believe this isn’t on the list!!
Waiting for SOCIETY OF LIES THE BOYFRIEND
Where is The Striker by Ana Huang? I am on my knees for that book right now
Woah some of these covers are beautiful!
Never thought I’d see the day Vandermeer finally publishes Absolution
How is Wrath of the Triple Goddess and Doawk: hot mess not on this list?
I loved Don’t Let the Forest in, positively haunting and beautiful.
Interesting decision to leave “The Message� off this list�
Thought the boyfriend was a disappointment
Where is wrath of the triple goddess? It should have been the first one on that list😂😭
We live in Cranberry country so I think this would be a "good read".
Haven’t read a single book on this list, but three are on my TBR.
The boyfriend is so boring so far .
Don't let the Forest In is amazing, currently in the running for the best book I've read this year.
The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke out on the 10th.
Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley out on the 24th.