The best new books to read this fall
I can’t wait for summer to be over, said no one ever. But there are some compensations for the arrival of fall, chief among them the rollout of the year’s biggest books: blockbuster commercial fiction, hard-hitting nonfiction exposes, celebrity memoirs, literary novels by critical darlings. You may not be able to read these books at the beach, but a cozy fireside will do very nicely, thank you. Here are 12 titles that have us longing for the autumn chill.
KATE ATKINSON, ‘TRANSCRIPTION’
Atkinson’s fans are as devoted as they are legion, whether for her Jackson Brodie mysteries or her singular World War II novels, “Life After Life” and “A God in Ruins.” Her latest returns us to London during the war, when a young woman is recruited by MI5 to spy on British fascists sympathetic to the Nazis. A decade later, now a producer for the BBC radio, she finds that her dangerous past may not be completely behind her. (Little, Brown; Sept. 25)
KARINA LONGWORTH, ‘SEDUCTION: SEX, LIES AND STARDOM IN HOWARD HUGHES’S HOLLYWOOD’
The creator of the fascinating podcast “You Must Remember This,” about forgotten Hollywood history, offers her latest excavation in book form: A portrait of mogul Howard Hughes and the many actresses in his orbit. Many became famous (Jean Harlow, Jane Russell) but many were entangled by his paranoia and need for control and never made it. For the age of #MeToo, it’s a potent reminder that Hollywood manipulated women long before Harvey Weinstein came on the scene. (Custom House, Nov. 13)
MICHELLE OBAMA, ‘BECOMING MICHELLE OBAMA’
There’s not much we can tell you about the former first lady’s hugely anticipated book—much of what we know comes from her Instagram account, where she shared the cover photo in May and told fans, “Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” In a year of endless Trump books, her memoir will likely be an upbeat, inspirational reprieve for many readers. (Crown, Nov. 13)
JONATHAN LETHAM, ‘THE FERAL DETECTIVE’
The author of “Motherless Brooklyn” and “The Fortress of Solitude” hasn’t pleased all fans with recent outings such as “Chronic City” and “Dissident Gardens.” But hopes run high for this West Coast mystery, in which the private investigator of the title goes in search of a teenage girl who has gone missing in the desert. Being a Jonathan Lethem novel, naturally, “The Feral Detective” has plenty to say about American society along the way. (Ecco, Nov. 6)
NICOLE CHUNG, ‘ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW’
The editor-in-chief of Catapult magazine and former managing editor of The Toast reflects on her upbringing as the adopted Korean daughter of white parents in an overwhelmingly white Oregon town. After college graduation she was asked by some white friends who were thinking of adopting a baby of a different race: Had there “ever been any issues” growing up? This question prompts a sensitive, clear-eyed examination of the bullying and casual racism that had marked her childhood and, eventually, leads to a search for her birthparents and the origin story she has never known. (Catapult, Oct. 2)
BOB WOODWARD, ‘FEAR: TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE’
Hot on the heels of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” and Omarosa Manigault Newman’s “Unhinged” comes this latest peek behind the curtain at the Trump White House. This one has serious journalistic cred, though: Woodward is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor at The Washington Post and co-author (with Carl Bernstein) of “All the President’s Men,” the earthshaking account of the Watergate scandal, among many other bestsellers about Washington politics. Expect “Fear” to be just as explosive as its predecessors. (Simon & Schuster, Sept. 11)